re: Mazda vs Toyota/Honda

The MX6 I had was more fun to drive than the Camry's and the Civic I had. Bought it new in December of 1989 and drove it until December of 2002. Replaced the radiator twice and the transmission once before I got rid of it. It only had 198K miles on it.

In the last three or four years I had it, it ran hot sometimes in Dallas' 100 degree heat. I replaced all of the hoses, but it would run hot that afternoon. The mechanics told me the radiator was low grade plastic. Said replacing it might solve the problem, so we did that. After the same running hot problem started back a couple of years later, I replaced it and got rid of it. I liked it enough to put up with that in it's last days.

Here's an Motor Week video of a 1988 MX-6 when they introduced them (on YouTube)

Mine had a five speed manual transmission. I wanted a manual transmission because I was driving around all day, and didn't want to be waiting on a 4 cylinder engine to get going. With the manual transmission, I cold take off as fast, or as slow, as I wanted.