  I drove the Passat and the new '05 Legacy before I bought the 6. The Mazda is the right balance of size and price. The test drive is the clincher. The Mazda is more about the drive where the Passat is about the ride. The Mazda's reliability reputation is better than the VW's as well. The Subaru's all wheel drive gear gives it a smaller interior than the Mazda. The 6 had a large advantage in price over the Subie. I loaded it up (ordered car) with Sirius, Bose, auto-tint mirror, moonroof, cassette and CD changer, cargo tray, all-season mats, cargo floor carpet (should be standard!) and the car after rebates and discounts was a still reasonable $25,000. The 2.5GT Subaru was pushing $30,000!