New Mazda6 zooms to keep up with Camry

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Oh dear. The Toyota Camry/Honda Accord stranglehold on the mid-size sedan segment might soon be broken. Those cars are going to get some serious competition in the form of the 2009 Mazda6. This is an all-new model, bigger and with more interior space than the car it replaces, plus more powerful engines. The smallest, a new 2.5-liter four-potter, joins the tried-and-trusted 3.7-liter V6 found in the company’s award-winning CX-9 SUV.

On sale later this summer, the new Mazda6 (which is the third consecutive Mazda be to be designed and engineered specifically for North America) will be available as a four-door sedan exclusively, with three trim levels: Sport, Touring and Grand Touring. No prices have been set yet, but a 2008 Mazda6 starts at $18,990. Since the market is ultra-competitive right now, don’t expect much of a deviation from there. The last model was pretty good to drive, so this one should be even better.

-- Colin Ryan