I reviewed a bright red Mazda6 GT a couple of years ago and I was pretty impressed with and really liked the car’s styling, in fact, it is at the top of mid-size family sedan list; click here to read my full review of the 2015 Mazda6 GT.
Two years later, I was handed the key fob to a brand spanking new 2017 Mazda6 GT, and of course, it was also red, a $300 options that’s a must have in my opinion, if you want to turn some heads. The overall car is the same as the one I reviewed two years ago, but there are minor changes, so I’ll go over those in this review, for a complete review, please refer to the link above.
Pricing
The 2017 Mazda6 is offered in three trims, GX, GS, and GT. Prices start at $26,525 for the GX, $32,125 for the GS, and $34,725 for the GT. All three trims are offered with 6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic transmissions, something the competition doesn’t offer. Our test vehicle has a price tag of $36,795 with $3,900 worth of options, not including Freight and $1,695.
Changes on the 2017 Mazda6
The exterior is 99.99% identical to the previous year Mazda6, there is a slight change to the placement of the turn signal in the side mirrors. The interior does get a bit more changes, with thicker glass at the front for a quieter ride, slightly redesigned steering wheel, heated steering wheel, a new HUD display, and new layout for the display screen for the navigation, entertainment etc screen.
The new HUD display is much improved, it has brighter colors and shows you your speed, next turn directions if you have an address placed in the navigation system, it displays the posted speed limit, and it even indicates if there’s someone in your blind spot. I really like this new HUD display system, you don’t really have to take your eyes off the road because it provides you a lot of information in a very simple manner that’s not overwhelming. The blind-spot indicators in the HUD (in addition to the mirrors) is great, you don’t even have to look at your mirrors to change lanes. Of course we don’t recommend that, you should always do a shoulder check when you’re changing lanes, but the HUD display makes things a lot easier.
The other big interior change is the way the 7” touchscreen is placed in the dashboard, in our previous tester, the touchscreen was integrated into the dashboard, for 2017 it sticks out of the dashboard. Most people I’ve talked to (not necessarily about this car, but about car interiors in general) actually complain about the touchscreens that stick out of the dashboard, so I’m not really sure why Mazda went this route.
The other big news about the 2017 Mazda6 is the “G-Vectoring Control” or GVC system; this is Mazda’s new technology featured on the 2017 Mazda6 and will also be offered on the 2017 Mazda3.
What is G-Vectoring Control?
“GVC maximizes tire performance by focusing on the vertical load on the tires. The moment the driver starts to turn the steering wheel, GVC controls engine drive torque to generate a deceleration G-force, thereby shifting load to the front wheels. This increases front-wheel tire grip, enhancing the vehicle’s turn-in responsiveness.
Thereafter, when the driver maintains a constant steering angle, GVC immediately recovers engine drive torque, which transfers load to the rear wheels, enhancing vehicle stability.”
The way I’m understanding GVC system is, it eliminates the need for small inputs when you drive through a corner that has bumps, making the corner smoother, because of the extra grip at the front and rear provided by GVC. This also helps in reducing fatigue for the driver over longer distances because he/she doesn’t need minor inputs into the steering wheel.
GVS is also supposed to decrease the amount of lateral movement for the occupants of the car, see video/picture below.
This all sounds good and I’m sure it works great, however, I didn’t really feel anything special when I was driving the Mazda6 for a week. To me the car felt like any other car, maybe the system is so subtle that I didn’t notice and I would need to drive another Mazda6 back to back with a Mazda6 with GVC to notice the difference? But I do believe Mazda’s claims, in my experience Mazda is always honest with the claims they make.
Overall Impressions
I really liked the Mazda6 when I reviewed it a couple of years ago and the same formula has been applied to the 2017 car, and I still like this car as much as I liked it back then. I think it’s a great looking car with lots of interior space, it feels luxurious, and is pretty fuel efficient. I would prefer Mazda to offer a more powerful engine in this car, because it looks very sporty and needs a more powerful engine to compliment those looks.
For more information on the 2017 Mazda6, please visit mazda.ca.
