The Mazda 6 represents one of the sportiest exterior designs in the mid-size sedan class. Visually, it has more personality than the Accord and more spunk than the Camry. The 6 comes with a strong front-end treatment that's consistent with other Mazdas. Cat's-eye headlamps and big tail lamps featuring multi-element designs enhance the action at each corner of the car.
The Mazda 6 benefits from a kind of muscular conservatism inside and out. Everything in, on, and under this car makes sense, and it all looks good doing it. The relationship of the lower body to the upper body looks perfect, yet the roof shape is designed for people, not for style. Its sporty styling makes the Mazda 6 look smaller than it is. But because the Mazda 6 replaces both the mid-size 626 and the more expensive and luxurious Millenia, it's bigger in all directions than the old 626.

The shape of the Mazda 6 is truly fetching when painted a hot color and accented by the Sport Package ($710), which includes clear-lens halogen fog lamps, dual oval exhaust outlets, front and rear air dams, and side sill extensions. A rear wing is optional ($60).
The 5-Door features an extended rear roof pillar sloping rearward into a raised deck lid. As Mazda says, it looks fast even when sitting still. The Sport Wagon features aggressive styling, though it doesn't look as sporty as the new Mazda 3 wagon.

The Mazda 6 interior is designed to be comfortable for front and rear passengers in the 95th percentile of all body shapes. The front seats are comfortable through a wide range of adjustments. We found them suitable for hard driving, with good upper body support and enough lower back support with the optional lumbar adjuster for all-day comfort. The Luxury Package ($1540) adds leather to all the right places, including perforated hides for the seating surfaces.
The rear seats are also quite comfort-able. There's more than 96 cubic feet of useable space inside the Mazda 6 sedan, according to the EPA measuring system, and that translates to plenty of room for four, or five in a pinch.

There are half-liter cupholders in the doors and in both front and rear center consoles, and lots of other open and covered storage. The seat pockets and door pockets are huge. Our only complaint is that the interior door handles lacked heft.

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The interior design is complemented by carbonfiber, titanium, and body-color finishes. The sharp-looking gauges are illuminated in red light, but are conventional white-on-black during the day, with nice, large and pleasing graphics. Controls are equally well-labeled, legible during the day and illuminated in red at night.

The trunk is a good size at more than 15.2 cubic feet, and the trunk lid is designed with hinges that do not impinge in any way on the storage space. The compact, lateral-link rear suspension system allows for a perfectly flat trunk floor. The 60/40 split rear seat folds to expand luggage space. The release levers are in the trunk, a plus for security and convenience, and the seats themselves are spring-loaded so they fold instantly with just one pull of the release.