Yahoo Autos 2006 Mid-size Sedan Comparo
From the February 2006 issue of Car and Driver.
In a perfect world, a guy who likes to unwind lonely driving roads on a brisk weekend morning owns an implement dedicated to just such an activity. A Mazda MX-5, for example. Or a Pontiac Solstice. Or a Honda S2000. Or...fill in your favorite sports car. But that ideal presupposes a big budget for grown-up toys, and/or the absence of parental obligations, which immediately add extra doors and seats to the equation. As much as we love 'em, sports cars are pure automotive self-indulgence, with a low practicality index. And the sad truth is, many of us are economically limited to one ride that has to serve a variety of everyday transportation functions, as well as satisfying your inner Michael Schumacher. Perhaps you've noticed this?
Take heart. Ownership of a car with four doors needn't mean the end of fun-to-drive, and to support this proposition we present this field of five sub-$30,000 sports sedans that are just the ticket, able to deliver speed with a soupçon of luxury, too. Okay, more than a soupçon. A modicum. And in a couple cases, a profusion.
As a conceptual group, our roundup of 30-grand sports sedans isn't new. It's one of our regular sports-sedan reality checks. Still, there is much that is new here-in fact, only one of these five packages is familiar. That would be the Acura TSX, a sophisticated sweetheart that's been on our 10Best Cars list since its 2004 debut. Modestly freshened for '06, the TSX prevailed in our last under-30-grand decathlon ("Sustainable Sports Sedans," October 2004) and, consequently, anchors this one. (As with our 10Best Cars protocol, the also-rans in that derby weren't invited to this one.)
The other everyday heroes are new for '06 in varying degrees, and only one of them—the Jetta GLI—has gone through our battery of instrumented tests (October 2005). The GLI is the liveliest member of the Jetta family, and it shares its chassis and components with the GTI, VW's famous hatchback hot rod. The Jetta's inventory of go-faster hardware includes a new 2.0-liter direct-injection turbo four that churns up 197 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque, a useful upgrade from the previous 1.8-liter turbo motor's 180 horsepower and 173 pound-feet, although the gain in output is mitigated by an increase at the scales.
The other force-fed car in the field is the long-awaited Mazdaspeed 6, with all-wheel drive and 274 horsepower available from a turbo version of Mazda's 2.3-liter four. That's almost enough to put the Mazda on an equal performance footing with bad boys like the Subaru Impreza WRX STI or Mitsubishi Evo, and it was more than enough to hustle the Mazda to the front of this pack in terms of sheer zoom-zoom.
As a refreshing change, a domestic entry made the starting grid, the GTP version of Pontiac's G6 sedan, with more authority in the suspension, more grip, and more muscle, thanks to more displacement-3.9 liters in a pushrod V-6, very all-American.
Beyond that, we found ourselves with an element of family feud. The Honda Accord has never been a player in one of our sports-sedan spectaculars, but for 2006 its extensive freshening includes the availability of a robust EX edition with a 244-hp, 3.0-liter V-6 and a six-speed manual. That combination is a first for Honda's bread-and-butter four-door, and an essential element in qualifying for this bash-a manual transmission was one of the basic requirements for invitation, and all five cars were equipped with you-shift-it six-speeds.
You might observe that a couple other prime everyday-hero candidates—the Audi A4 and the BMW 3-series—didn't make the cut. What's up with that? Money, that's what. As was true in our 2004 comparo, even the humblest of 3-series sedans, the 325i, carries a base price of $31,595, overflowing our 30-grand ceiling, and that presumes you could even find an unadorned 325i. This also goes for the A4. A basic front-drive A4 starts at $28,360, but in an age of steadily shrinking evaluation fleets, finding a base edition of any vehicle is akin to finding the last virgin in Las Vegas.
We drove the 280 miles to southeast Ohio, where we scorched the edges of our 13.5-mile driving loop. The Hocking Hills route is rich in linked turns, decreasing radii, whoop-de-dos, elevation changes, and bird watchers in L.L.Bean outfits, all in all ideal for gauging a car's SQ (sporting quotient). This time around, it had a profound impact on the outcome.
Fifth Place: Pontiac G6 GTP
We're nonpartisan in these derbies, but sometimes we can't help rooting for the home team, particularly when the home boys could really use a victory. So we entertained hopes for the G6, the first American car to play in a comparison of this nature in five years. For example, we hoped the high-performance version of the Grand Am replacement would be more entertaining than its less potent stablemates, which haven't run up big numbers on the C/D ecstasy meter. In short, we hoped the G6 would make a good showing.
And it did. But not good enough.
HIGHS: Torquey V-6, slick styling, respectable test numbers.
LOWS: Oppressive wind noise, primitive shifter, steering substitutes effort for road feel.
Shall we start with the Poncho's strong suits? The G6 was mid- to upper-pack in all five major test categories covering acceleration, braking, and handling. Despite its relatively old-fashioned valve operation--GM calls it "cam in block," feeling perhaps that "pushrod" sounds dated--the Pontiac's 60-degree V-6 has variable valve timing and generates generous torque (240 pound-feet) with an exceptionally flat curve. This produced runs to 60 mph of 6.2 seconds and a quarter-mile of 14.9 seconds at 95 mph, third best in both categories and all the more remarkable for its tall gearing and a bewilderingly hefty curb weight--3569 pounds, heavier than even the all-wheel-drive Mazda.
Excessive mass undoubtedly affected the G6's braking, skidpad, and lane-change numbers, too, but even so, they were solid. The Pontiac hammered home the second-best lane-change speed, was a close third on the skidpad despite its all-season Goodyear Eagle LS-2 tires (on handsome 18-inch wheels), and stopped from 70 mph in 167 feet, better than the Acura and the Honda.
For all its prowess in objective dynamic testing, though, the G6 drew low subjective marks on the Hocking Hills highways. There were logbook complaints about excessive up-and-down motion compared with the other cars, and insufficient roll stiffness. Although quick at 2.7 turns lock-to-lock, the hydraulic steering came in for carping: too heavy at high speeds, as well as numb. It was possible to hustle the G6 around our loop as quickly as most of the others, but it was more work than fun, requiring absolute concentration.
There were unhappy observations concerning the interior as well. All hands cited major wind noise, an apparent leak in the upper right-hand A-pillar area--a little more tolerable than Chinese water torture during freeway cruising, but not much. And the shift quality of the six-speed gearbox was persistently panned. Rubbery, said some. Others employed a time-honored technical term: klunky.
The G6's styling was seen as a plus, and its interior décor, featuring cream-colored leather upholstery, made a nice contrast with the others' dark interiors. And the rear seat provided the most legroom, although the fast roofline made the center seating position untenable.
THE VERDICT: Competent, comely, and quick, but not quite ready for prime time.
So the G6 stacks up as merely adequate in a contest where better than average is the threshold of acceptability. The Pontiac would look more attractive with a price tag closer to the GTP's $24,835 base--ours was a loaded example--but the fundamental dissonance here lies with the car itself.
2005 Pontiac G6 GTP
240-hp V-6, 6-speed manual, 3569 lb
Base/as-tested price: $24,835/$29,335
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 6.2 sec
100 mph: 16.2 sec
1/4 mile: 14.9 @ 95 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 167 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.85 g
C/D observed fuel economy: 22 mpg
Fourth Place: Mazdaspeed 6
If you've peeked at the charts, you already know that Mazda's pumped-up 6 sedan was our performance champ, no contest. It whooshed to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, a half-second quicker than the Accord, and covered the quarter-mile in 14 seconds flat. It was the skidpad champ, pulling 0.87 g, thanks to a set of sticky Bridgestone Potenzas (RE050A, 215/45) on 7.0-by-18-inch aluminum alloy wheels. That combination, plus big brake rotors that reduced fade, added up to an out standing stopping distance from 70 mph—155 feet, just a foot more than the best-in-test performance of the Jetta. That's sports-car braking, and a wonderful asset to have when charting a stretch of back road.
HIGHS: Power to burn, eager responses, good control layout.
LOWS: Psychotic-vacuum-cleaner exhaust note, low-rent interior, firm ride.
When we speak of back roads, we speak of this car's prime venue. The Mazda's combination of power, brakes, grip, limited body roll, on-demand all-wheel drive, and quick steering (2.6 turns lock-to-lock) made it great fun on our loop, a back-road bandito. Beyond that, the Mazda's turbocharged and intercooled 2.3-liter four was also a helpful traveling companion on freeways, with instant spool-up that delivered big lane-change power, even in sixth gear.
The downside to the Mazdaspeed package is a shortage of refinement. Consider feature content, for openers. Although the Mazda's as-tested price was third highest, it was the only ride without a sunroof, the only one lacking leather upholstery, and one of two lacking power adjustability of the front seats. Yes, yes, how we do suffer. But when it comes to luxury features for a given price, more is better.
The Mazda's rather severe interior trim also drew flack, particularly the hard, shiny plastic of the center console, center stack, dash, and doors. And if the styling troops have done a decent job of integrating the car's raised hoodline, required to accommodate the turbo's intercooler, they were defeated by the challenge of the enlarged grille opening that yawns in the lower front fascia. The bigger opening was needed to get more cool air in there, but it doesn't harmonize well with the other elements of the front-end design.
We recorded complaints of the Mazda's stiffer-than-most ride quality and road noise, although most were willing to accept that trade-off in favor of the car's quick handling responses. But the other element that goes with this high-performance package--engine noise--was hard for our test crew to accept. The turbo four was serene at idle, but in freeway cruise mode, the Mazda's interior noise levels were highest of the pack. The Jetta generated louder readings at wide-open throttle, but there was a raspy, industrial quality to the Mazda's exhaust note at full cry that grated on all who heard it.
THE VERDICT: Long on punch, short on polish.
"Like the Hoover that ate Godzilla," observed one tester. The bottom line: The Mazdaspeed guys nailed the sports part of the deal, but this car needs a little time at charm school.
2006 Mazdaspeed 6
274-hp inline-4, 6-speed manual, 3554 lb
Base/as-tested price: $28,555/$28,555
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.4 sec
100 mph: 14.5 sec
1/4 mile: 14.0 @ 99 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 155 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.87 g
C/D observed fuel economy: 21 mpg
