Last year, Popular Mechanics awarded their first Car of the Year award to the Ford Escape, but in its second year, Mazda has taken the magazine’s top honor.

In a joint press release, Mazda and Popular Mechanics announced that the 2014 Mazda6 was named Car of the Year. Vehicles that were in consideration for Car of the Year were judged by editors and contributors to the magazine, and their final decision was based on affordability, utility, fuel efficiency, performance, innovation, and bold design. Popular Mechanics also wrote in the announcement on their website that the Mazda6 is an “underdog story” that won the award because Mazda made a “truly great car.”

The 2014 Mazda6 comes with impressive standard features on the 2014 Mazda6 include leather steering wheel and shift knob, six audio speakers, MP3 audio input, USB connection, and front reading lights. Safety-wise, it also comes with standard 4-wheel ABS, dual front side-mounted airbags, front and rear head airbags, stability control, and tire pressure monitoring. In their review, Edmunds gave the Mazda6 a B rating, and at the time of publishing, it had earned a consumer rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Readers, what do you think? Have you checked out the 2014 Mazda6, and did it deserve to win Popular Mechanics’ Car of the Year award? Leave a comment below, and let us know what you think!

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