Mazda 6 = hot mess
The older 2.3 V6 was pretty darn good IMHO. Loved the look also.......a car I'd definitely want in my garage at some point.
The 2.0 was a bit down on hp, but so is the Legacy N/A.....150-160 hp feels lack lustre in a car of that weight.... (M6 might be a bit better in performance in terms of whp in this respect).
The best way is for the buyer to take a drive, or at least SIT in both and see which he likes. He can't form an opinion based on OTHER people's preferences.......
AS for parts, Subaru parts might be easier to get..... I've sourced parts for dad's Legacy (n/a as well) through the firm pretty easily. Southern sales on the other hand is known to be troublesome at times when getting parts.
Basically we're going back and forth about which car would be a better purchase for a young, first time car buyer
First time car buyer?
Don't limit yourself to a granny-mobile like a Corolla cuz yuh "green". Consider an Altezza, or the new model Civic (if yuh wanna get a new car)........
....but definitely a 1.5 Honda Fit (manual). I've always loved those......I priced a RORO on Japan auction for around 6700 USD (2005 IIRC)
1.5 iVTEC........so that could cost anywhere from 65-95K (not sure how much dealers call for it)
It's that good.......and there's a reason why the faceliftd 1.5 made Motortrend's top ten picks for car of the year recently