Test drive Mazda Xedos 9 1993 - 2001 sedan
Ninth shaft
Still, whatever you say, and the so-called brand brand in the world of cars sometimes means almost more than, in fact, the products manufactured under this brand. It is especially difficult for Japanese automakers in this regard. There are once manufacturers of cheap small studies, these companies, which are now, in fact, leaders in their market sectors, produce many models of various classes, but the problem is that they are sometimes perceived by potential consumers as mass brands. It is difficult to compete with traditional European leaders of the Japanese: after all, in addition to the initially higher quality of manufacture, their products should have some advantages that can convince the buyer. This is not possible for many, and the more convincing the example of one Japanese manufacturer, who was one of the first to dare to enter the European and American markets with relatively expensive cars of the so-called business class. The speech, as you could already guess, is about the Xedox brand - the luxury department of the Mazda brand, under the flags of which are produced cars of the middle and business class. A sort of trial ball was the Xedox 6 model - a sports sedan made on the basis of the 626 model and competing with the notorious BMW of the third series. As the sales level showed, the buyers accepted the novelty more than favorably, and therefore literally two years later the model of a higher class - Xedox 9 went into the series, which, in fact, became the face of the brand in the European and even in our market. You can read the second -generation of the second generation of the second generation of the Xedox 9 in this article. A few years ago, the phrase prestigious Japanese car simply cut a hearing with its inconsistency of reality, but now it no longer causes such a negative reaction. For less than a decade, Japanese stamps were needed in order to become almost equal with the luminaries of this, so to speak, genre. And if other Japanese automakers immediately took the quarry, starting to give new models to compete with Cadillac and other prestigious stamps, then Mazda decided to not be enough from the sky - Xedox 9 competed primarily with German representatives of this class, such as such as Mercedes E and BMW of the fifth series. Which, by the way, was the reason for her Japanese-German character, both in appearance and habits.Appearance? We can say ... outstanding, although, recalling the latest Mazda concepts, you come to the conclusion that, if desired, they could make a brighter car. Everything is beautiful, in accordance with the branded style, but now all representatives of the vast Mazda family have such a pronounced beak, so it is still somehow not very impressive. And if in front of the new model is recognized immediately, if only thanks to the same beak, then guess which car, this or previous generation, belong to the rear lights, will be difficult even to a specialist. The resemblance to the previous generation of Xedox 9 can be found in any details, starting from the common body contours and ending with the architecture of the cabin and the dashboard. Apparently, there is some sense in this, because it is impossible to blame the designers of the company that they do their job poorly: the previous Xedox 9, despite the fact that it appeared in the early nineties, still looks quite modern and prestigiously. And this, apparently, will not be the last violin in the orchestra of this class.
Like the outside, inside the new (or still updated?) Mazda Xedox 9 has a minimum of revolutionary changes. The color scheme was different, something was made more convenient, better, but in general everything remained in their places. And this means that there is no need to expect any ergonomic miscalculations from the car, because the previous nine in this regard was almost the standard. For the above reasons, the same thing can be fully attributed to the tested car. What is gratifying, Xedox 9 was one of the first to get rid of the innate disadvantage of the vast majority of Japanese -made cars - grayness and the facelessness of the design. You can judge the photos by the external decoration, but the fact that the design of the instruments of this car cannot be confused with any other is already perceived as the emergence of the style of a la Mazda. The sixth Xedox was about the same characteristic growth at one time, then he, having a little modesty, migrated to the nine and now quite claims to the title of family line.
As for everything else in the cabin, here Mazda cannot be called a pioneer: a chic leather finish in a stylish fold, and electric drives of all seats, and even an automatic gearbox in this class have long become standard equipment. Another question is that all this is done with a traditionally high quality car for cars, and ergonomics in this model is simply at a height. The concept of the lack of internal space to the Mazda Xedox 9 is not applicable at all: the car is surprisingly spacious, as it should be sedans of this class, although the puffy rear seats are slightly interfering with the fast entrance and output. But on the other hand, there is space and grace, and even my comrade, equipped with more than a hundred kilograms, felt quite convenient there that it happened to him very rarely. But the most struck by noise insulation. If it were not for the amazing beauty of the vacuum-luminescent dashboard, on which the tachometer showed less than a thousand revolutions, then it would be very difficult to understand, it would be very difficult. Yes, and in the movement of the soloist power unit is difficult to name. In the first gear, when it is twisted to the red zone on the tachometer, its sound is still heard in the cabin, but on the second and then the noise of the motor comes to naught. It is only a pity that about the same thing happens with accelerated dynamics - on the first it seems to be significantly pressed into the chair, but it is worth the machine to go to the second stage, you can judge the level of accelerations only by the quickly moving speedometer arrow. By the way, at 140 km/h, the noise level is about the same as in idling at idle by a golf-class car. Even large external mirrors, the main ones sang at such a speed, are silent here, and I won’t be surprised if at maximum speed, and it is 212 km/h, the case will be about the same.
You can talk about the prestige of a particular brand for a long time, but for me the only measure of the consumer qualities of cars, especially with relatively expensive models, is its price in a used form. More precisely, not even the price, but how many percent of its initial cost it loses during operation. It is strange, of course, to talk about this, testing a completely new car, but in this way you can find out who is who is. And I must say that if in a new form some try to compare the Mazda Xedox 9 with other classmates about the same cost, although in the ratio of price-equipment there are very few equal to it, then the used Xedox 9 beats competitors in all respects, and first of all because, because, because, because that at the initially lower cost in the course of years, the model loses much less in price than the main competitors.
Pavel Kozlovsky
