1993 Mazda MX6 LS review from North America

Considering its age and mileage, very few.

Spark plug cables needed replacing every 80k km or so - the only reason for engine misfiring.

Valve cover gasket leaked oil into spark plug wells.

Power window switch spring broke.

Hand brake cable needed replacing around 150K km.

That's about it.

When the car was new as well as today, it has been one of the best looking cars on the road. It was a trend-setter in its time, and I believe the first one to sport those sexy eyes. Its look has a certain timelessness to it, making people not familiar with the MX6 often surprised that it is actually 11 years old. If it is not becoming a classic, it should be. I only wish that there is a model car made after it. I'd buy a dozen and give them to my Honda and Toyota friends.

It is a common car in Vancouver, BC, but rare in the east. Drive one into Washington DC and it would be a head turner.

It was her looks that made me buy her, but driving it is to know what a sport coupe should be. Her V6 engine is silky smooth, her power evenly distributed over the RPM range and at 180K km, is purring the way she did when ten years younger, and giving the same gas mileage - about 550 km per tank. All I did was to change oil regularly, and sometimes not too regularly, and put in engine treatment once every few tanks.

It has a great 6-speaker sound system.

Its suspension is somewhat stiff for someone used to driving a Rolls Royce (not me), but it can hold the same curve at twice the speed. All the way to skidding, body lean is minimal.

Its ergonomics, at least for me (5'9") is superb.

Her straight line performance is superior to those of her counterparts in Honda and Toyota, which are usually 4-cylinder machines.

Its gear ratio makes the engine rev a little too high at highway speeds for my liking - e.g. at 100 kph (about 60 mph), the engine revs at about 3200 rpm, with the engine having all kinds of power to spare. While the lower gears are fine, they could have spread out the gear ratios over a broader rpm range so that the engine revs at below 2700 rpm at 100 kph.

Her horn sounds a little reedy. But with looks like hers, she never needed to blow her own horn.

I wish her alloy wheels look more refined to match the refinement in the rest of her.

All in all, I love this car. I used to change cars once every two or three years. This one has kept me for over a decade.

It is a sad loss to the auto industry for Mazda to discontinue the MX6 line.