Auto News & New car review

Hakaze is the third concept vehicle expressing Mazda’s ‘Nagare’ design language. Mazda Motor Corporation unveiled the new Hakaze design concept at the 77th annual Geneva International Motor Show, being held through Sunday, March 18, 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

We hear reports that Mazda is fueling its growth by stocking American rental companies with product. Normally, this sales strategy is a sure way to run a brand into the ground; to ensure that factories build The Least Objectionable Automobile rather than something inherently worthwhile. Not in this case. In fact, you could say that Ford’s Japanese partner has created the world largest, perhaps best demo fleet for the four-cylinder Mazda6i. If you have a choice, make it your default option. Read the rest of this entry »

Living in Southern California, it’s always a fun week when something with the ability to go topless arrives on your doorstep. With 20 years of top-down motoring chops under it’s familiar ‘soap bar’ shape, espying the bright red, ‘Power Retractable Hard Top’ MX-5 brings a smile to one’s face. Read the rest of this entry »

Meet the Biante, Mazda’s new Japan-only 8-passenger minivan. The funky oversized headlamps, expansive greenhouse, and stylish frenched taillamps are the work of Iwao Koizumi, designer of the original Atenza (Mazda6 outside Japan) and CX-7. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2008 Mazda Tribute has been redesigned on the outside and inside, although the engines and chassis are the same. Built by Ford with Mazda tweaks, and a fraternal twin to the Ford Escape, the Tribute took model year 2007 off but it’s back for 2008 and offers more value than before. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2007 MAZDASPEED3 is one of the fastest and quickest front-wheel drive cars in the world. With a zero-to-60 time under six-seconds and an electronically limited top-speed of 155 mph, MAZDASPEED3 is the class of the sport-compact “pocket-rocket” crowd. Read the rest of this entry »

The Mazda CX-7 fits neatly into the zoom-zoom mold: sporty but functional; roomy but svelte; snappy but comfortable. It has a surprisingly powerful, and fairly frugal, turbocharged four-cylinder engine, with a state-of-the-art six-speed automatic transmission, motivating a sporty-looking and sporty-handling five-passenger vehicle that will haul nearly as much stuff as it does people. Read the rest of this entry »

First launched in 2003, the Mazda RX-8 series unveils the 2009 model at the 2008 North American International Auto Show. Mazda hopes it that the RX-8’s refreshed exterior and interior design, enhanced performance, and a new R3 sport package will further the evolution of the four-door, four-seater sports coupe. The 2009 model features Mazda’s twin-rotor “RENESIS (Rotary Engine genesis – or rebirth of the rotary engine)” rotary engine. Read the rest of this entry »

“It truly is an honor,” said Jim O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North American Operations upon receiving the North American Truck of the Year Award for the 2008 Mazda CX-9 crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV) at the 2008 North American International Auto Show. Determined by 48 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada, the prestigious award recognizes the most outstanding truck of the year, a category that includes conventional pickup trucks, body-on-frame SUVs, and crossovers. Factors considered for the award include innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. Read the rest of this entry »

The restyled Mazda5 wasn’t an official debut at the Chicago auto show, but that was our first opportunity to check out the changes Mazda has made to its small van for the 2008 model year. Read the rest of this entry »