For $3,000, Could This 2006 Mazda 6 Wagon Have You Going Zoom-Zoom To Buy It?

With a smooth six and a stick shift, today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mazda longroof might just be in it for the long haul. That is, if its price doesn't make you long for something else.

The Ford Motor Company has long been a friend of the performance addict. Whether it be through the egalitarian sale of engines to scrappy start ups like Shelby and minor competitors such as Sunbeam or De Tomaso, or by building engaging rides themselves, the Blue Oval Boys (and Ladies) have always thrown us car nuts a bone.

One of those big bad bones—I'm thinking Tibia maybe—was represented yesterday by our 2001 Ford F150 Lightning Pick-'Em Up truck. That red rooster cock-a-doodle-doo'd to the tune of a claimed 400 ponies. It also looked to be holding up its end of the looking good bargain as well. That was pretty much all it took to earn its $13,950 asking a decent 54-percent Nice Price win.

You know one thing Ford doesn't give us any more? Yeah, it's wagons. At least not here in the States where their last sort-of wagon, the Flex will be soon flexing its way into the grave. At one time, Ford offered a slew of wagons, many with woodgrain siding. They also, for a good number of years, owned a sizable share in the Japanese car maker, Mazda.

At its peak, from 1996 to 2008 Ford owned 33.3% of Mazda stock, giving them the controlling share. Under the great divestiture led by CEO Alan Mulally—which also saw Ford shed interest in Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, Volvo, and shutter Mercury—that Mazda ownership was reduced to less than 3 percent.

This 2006 Mazda 6 wagon came before the corporate divorce (it's not you, it's me—I simply can't stand you any more), and the Mazda-engineered platform upon which it rides was borrowed by Ford to underpin its CD3 mid-size cars. Among those were the Fusion, Edge, Lincoln Zephyr, and Mercury Milan—remember the Milan?

None of those gave you the option of a wagon however. Mazda gave us not just a wagon like this car, but also a five-door hatch edition as well. I guess nobody told them those don't do well in the U.S. market. Good thing too.

This 6 doesn't just have being a wagon in its favor. It's also kitted pretty appealingly. Under the pointy prow there lies a Mazda-massaged version of Ford's Duratec 3-litre DOHC V6. That was factory rated at 215-horsepower and 199 lb-ft of twist in 2006. Next to that is a five-speed stick.

Yep, ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a six cylinder, manual equipped, mid-size wagon. The likelihood of coming across one of those these day rivals the availability of hen's teeth and Roy Moore's chances of getting a date to the Sophomore Swing.

The car is in... well, okay shape over all. The ebony paint seems decent, however there is some substantial surface rust popping through on at least one of the steel arches, along with some dings here and there. Distracting attention from all that are flat black-coated factory alloys, and a Rhino Rack scaffolding the roof. Over all I'm sort of digging it, and I'm hoping that by the end it sticks the landing.

There's 121,000 miles on the clock and the interior shows some war wounds from those, mainly in the splitting seams on the leather driver's seat and the grimy shine of the steering wheel rim, which is also leather.

Those seats are heated and there's a factory Bose sound system for all your talk radio listening pleasure. Out back there's a rubber cargo mat under the hatch which hopefully has kept the carpet clean back there. The mat itself looks like it could stand a good rub-a-dub-dub, preferably with Alax or something.

Being offered in Michigan—hence the road salt rust—the car comes with both winter and summer wheels and tires. I'm from L.A., I don't know much about that sort of baloney. Safe to say however, that having to cart home an extra set of wheels and tires just demonstrates the value of this 6 being a wagon.

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks. The seller's asking for this seemingly cool wagon is $3,000. He must really want that too since he's got the car listed multiple times on Craigslist, and on eBay as well. The price and description are the same everywhere, so we'll just go with the Craigslist ad.

What do you think about that $3,000 price for this Mazda 6? Does that make the wagon want strong? Or, is that price high enough to just let this 6 rust in peace?

You decide!

Grand Rapids, MI Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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