I just finished reading the review on the diesel and I have to say I'm disappointed with the performance. I would have thought that double the torque and a few more horsepower would have more then made up for the extra 100 lbs. I can't be the only one who was hoping for some more zoom zoom along with a higher towing rating for the oil burner. Let's hope those figures change when and hopefully if it comes to the States.
Read my thread regarding reviews on diesel. The 0 to 62 speed might come off as the same figure, but it's how it feels when you drive that counts.
I am due to drive diesel on Saturday, so you'll hear it from me directly.
But in the meantime, the dealer I spoke with said Mazda provided training yesterday on the diesel launch date.
Mazda tried to convince them that performance was the similar (no doubt using the same 0-62/0-100 figure you quoted). But he said in practice, the difference was significant.
His words: chalk & cheese
The diesel was a MUCH better vehicle.
In Australia and Japan, diesel was expected to be about 10% of sales.
So far the figure in Japan in 75% of sales, and pre-sales of the diesel in Australia look like proving it's also going to go that way.
It was thought that because diesel isn't available on the bottom model in Australia, that the petrol sales would be massive. But so far, sales of entry model have accounted for about 10% of sales.