I’m going to admit that I didn’t really buy into the hype when the updated 2013 came out. It was stylish and handled well, but for a company whose tagline used to be “Zoom, Zoom” it felt a bit slow. with an available turbo motor and now those cars offer some serious pre-owned values.

The Mazda 6 is a staff favorite and at a time when everyone is buying crossovers, it remains one of the nicest sedans you can buy. In 2018, the 2.5-liter turbocharged motor making 250 horsepower, and 310 lb-ft of torque was standard on the Grand Touring, Grand Touring Reserve and Signature trims. The GT came well-equipped with leatherette seats, Apple Carplay/Android Auto, and a bevy of advanced safety features. The GT Reserve and Signatures piled on even more luxury features.

“Hey! Pretty car!” a random dude shouted to me as he jogged past. I was taking a dramatic picture…

I will even argue that when it comes to a combination of performance, style, technology and build quality it’s hard to find a better car, at least from my perspective as a professional car buyer.

Now the interesting thing about the pre-owned 2018 Mazda 6 is that the depreciation curves for a one-year-old car are surprisingly favorable for a Japanese automaker. This is mostly because the market for sedans, in general, have waned in popularity. That and the Mazda brand doesn’t quite hold the same weight for most buyers like Honda and Toyota. The result is a lot of lightly used cars with a ton of features and turbo power for under $25,000.

Here is a fully loaded 2018 Mazda 6 Signature that originally retailed for $36,000 with barely 1000 miles for under twenty-five grand.

Now, you personally might point to a used German sport sedan as a better buy, but you will lose a lot of technology and warranty while only gaining marginally better performance for the same money. If it were my money, I’d be looking at Mazda.