Mazda 6 Sedan

Make
Mazda
Segment
Sedan

If you've ever read the laundry list of features on an established luxury car like the Mercedes S-Class, you begin to see what separates it from the normal crop of people haulers. It isn't just the stylish design, expensive-feeling surfaces, or even the fancy features, it's the culmination of the lot that changes how a driver, passenger, and pedestrian feels about the car. Now, as Mazda begins its push upwards into the luxury segment, it's beginning to experiment with new technologies and features aimed at making a driver feel more relaxed.

The Mazda6 will be the first to get the coolest of these features, called G Vectoring Control, before it trickles down to the rest of the lineup. As much as G Vectoring Control sounds like a performance feature, it actually falls into the comfort and convenience category by aiding in the reduction of driver fatigue. To conserve the captain's energy, it triggers slight deceleration the instant that the driver turns the wheel by retarding ignition timing. This hardly noticeable deceleration places a higher load on the front tires, increasing the grip of the turning wheels. This is similar to what race car drivers do before a corner, only here it's a computer doing the work. The result is a smoother cornering feel and less need for minor steering corrections.

Steering conditions may seem like a minor inconvenience to most drivers, but Mazda claims that its GVC system will reduce driver fatigue in the long run over long distances by lessening the amount of work that needs to be done. Improved door seals and window insulation lessen noise inside the car, exacerbating the feeling of relaxation inside the cabin. As excessive as it sounds, the addition of the feature will only go further to increase the appeal of the Mazda6 over the competition even though Car and Driver already considers it the best family sedan in its class. By giving the Mazda6 a base price of $21,945, the Japanese automaker is trying to do what it can to edge out Toyota and Nissan with nice touches like the GVC system.