First things first... The pontiac is a pile compared to the Nissan and the Mazda. Don't get me wrong, if you want a performance car, by all means by a domestic car with lots of potential add on parts. Hey, I have a mustang in edition to my mazda. So if it's real performance you really want, you need to go rear wheel drive. The GTP is a wanna be performance car, enough said.

Moving on from there...

As far as the better tuned 4-door sedan choice, my 2 cents below:

I believe the Nissan 3.5 SE has only 240HP, not 250 and you absolutely have to use 91 octane premium fuel or better, it says so right in the owners manual. The Mazda arrives stock at 220HP, but you can use 87 octane regular. An interesting note here also is that my buddy has the 3.5SE Altima, and I have the 3.0 6S. Everyone says that the altima is so much faster. I put in some premium gas and installed a cold air intake for like $120 (my first mod, because the stock airbox is way to restrictive) and we ran them. It was close, but my mazda was faster. What is interesting is that riding in both vehicles...my buddy's altima feels quicker. I think this is because the engine is louder and the car sits higher...but again, my 6 was faster with the intake mod.

By the way, my buddy Eric wishes he would have bought the 6 instead after I let him drive mine. The handling of the 3.0L 6S is far better than the altima. This is exactly what MotorTrend said back in 2003/2004 when the 6 first came out also. The car has an all aluminum engine, because of this it has an almost 50/50 front/rear weight bias (great for handling, and tuning of the suspension). The Nissan rides higher, and is nose heavy, causing some handling difficulties.

They are both nice cars, but I think you can definately add some performance (power wise) to the mazda much cheaper in price than it would be to make the nissan handle like the 6.

 

Ok, well i think i got the idea that everyone hates GM's guts. I'm still looking for an answer on that radio question. Does the 6 have any stereo issues changing over the aftermarket now that metra makes a dash kit or is it just a simple harness/kit conversion? Also, if anyone has any LEGIT reasons to hate GM, let me know, otherwise, im not really interested in knowing that i can poop on one. Thanks

 

I dont hate GM. It's just their cars and technology is 10 years behind most of the rest of the competition!

 

That is true! ha ha...

 

How do you figure?

 

Ok. They have had basically the same looks since the early 90's. In terms of body style. They were bland in the first place. I was exgerating slightly about GM. Its just if you were to compare the craftmanship of Mazda and GM, there is no comparison. I like a car that doesnt fall apart after one year. Alot of my freinds have pontiacs. Sunfire, Grand Am and a Grand Prix. The engine is actually more powerfull then the engine in the Mazda 6 and the Mazda 3. But most of the lights on the radio are worn off, pieces of plastic falling off the dashboard. These cars are only 2-5 years old.

 

Hacthetman, I am not sure about your radio question. I wish I could help!

 

I must say I love the Solstice, and the new Saturn car that is based off that. The new GTO is a joke. But I guess that is why they stopped making them. Cadallic is a good product. Then the Corvette is cool. But if I went to a Mazda lot. Every car they have is desirable. Every car they make is well designed and is appealing.

 

Not that it is bad, but the engines still use pushrods I believe???