Like last year, I’ve test-driven some cars during my vacation. I drove so (relatively) many this year, so I thought I’d write down some of my impressions. All the cars are the latest model. I drove all cars the same route which is a stretch of curvy road in a residential area where I used to live, then a very curvy paved country road, and last a stretch of highway.

Mazda 6 Advance (2.0 MZR, 147 hp, 184 Nm)

I drove the Mazda 6 last year too, and I just love its gearbox. It’s 6 speed and feels very solid and precise. The latest version has the same gearbox. The clutch is a bit “short”, but you get used to it quickly. The engine in this year’s version feels more alert and feels surprisingly sporty despite only having 147 hp for such a big car. The car over steers a bit, but that’s expected. The suspension feels good even on rougher roads. The boot in the hatchback version is very roomy and there’s plenty of space for driver and passengers. The car is about as big as my Toyota Camry, but I’d rather have a smaller car. The Mazda looks OK, but I’m not too excited about the design. The controls on the steering wheel are so-so.

Pro: Nice gearbox, alert engine, handles pretty well
Con: A bit big, anonymous design

Mazda 3 (I think it was the 1.6 MZR, 105 hp, 145 Nm)

This car felt pretty “normal”. The 3 doesn’t have the same short clutch as the 6 and the gearbox, although good, is not as good as the 6’s. The Mazda 3 doesn’t feel as sporty as I would have thought. If you hit a sewer lid it feels like you’re going to go off the road. There is also a fair amount of road and wind noise. The car felt just OK, but the 6 was more fun to drive.

Pro: OK gearbox, handles OK in corners
Con: A bit noisy and feels unstable

Audi A4 (2.0 TDI, 143 hp, 320 Nm)

Since I drove the Golf last year I drove the Audi instead this year (VW and Audi are sold at the same place where I spent my vacation). This is a diesel, but it felt very responsive and stuck nicely to the road. You almost didn’t feel like you were driving at all, which is good in one way and very boring in another. The dash was very nice with a nice information display smack in the middle. The controls on the steering wheel weren’t that good though. They were meant to be innovative and usable, but you end up staring at the information display all the time because it’s a whole lot of menu navigation.

This car is more expensive than the others I drove and it was the only car that I felt afraid of breaking. Although it stuck nicely to the road I didn’t feel entirely comfortable entering the corners at high speed. The boot is roomy and it looks pretty aggressive. I used to like Audi a lot, but I’ve kind of lost my interest in the brand.

Pro: nice design, luxurious, nice information display
Con: expensive

Subaru Impreza (2.0 R-S, 150 hp, 196 Nm)

I’ve have been undecided for a while whether or not I like the design of this car. It usually looks a bit weird in pictures, but I like it in real life. Especially with the sports package. I just love the sound of the Impreza’s engine. Very rally-like. With the symmetrical 4WD this car feels great on curvy roads. I took one long sharp curve in about 120 km/h (75 mph) with this car where I didn’t dare go faster than 80-90 with the other cars. The gearbox feels good too and the controls on the steering wheel are intuitive. The top speed of this car is supposed to be 193 km/h (122 mph), but I think that it’s electronically limited if that’s the case, because I went over 180 and it still felt like it had more left in it.

When driving on the highway you notice the lack of turbo. There’s plenty of power, but you end up flooring it from time to time if you don’t shift down. The WRX has a turbo engine which is much more powerful, but the WRX costs 300,000 SEK compared to the R-S which costs 220,000.

It’s a shame that the included stereo doesn’t have an USB port so that you can play mp3s from a USB stick, but I don’t think the other cars had that option either. And when you start thinking about details as that, you’re pretty satisfied with the rest of the car. The boot seems easy to load stuff into and the seats fold down so you get a completely flat floor (not a slope like the Toyota). All the controls, like AC, are easy to use. I’m very happy with this car.

If I got one, I’d like a dark grey metallic one (red oxidises, black looks dirty easily, silver is dangerous (because the car is harder to see), white actually looks good but gets dirty easily, the blue is kind of blah). The sport version that I drove also had one of those key-less start buttons and key-less entry. Pretty cool.

Pro: Excellent handling, sporty feel, AWD, back seats fold down flat
Con: No turbo

Mitsubishi Lancer (1.8, 143 hp, 177 Nm)

I’ve been eyeing the upcoming Lancer Ralliart SportBack and thought I’d take the regular Lancer for a spin. It looks pretty cool despite its Volvo-ness. But, boy, what a disappointment! The engine is very quiet and the car is pretty comfortable. But there is horrible road and wind noise! The car feels like a huge resonance box. I drove it on the same roads as the other cars, but I almost got a headache. The interior feels pretty plastic-y and the boot is pretty small and seems hard to load. The suspension is OK on bumpy roads, but the car doesn’t handle all that well in corners. I was looking forward to driving this car, but what a let-down.

Pro: looks pretty nice, quiet engine where you still can hear the revs
Con: extreme road noise (!), cheap interior, mediocre handling

Toyota Auris (2.0D, 126 hp, 300 Nm)

This diesel feels pretty convenient as a city car. It’s easy to park (you know where the car is at all times) and the diesel engine gives excellent power. It doesn’t feel very sporty though and there is a fair amount of road noise, although nowhere near as much as the Lancer. It handles well, but you don’t feel like driving too fast through a corner. The AC and stereo controls are very unintuitive and the design of the car is pretty anonymous. The interior feels pretty solid and you sit comfortably. The boot is about the same as the same volume as the Impreza, but there’s a ledge down to the floor when you load and the seats don’t fold down completely flat like in the Impreza. This car feels like a great city car though. But it’s surprisingly expensive. At 206,000 SEK it’s almost up there with the Impreza, which I feel is a more entertaining car. The warranties are about the same for the two. The Auris also comes in a 2.2 diesel at 177 hp and 400 Nm, but that costs 234,000.

Pro: easy to park, pretty good fuel economy, comfortable
Con: doesn’t feel very sporty, relatively expensive

Now I’ll attempt to rank the cars with the ones I liked most at the top:

1. Subaru Impreza
2. Mazda 6
3. Audi A4 *
4. Toyota Auris
5. Mazda 3
6. Mitsubishi Lancer

* I’m not really sure about the ranking of this car, but it’s not higher than 3rd.

So, the Impreza is my favourite. I actually liked it more than I thought I would. Too bad about the turbo, but the leap to a WRX seems a little big… or does it?

I’m not really looking to buy a new car now. My current car runs fine and I don’t drive that much. I commute by train and if I moved into the city there wouldn’t be much of a need to drive either (it’s not a car friendly city).

Just a side note about navigation systems. The dealer told me that the navigation system that was in the Impreza I drove would cost about 40,000 SEK extra, or was it 20,000? Either way that’s just insane! You get an excellent stand-alone navigation system for about 5,000 and then you’re free to exchange it when a better version comes out, and you still get a CD changer with the car.