MazdaSpeed6: who knew!

Friday night, we struck up a conversation with John, from the Winding Road race car business, about our MazdaSpeeds.  We have a MazdaSpeed3, a little Zoomer.  He has the MazdaSpeed6, no longer in production.  He and the Winding Road crew weren't going to be at their store on Saturday; they were going to be at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack.

 

Here's the skinny:

The 2006 Mazdaspeed Atenza (known as Mazdaspeed6 in North America and Mazda 6 MPS in Europe, South Africa and Australia) is a high-performance version of the Mazda 6. It features a turbocharged version of the 2.3 L MZR I4 which produces 272 PS (200 kW) (European version is detuned to 260 PS (191 kW); the North American version, at 274 hp (204 kW), revised to 270 hp (200 kW) for 2007). All models have 280 lb·ft (380 N·m) of torque. This 2.3 L DISI turbocharged engine features direct fuel injection and conforms to the new Euro 5 emissions standards. It has a revised front fascia with a raised hood, a 6-speed manual transmission, and all-wheel drive. The all-wheel-drive system uses Mazda's Active Torque Split computer-based control, which routes up to 50% of the power to the rear wheels depending on driving conditions.

Car and Driver magazine has achieved a 0-60 mph time of 5.4 seconds for this vehicle.^[5]