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Welcome to a Taxi check of the 2018 master six, where they keep it supper simple with their entertainment system.
And you can operate it using the touch screen, but only while your soft.
Other than that, it's all done from the rotary dial down here in between the seats.
And honestly, I kinda like the rotary dial.
It's nice and clicky, really easy to use.
So when I go into my settings, here's where I can scroll across and really customize my car to be exactly the way I want it.
Nothing new really, there.
Moving into navigation, Mazda gets it right in a few places but a little not-so-much in other places.
So along here in the bottom I can input a new destination.
So now when I go in to find an address Mazda doesn't really give me the option of one box entry.
I need to enter my city and then my zip code and then my street name and then my house number.
It's kind of annoying.
I wish it was all together in one box.
But I do have Point of Interest search and I can filter by name.
So if I know for sure that I wanna, say, go to Starbuck's.
I can go ahead and put that in.
The problem is that, I can only use this [LAUGH] rotary dial and it takes forever.
Moving on to my phone, it was really easy to connect my iPhone but here's the thing, there's no Apple car plate or Android auto.
Now, starting in July, you will be able to go to the dealership and have it installed.
And in December, they will be offered from the factory but for right now, Doesn't have it.
Moving along to your radio.
Again, nothing new here, really easy to set your presets.
Really easy to find your favorite radio station.
And then coming along here to applications, yeah, not quite so much.
There's no Yelp, there's no Pandora, there's no Stitcher.
Just a traffic map, fuel economy and vehicle status.
Fortunately, Mazda has got a whole suite of driver's aids and I really wanna tell you about them.
So let's hit the road and check them out.
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Mazda's driver's aids are designed to keep you really engaged with your ride.
And now we've got adaptive cruise control that can follow a lead car in front of you and then bring you to a complete stop.
It's one of my favorite technologies, but one problem with here in the Mazda 6 is that, when you engage it and you want to set your distance, the screen in the center doesn't automatically go to the adaptive cruise control.
I actually have to cycle through it from this info button on my steering wheel.
I mean it's a tiny little thing but still I think it's something that Mazda should have caught.
There's also blind spot monitoring and lane keeping assist and lane departure alert.
The lane keeping assist can be set to different kinds of alerts like vibration or a beep but right now I've got it set on rumble.
[LAUGH] It's the funniest thing.
[LAUGH] And the Mazda 6, of course, has a backup camera, but this signature trim also has a 180 degree forward facing camera.
Now, it's cool technology to have, but the resolution on the screen is just not very good.
They really need to up their camera game.
If you'd like to learn more about the 2018 Mazda 6, we've got a full review right here on Road Show with a video, words, and pictures, so be sure to check it out.
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