First Drive: The 2007 Mazda CX-9

Until recently Mazda customers have had to look elsewhere to have their Crossover or SUV needs met. Mazda unveiled their mid-sized CX-7 crossover about a year ago. And, last month Mazda launched their largest vehicle yet, the all new CX-9 Crossover. The CX-9 offers a blend of Mazda, sporty heritage [...]

MAZDASPEED3 Preview From Laguna Seca Raceway

It makes a continuous low-pitched humming sound as it reaches full speed. It’s really moving while making such a sound. It climbs suddenly and sharply. It moves rapidly and swoops. It is the Mazdaspeed3, and closely matches the definition of Mazda’s marketing mantra “Zoom Zoom.” The Mazdaspeed3 is the definition [...]

2006 Mazda RX-8: The Essence of Zoom-Zoom

Oh, joy! The 2006 Mazda RX-8 is in the fleet, and all is right with the world. One of our perennial favorites, it’s a serious sports-car with soul to spare. Mazda has done a lot right with this car–and it all starts with balance.

Round it up a couple of tenths, [...]

2007 Mazda CX-7 First Drive

At first, we weren’t particularly interested in the announcement of an all-new crossover SUV–the 2007 Mazda CX-7. A new car-based ‘ute is about as rare as a Hollywood wedding. Mostly, they’re ungainly, unexciting vehicles that trade the stability and light weight of a car for extra cargo room and [...]

2007 Mazda CX-7-First Look

Mazda has released details on the new CX-7 crossover SUV, a 2007 model which should be in dealerships this spring. Production of the CX-7 began last week in Hiroshima, Japan. Pricing will start at $23,750, making the curvaceous newcomer a quite comely competitor in the small SUV segment—where style [...]

2006 Mazda5: Pint-Sized People-Mover

Those wacky Japanese-thanks to them we get those neat t-shirts (you know, the ones that read “Super Happy Fun Boy!” or “Winning is for me #1!”), and that cool script that less-imaginative gaigin use to tattoo platitudes on themselves. We also get a glimpse of what their roadways must look [...]

Improving on an Original: All-New ’05 Mazda MX-5 Miata

It was this reporter’s birthday, and one of the last weeks of warm sun and late days–the kind of week that just begs for a fun car. Perhaps it was kismet that the all-new Miata–the newest version of the car that practically *invented* fun–was in our driveway. Perhaps it was [...]

2004 MAZDA6: It’s Definately a 10

One of the most crowded automotive categories is that of “mid-size sedan,” and it’s one that Mazda is quite familiar with. The 626 sedan competed for years against the likes of the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry, but it was never able to steal anyone’s thunder. Until now.

In case [...]