Only review that more or less
Only review that more or less mirrors my experience. All the others bring up the Accord 2.0t and we're all supposed to fall down in amazement at the Honda's accelerative capabilities, as if that was the only relevant factor.
It isn't. The major difference in Mazda's favor is far less road noise, then there's better ride, steering and interior. The Mazda and Honda dealer in my hilly city are directly across the street from each other. I drove a midrange 6 turbo and Accord Sport 2.0t, retail price the same to a $100 within an hour of each other over the identical course of about 15 miles from inner urban city out to and on the four lane highway, and back.
I've been trying to replace my old '08 Subaru LGT for about four years, and nothing at any reasonable price has come close to being as good. These two aren't either; if Subaru still made the B4 GT, I'd have a new one tomorrow if not tonight. But compared to four years ago, when I did the same Mazda6 and Accord comparo and both were frankly laughable by comparison to my car, at least the gap is closing.
The Accord has tire noise from 10 mph on up, and it never went away, a constant whir. It's noisier than than my own car on its Michelin Sports. Not good from my perspective. The really stupid pushbutton drive mode selector has no Hold feature I could find, so using the paddles to downshift and using engine braking coming down the steep hills into the city to gradually decelerate means pecking away like a madman on the ten speeds left paddle until you get the correct one, then if you touch the gas pedal again due to traffic circumstances, boom you're back in Drive. Utterly useless. The Mazda works like my car - use the paddles to get the gear you want, then slide the shifter over to the manumatic position to hold. Honda brain fade.
On the highway, the Mazda is serene, utterly vibrationless and straight-tracking. Yeah, it's way better than mine there - found myself speeding. The Accord is what you'd expect, nothing special. Around town, well, neither car is particularly agile because they're long. Not nippy. And neither has the lunge I'm used to at low speed - they're already in too high a gear by 10 mph so feel constipated. Anyway, neither is a sports sedan.
In the infotainment area, the Honda outclasses the Mazda's low rez screen by a country mile, not even close; plus it's easier to get out of because the door opening is bigger and B-pillar further back. I also preferred the driving position to the Mazda's. Good start. Then you move the Accord off the lot and boom - intrusive tire whir.
Sitting at traffic lights, the Mazda makes you feel rich; the Accord Sport for the same money has cheap cloth seat bottoms, and an interior made out of dozens of low-sheen plastic pieces, feeling quite utilitarian by comparison. From a standing start, full throttle up a short on-ramp made little difference to merge speed, but the yipping Honda roaring through many short gears makes you feel like a hero, while the Mazda just gets on with it. I'd agree that the impression the Mazda engine makes is that it never works up a sweat, and never notices hills either. It's a wafter.
As usual, a combination of the two cars would be ideal for me, at least. Not going to happen, because that's life. So, no sale for now, but if the LGT conks out, I'd get the Mazda 6. The fact that it doesn't look like a beached whale is another point in its favor.
I also have driven the Fusion 2.7tt, and the seat bottoms were comically short, ending a full six inches before my knees and I'm only 5-9. Ten minutes of that and I was uncomfortable as all get out, so no to that thing. I have to say, reviews these days are of the "once over lightly" variety, and you get little of the real spirit of the car. Nothing I can do about that, so once again we're all left to actually get off our butts and go and drive the things. But most people would rather argue fine points on internet forums without ever trying cars out physically, which about sums up the state of the world -- opinions not facts rule the day, paper specs and hidebound fanboyism-perception triumph over reality.