[trackbird]

A little background is in order.

About 2 years ago I injured my back (working in the garage) and it's given me problems off and on over the last few years and recently it's been getting much worse. I've scheduled an appointment with another Dr. for later this month to see if there is something we can do besides "cracking it back into place" every few days/weeks, etc.

Anyway, due to the fact that it's recently been much worse and really starting to bother me at times, driving the Camaro is getting pretty uncomfortable some days (when it's really bad). It's pinching a nerve and on some days when I hit bumps, expansion joints, etc, it will give me a nasty headache.

So, I've been looking around at cars and I just haven't seen anything that interesting. So, I've just been driving the Camaro and trying to ignore it (some days that works better than others). Until the other night when Eugenio mentioned that he was looking at a Mazdaspeed 6. He then told me that it's AWD, turbocharged, 276 hp and 280 ft lbs and Car and Driver says 0-60 in 5.4, 1/4 mile in 14.0 @ 99 mph (nearly stock LT1 fast) and other than it weighing 3,500 lbs, it sounds rather interesting. It looks benign enough, the neighbors will probably consider it more respectable than my current ride (not that I really care in the least, nor am I in anything approaching a high end community) and it would work for hauling my great aunt and my grandmother around when they are in town (we no longer have a 4 door car, we used to drive the Mazda Protege 5 wagon when we had it for that job).

So, my wife is trying to convince me to go drive one and consider getting rid of the Camaro for the Mazda (and I'll probably wind up with a 3rd gen project car at a later date, if I get my back straightened out) and I'm getting tempted to at least go look.

It's your fault Eugenio, even if you don't buy one, I just might. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif)

I'm guessing that it will get killed in its autocross class due to the weight (not that I'd race it, but if I did). Does anyone know anything about these cars?

[Formula WS6]

my friend has a Mazda 6 couple years old now. i really like the car. they ride very nicely, look great to me, are a great value, and have a roomy back seat. pretty fast car too for being the NA FWD version. unless they have made changes your rim choices are very limited as are the tire choices. both are oddly sized. brake pads for the front werent cheap. however he took his through the Dragon bone stock with the dealer plate still on the car. i have pictures and a vid or all brake pads smoking and all rotors blued at the end of the run. yeah he was having brake fade problems by then. he continued to drive on those pads for many thousands of miles with no problems.

oh and the dash is cool since its orange. headlights work good at night too.

sound system upgrades arent easy either. radio is integrated into the dash. i believe an indash CD changer is an option though.