2007 Frankfurt Auto Show: The 2008 Mazda6 Sends The Competition Back To Design School

Zoom zooom...very nice.

but i can see some Lexus design cues in it.(Remind u i am saying it positvely,it's not a bad thing atall).

Front is very nice very GSishhhh(minus second small headlight)

Rear is not thatbeautiful as frontend but still looks nice.

JUGNU

Rear End Reminds me of the New Sebring

Seems like the same rear with different Rear Lamp Clusters.

looks great....boy they will be GIVING away the old models now!!!

Put a Toyota Camry next to it and its Mazda that needs to redesign this car. It's ugly.

were you paid by toyota?

Thats probably the most negative boost I have ever seen on a comment. Congrats!

The side profile looks a bit Lexus ISish...

Clearly Mazda copied the Lexus IS and made it uglier.

Riiiiiiiiight...

Like bulldogz said, 1995e34, it is wake-up time!

http://wikicars.org/images/en/thumb/3/32/Greyonwhite.jpg/400px-Greyonwhite.jpg

Like what? Tell me what, and I will find an explanation to your entire list.

I'll be back! I need to get my hair chopped!

The Lexus IS wish it looked this good.

And the Lexus IS coppied the G35 which copied the BMW 3 series.

How do you make an IS even uglier?

I think, this is a New Ford Mondeo (EU) with some redesigned elements. Look for the "A", "B" and "C" pillars, the wheelarches and the hood. Cost saving, using same structure, "delight" the people. Congrats to Ford.

Coincidentally, the side-profile is the aspect of the car I like the best. The front end is also quite nice. From the rear three-quarters, the car looks very uncoordinated. Looking at rear dead-on, it looks like they ran out of ideas and looked to the Chrysler Sebring for some inspiration; that is just my opinion.

Once again, a cheap interior that does not match the success of its exterior counterpart.

I agree with your comments, Hyundai. I also have to agree that much of this design was lifted from the Lexus IS. Looks good.

I am not talking about 2003 Mada 6 but this new 2008 one.It did come out after new IS and GS

JUGNU

Actually, it's not a bad looking car. I'm not going to buy it, but it looks pretty good.

I actually prefer the previous generation, as this one looks like GM had a hand in the design.

actually its Ford....but I actually like the new design....the previous gen was getting waaaaaaaaaaay long-in-the-tooth.

This new Mazda like Hondas, Toyotas and Datsuns have nothing styling-wise to the previous cars they're replacing.

No heritage like the Germans maintain.

I think its a very attractive car.I think it beats the Camry(ugly front end),Accord(ugly rear end),and Altima(just plain ugly)by a country mile. If you look closely there are a few Lexus design ques and RX8 and Mercedes S class ques. I don't know how the interior quality wil be. You can't tell from a picture.At least it does not mimic other Jap car swoopy center dash designs.The engine is the 3.5 and is class competative. No this one is a home run for Mazda.

Yeah, they're all beginning to look alike.

Are you serious? Aren't you one of the ones who bash new BMWs for being too different and interesting?

It's got the typical aggressive Japanese styling, but it's not sexy like a Ferrari or Lamborghani.

The car just has the mean face.

How about a cutesy mean face.

Very nice, but it looks as small as the Acura TSX.

Nice Maserati rims LOL

Don't you love the Ford Fusion inspired headlights?

Sometimes you guys crack me up with all the "who copied from who" debates. I think everybody copies from everybody whether it be indiscreet or flat out blatant. As for the new 6 I think it looks fantastic, that 5 door hatch being my fav. I know Ford owns part of them and I hope they dissect this car and copy some of it into their next gen offerings.

Okay, for some reason the story and post that I posted in were deleted. Here we go again:

Wow, this one is much nicer and more refined. I was going to consider a Mazda6 for my next car, but passed because of their engines. Sure they have high hp, but their torque sucks. I like my engine to have more torque than hp. The only trim that did that was the MAZDASPEED6 which had a turbo-4, not a V6.

Hopefully they'll up the engines in this new version.

Beautiful. I agree that it has some design cues from other vehicles. But you can pick just about any Japanese vehicle and pick out two or three other vehicles it borrows from. Toyota has publically said that they intend to borrow from the Mazda3, the Camry was a rip off of the current 6's front end. Even with the similarities, still a unique vehicle. Really makes just about everything else on the market look bad (Particularly the Camry and new Accord). Hopefully for Mazda it will translate into sales.

It looks like a cross between the older Civic and the older Camry.

The design of the new Accord SUCK ASS BIG TIME compared to this nice Mazda 6!

jeffy210-The top engine is Ford 3.5 V6 that is in the Taurus,Edge,Lincoln etc. It make about 265HP and 250 LBS of torque I believe. In the Taurus(which is a heavy car)0-60 is around 7.5 seconds. Being that the 6 is quite a bit lighter you can expect much better performance.

Those are numbers I can respect. The previous Mazda6 had a smaller V6 engine that had < 200 torque. Put any amount of weight in it and you can kiss your acceleration goodbye.

The new 6 is not getting the 3.5L, they are getting a mazda sourced 3.7L, the same engine that is going into the 08 CX-9

A home run in my book. Now all they need to do is to get rid of the hatchback, and replace it with a sport coupe model.

Makes me think of Saturn Sky in front and Infiniti FX in the back and Infiniti interior.

The saturn/infiniti styling cues aren't necessarily a bad thing, because overall it's more appealing than a Lexus IS. GS300, you didn't take offense to that did you? Please don't. You just have to have an eye for these things. However, I understand that not everyone does. Nor, does everyone appreciate profound insight as evidenced by your irreverent and flippant remark.

Looks good.

Hopefully this will sell well and inspire Ford to offer the Mondeo in the U.S. instead of crap like the 500.

M-Finesse

or standard Y2K Japanese design. You could by it either with a Daihatsu, Honda, Toyota, Mitsu or Mazda badge. Too bad it doesn't stand out.

nice looking car.
very impressive for its class.
definitely much better looking than accord and camry.

Yeah, I definitely see the s class but with a shorter rear. The rear looks like the new G37.

I'm not a big Mazda fan but I'll have to take a closer look at their lineup, particularly the 6, when I go car hunting.

well i dont see the s class at all. because the rx8 came out way before the new s class was introduced. and it has wheel flares just like that, so did the rx8 inspire the s class would be the question. maybe not, but im sure the rx8 did inspire the looks of the mazda 6 and not the s class...logic

I really like the Mazda6. This concept is slick. The "6" has turned into what thought the Honda Accord was going to evolve into.

I think in spite some familar cues it's an aggressive but elegant design. If it's really getting a 3.7 V6 thats exciting.That could put HP around 280 which would be at the head of the class. Then the issue could be a little torque steer but Mazda is good enough to get around this.

Wow! Mazda definitely did a really good job in this new Mazda6. I really light the xenon light, it look really good both inside and outside.

Great Job Mazda! I especially like the Wagon. Mazda USA has decided however, not to bring the wagon anymore and concentrate more energy on the CX-7... which is fine but I like wagons!

Concur. Personally I think the Estate version looks like a lowered CX7 with a redone front facia.

I like both though. Actually my wife and I are deciding on whether to by a CX7 or CX9 right now.

The next thing they need to add is a new 300hp V6.

I think many of the posters (Toyota fans in particular) who are posting the 'back came from a..', 'copying the..' etc. posts are just jealous this Mazda looks hotter than the Camry. (Not very hard to do, mind you).

The fact is, the new 6 CLEARLY takes its styling cues from the RX-8 and the recent concept cars Mazda has shown.

I may also note at this point that all Mazda's recent concepts were penned in Europe under the supervision of a European design chief.

I'd say that same studio probably is responsible for this car too.

for some reason i get a extreme Proton P2 Concept vibe.

Looks great. The interior is ok. But the interior is best in class, in the true mainstream sedan class.

Camry and Accord definitely challenge that- I'd say the Camry's interior looks better and the Accord's has better build quality.

The car is gorgeous. More aggressive than the first generation. You can see RX-8 influences without trying to make the car a full on sports car. Very well done. I would get another one!!

It's amazing how the rear 3/4's of many vehicles are looking so similar nowadays. Each decade brings a certain style element that seems to run the gamut of marques. Look at the side profile of this list of vehicles and see if you notice some of the same elements (there is a certain 'flair' in the style execution; look especially towards the rear):

2008 Mazda6, 08' Accord, Hyundai's upcoming concept 'Genesis', Sonata, Toyota Avalon, Lexus IS, BMW 5 series... any others?

I meant to add the new Chrysler Sebring as well.

Very impressive design except for the rear end. Hatchback is less appealing than the sedan this time. I think they did a great job on the wagon. Reminds me of a shorter CX9. Interior looks cheapass from photos. However, caranddriver reports that this will not be available in NA market and for EU consumption only. According to C&D, NA version will wear entirely different sheetmetal.

I doubt it will have 'all new' sheet-metal.

What a waste of millions of more engineering dollars.

i think it will just have 'revised' front and rear styling (a few tweaks here and there) to appeal to the more conservative American buyer.

I'd say the headlight clusters will be toned down for a start.

Shame the interior is so tacky.

"i think it will just have 'revised' front and rear styling (a few tweaks here and there) to appeal to the more conservative American buyer."

Unfortunately I agree, if you take a close look at the spy-shots snagged in Detroit, you can see that the fog lights are closer to the edge of the bumper and it looks like the head & tail lights have a different design as well. :-(

In comparing the official photes of the sedan to the U.S. spy shots, it appears that the front and rear overhangs will be noticably longer on the U.S. car. I'm afraid that will destroy the great porportions we see in the European car. I was really fired up about this car, ready to trade in my RX-8, but I suspect I won't be as interested in the U.S. version. I sure hope I'm wrong.

Here's the link to the profile spy shot that is the cause of my concern:

http://www.leftlanenews.com/wp-content/plugins/iimage-gallery.php?idpost=5002&idg=1&idi=4

Hopefully the camo is throwing me off and its really not that different from the Euro car

Fenders seem less pronounced on U.S. vesion too, although maybe they are just well hidden by camo

http://www.pistonheads.com/pics/news/12451/lexus_IS_2005-L.jpg

http://www.autospies.com/images/users/Agent009/2008-Mazda6/Mazda_6_Frankfurt_002.jpg

When this car come out, it will definitely be a hot seller for sure. I hate to admit it but when it good you have to said it good.

On look alone it #1 on my list, #2 Toyota Camry SE, # Honda Accord. I think it is very sexy and classy both the interior and exterior as well.

Easily the best looking of all the current mid-sized family sedans...

Just Great Design - Pure & Simple!

If some find it imperative to draw comparisons to others vehicles (fenders/tail lights etc), all that matters is none of them visually match the sum of these parts quite as well.

Bravo Mazda!

gs in the front, mercedes s class on the side and chrysler sebring in the rear....... no skills just copy n paste

it does look like lexus IS BUT! MAZDA6 looks better

...nice looking.

In terms of exterior design, mazda has been destroying the competition since the pervious mazda 6 came out. Every model after that, as far as I can recall, has been beautiful.

Mazda is the only Japanese car brand that hired real designers instead of blind people(like Lexus/Toyota) to draw their cars. Still waiting for another Japanese brand to come along.

i gotta admit,this car is a beauty

It's easy to see the Mondeo side profile in this car, which is a very good thing. I'm sure it will drive beautifully, just another reminder of how Ford is giving us crappy second-tier models while all the happenings are in Europe.

One thing I'm confused about is the start button. It's ubiquitous and seems to be in all cars today- I mean that EXACT start button. Is there a start button manufacturer or something?

amazing. although I like the current one more.

I like the looks! I am more curious on how it performs, fuel economy,acceleration,braking 60-0mph,safety...

honestly looks better than the IS. If this car offer more hightech options im sure it will be a great alternative to Lexus IS

This is one nice car.I would love to own this one.I don't see other cars here in it's looks.I only see others Mazda's,and thats at a minimal.Congrats to Mazda!

Looks like an Acura RSX in the Front vand TL on the side which is a good thing. The bad thing is it's nothing original and its a MAZDA.

Nice. It'll be a welcome addition to an otherwise boring midsize ($20-$30k) field. I wonder how the The new Galant (concept) photos are out, too. Glad to see Mitsu is finally waking up from it's 8 year nap. GM has a few upcoming sedans that look promising as well.