The Finalists - 2009 Mazda6 - 2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year

What They Did Right: Design-inside and out-with a strong powertrain.

Room For Improvement: Ride/handling balance needs a smidge more fine tuning.

The previous-generation Mazda6 was an MT favorite, but the category it played in has since matured around it. Camry, Accord, and others got larger, more powerful, and were endowed with more luxurious trappings. So now has the Mazda6. The hatch and wagon variants have gone, leaving the four-door sedan as the only body style, one that's been dimensionally increased in every direction. The base 6 is powered by a 170-horse, 2.5-liter I-4, while the upmarket version gets a new 3.7-liter, 272-horsepower V-6 similar to the one you'll find 'neath the hood of the Lincoln MKS.

As noted, one of the goals was a roomier, nicer cabin, and that's been met in spades. "The interior looks way richer," notes Frank Markus. "Nice quality feel to everything you touch." Kiino says, "minimal buttons and knobs, good ergonomics." No complaints about the outside, either, the same editor adding, "sharpest-looking midsize sedan, in my opinion," something everyone on staff agreed with.

Our tester was a V-6 S GT model, which includes the new six-speed automatic transmission. It's a responsive tranny, ideally matched to the engine's power curve, and everyone likes the manual mode that yields an upshift for pulling and a downshift when pushing the stick forward (as does a BMW). The engine easily out-pulls the old 6's 3.0-liter unit. Not everyone was as pleased with the new version's handling. It's still better than many cars in this category and rides well enough, but rolls too much when pushed. There's a bit too much vertical movement over choppy surfaces; perhaps a little more calibration is necessary. But these are niggles. Loh summarizes the Mazda6 as a "great family car if Mazda can get the message out" against the big segment players like Accord, Altima, Camry, and the newly-up-to-snuff Hyundai Sonata.
- Matt Stone