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2014 Mazda6 gets up to 38 mpg, priced from $20,880*

The 2014 Mazda6 starts at $20,880 - *excluding a $795 destination fee - and will offer buyers up to 37 mpg highway in base form. That money will fetch buyers a 2.5-liter four-cylinder paired to a six-speed manual - a setup packing 184 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque. The Skyactiv powertrain is good, Mazda says, for 25 miles per gallon in the city and 37 mpg on the highway. Stepping up to the six-speed automatic gearbox will yield an additional 1 mpg in city and highway driving for up to 38 mpg highway. Despite offering more equipment, the base 2014 model carries a modest $155 price increase over its 2013 predecessor.
Available trims include i Sport starting at $22,495 and i Touring at $24,495 (*both excluding destination charges). The latter swaps the standard car's 17-inch wheels for 19-inch rollers and includes dual-zone automatic climate control and leatherette sport seats among other niceties. Buyers can snap up a tech package that includes TomTom navigation and an 11-speaker Bose Centerpoint sound system for $2,000. Keyless entry, rain-sensing wipers and the company's Smart City Brake Support are all part of that kit as well. Check out the full press release below for more information, and look for more details on the diesel-powered 2014 Mazda6 as we get closer to that vehicle's launch.

Junkyard Gem: 1989 Mazda MX-6 GT Turbo

The Mazda MX-6 is best-known in the United States as the sibling (or maybe first cousin) of the Ford Probe, which almost became the successor to the Fox Mustang. The MX-6 and Probe were well-engineered and very quick for the era, but never enjoyed great American-market sales success. Here's a rare first-generation MX-6 GT that I photographed last week in a Denver self-service yard. 145 turbocharged horsepower was pretty good for 1989, when a new Honda Prelude Si had 135 horses and the far more expensive BMW 325i ($24,650 for the 325i coupe versus $14,499 for the MX-6 GT Turbo) had 168. This one doesn't have the optional four-wheel steering, but it does have the three-way adjustable suspension. If you drove a turbocharged car in 1989, you needed a nine-band equalizer with analog sliders on the radio. It was the law. It's not rusty, but at 205,575 miles it's worn out. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The Japanese-market version was known as the Capella C2, and it boasted some great TV commercials. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "A better value in high-performance luxury sports coupes comes from our intense commitment to your total satisfaction." As always, the US-market TV ads are less interesting than their Japanese counterparts. Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 1989 Mazda MX-6 GT Turbo View 21 Photos Image Credit: Murilee Martin / AOL Auto News Mazda Coupe Classics

Mazda keeping non-hybrid, non-electric Skyactiv strategy

Mazda still thinks that it can buck the trend of adding those fancy batteries and electric motors to its cars. At least for a little while longer. Hopefully. Speaking to Auto Express recently, Mazda's European boss, Jeff Guyton, said that he expects his company's cars to be able to get a lot more efficient without resorting to any of that fancy electrification stuff. "I think there's at least 20-30 percent better fuel economy by the end of the decade," he said. He said that he expected to get to Europe's low target of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer, "without any significant deployment of electrical drive." This part is all in line with Mazda's long-term Skyactiv strategy, as laid out back in 2011 and first mentioned publicly in 2010. Remember, this is the company that once proudly proclaimed, "Not Electric. Not Hybrid. Not A Drag To Drive." As explained back in 2011, Mazda hopes to wait until other automakers have done all of the heavy lifting on developing plug-in and hybrid tech so that when Mazda enters the market, things will be cheaper. Of course, Mazda has been quietly testing all-electric vehicles and Guyton said that there may be an Mazda EV at some point. "We are interested in electric technology and it will be in the distant future when it will be quite important," he told AE. "But we think it will take some time to be commercially attractive without tax payer-funded incentives." How much of a delay? Well, there is a gas-electric Mazda 3 hybrid available in Japan that uses some powertrain parts from the Toyota Prius, and we all know that the Prius has been around for ages. Maybe in 2025, Mazda will come out with a Leaf-based Mazda 2. Related Video: Green Mazda Fuel Efficiency Electric Hybrid skyactiv mazda skyactiv