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The Mazda 6 is a fine car if you're looking for a mid-size family sedan. The V-6 is strong and smooth, the six-speed automatic selects gears smartly and without drama, and the ride is comfortable without being flaccid. Mazda also has the best-looking car in the segment with those dynamic, shapely fenders. Yet, when Mazda enlarged their American-market mid-sizer for the 2009 model year, they lost the biggest thing they had going for them: a car that supported their uniquely sporty image. Unlike the engaging Mazda 3, the 6 doesn't have that nimble, faster-than-it-actually-is feel.

The whole notion of heading to sunny Daytona Beach, Florida, on spring break never appealed to me, not even when I was in college in the cold, gray Northeast. The all-night parties, bad dancing, and inordinate amount of vomiting wasn't my idea of a good time. I much preferred my springtime stimulation in vehicular form. You know - jumping cars over enormous frost heaves. And perfecting rally-style e-brake turns through snow-covered hairpins. And seeing if I could get my brake rotors to glow white by the bottom of a badly paved, tree-lined downhill section of my favorite back road.