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<\/p>\n<\/div>Here\u2019s the thing about extinction \u2014 it concentrates the mind. America has gone ute crazy and sedans are in a fight for their life. It’s survival of the fittest. Evolve or die.<\/p>\n
And so we are getting the best sedans I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n
I was ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMing the new Mazda 6 all over Metro Detroit this\u00a0June and I think I\u2019m in love. It\u2019s the same feeling I had when I got out of the\u00a02018 Honda Accord<\/a>last fall.\u00a0A\u00a0Rolex watch with a Timex price tag.<\/p>\n Like Honda, Mazda has a lot of mileage under its belt on race tracks and its quick handling is no surprise. What surprises are\u00a0the luxury amenities.<\/p>\n Fast and luxurious, the Mazda improves on the one gripe I had about the Honda: great bod, but put a bag over its face, please. Not the Mazda. This beauty turns heads from head to tail. My Audi-owning friend Dicran lingered over the elegant, chrome-jeweled front end, the grille smiling seductively.<\/p>\n That is a good looking car!<\/p>\n Yes it is. Better looking than many luxury models. Automakers are taking a hard look at sedan viability in the Age of Ute, but the 6 begs the question: Do we need so many luxury brands?<\/p>\n Regular readers know I\u2019ve been writing about the shrinking gap between mainstream and luxury ’til my fingers turned blue, but you could always count on the premium boys flexing more power.<\/p>\n Take the Mazda CX-5<\/a>, for example. It’s a\u00a0heckuva compact ute, right there with a BMW X3 in handling and accessories. But put your foot on the gas and … oh. Just 187 normally aspirated gerbils compared to the Bimmer\u2019s 248 galloping, turbocharged horses \u2014 and the sound! Oh, my. Like Maria Sharapova hitting a forehand \u2014 HUUGGGH! \u2014 you can hear the effort. A silky turbo and the BMW badge will get help you cough up the extra 10 grand for the German.<\/p>\n But now here comes my $36,140 Mazda 6 with a 250-horsepower (on premium gas, 227 on regular)\u00a02.5-liter turbo that goes toe-to-toe with, say, a comparably equipped $56,000, 252-horse Audi A6 out of a stoplight.<\/p>\n Zot! The Mazda 6 hit 60 mph in 6.4 seconds \u2014 just shy of the Audi\u2019s 6.1.<\/p>\n Mazda is a stickler for detail and they zeroed in on their noise issues for the sixth-gen 6. Padded panels, recrafted-pillars, the works. Like Noah preparing for the storm, they plugged every leak in the cabin to make it more livable.<\/p>\n The result is a quiet, buttery smooth drivetrain under the cane. But no how matter how many pillows Mazda\u00a0has stuffed in the cracks, the real story here is the new-for-2018, 2.5-liter turbo-4.<\/p>\n The same powerplant found in the lovely CX-9, three-row ute, the new engine puts out a whopping, best-in-class, 310 pound feet of torque with 63 more horses than the old 2.5-liter, normally-aspirated mill. The new engine is programmed (this is the electronic transmission\u00a0era) for nearly the same 60 mph run,\u00a0but then it runs away from the competition where you really want it \u2014 in 30-50 and 50-70 acceleration. True to its ZOOM ZOOM roots, the turbo-4 still makes a satisfying thrum at hard throttle \u2014\u00a0not unlike a turbo-4 Golf GTI<\/a>, one of my favorite 4-bangers.<\/p>\n The old powerplant\u00a0is still offered in the 6 as a base-engine\u00a0$22,845 bargain. But the real bargain here is in the loaded, upper-trim models.<\/p>\n And I do mean loaded. My Signature tester undercuts the Audi A6\u00a0price by $20,000\u00a0despite boasting a two-tone leather interior, wrapped console, seat memory, head-up display, tablet screen, auto high-beams, and so on. Dicran and went\u00a0back and forth between an Audi A6 and Mazda 6 interior to see the fine differences.<\/p>\n That\u2019s no accident. Mazda benchmarks its interior to the Audi right down to the remote rotary infotainment controller and piano-key dash buttons. The Audi fits more chrome and wood decoration, but the Mazda gains points with more storage space compared to the Audi\u2019s over-engineered console.<\/p>\n Where the Mazda really wows (did I mention it\u2019s just $36,000) is in the premium details. Allow me to point out three:<\/p>\n