19 Nov 04
There's even more performance thanks to - and this is the simple bit - a straightforward Hitachi turbocharger. There's no variable vane geometry or adjustable nozzle diameter here - just a small, fast-spinning air-cooled blower. The result is an all-alloy unit that develops 250bhp at 5500rpm and 280lb ft of torque at 3000rpm - enough grunt to haul the 1540kg MPS6 to 60mph in 6.6 seconds and on to 148mph. Brisk, but compared to some of the more radical Japanese offerings out there, hardly breakneck.
"We didn't want to do a faux rally car - we wanted some subtlety to go with the car's power, coupled with accessibility and everyday drivability," explains Joe Bakaj, Mazda's head of product engineering. That said, the MPS6's on-paper performance pales beside its real-road pace. It's a very quick and easily driven ground-coverer that makes short work of the boring straight bits and gets a real glint in its eye come the corners. The key to MPS6's speed is its deep and accessible torque reservoir. No matter what gear or at what engine revs, stomping on the long-travel throttle sends the MPS6 bolting forward with real enthusiasm. A nostrilled air-intake sits flush beneath the 45mm higher bonnet and channels air into the intercooler, which explains its bulging profile.
Above 2500rpm, the engine delivers a deep and rich flow of torque, more like a big-capacity naturally aspirated V8 than a small blown four-cylinder, and the engine revs cleanly and quickly with a dry, raspy redline exhaust note.
The all-wheel-drive system has an active torque split system, which doles out torque to the axle with the most grip. It has three switchable programmes - Snow, Normal and Performance. As you'd expect, the Snow system kicks in when the car's raft of electronic sensors detect high levels of wheel spin, shifting all the torque to the front wheels. Normal mode splits the torque equally between axles for high-speed stability and best traction, and Sport gives a heavy rear-wheel-drive bias for more spirited tail-happy handling.
