2008 MAZDA5: Less is More

Mazda has had a string of notable successes lately. The MAZDA3, CX-7 and CX-9 have all exceeded corporate sales expectations and have planted the Japanese automaker firmly on the map. With the 2008 MAZDA5, Mazda hopes to continue the positive sales trend.

The 2008 MAZDA5 Multi Activity Vehicle (MAV), if marketed correctly, should re-write [...]

2008 Mazda CX-9 First Drive Video

The 2008 Mazda CX-9 offers luxury and practicality (seating for 7) at an affordable price in the full-size SUV market. Surprisingly, since its introduction in 2007, the most popular model of the CX-9 has been the most expensive option, the $40,000 Grand Touring model. For 40 large, you can expect a sporty, yet [...]

2007 MAZDASPEED3 Video

The MAZDASPEED3 lived up to its name when our publisher, Charlie Romero, took it out at Pocono Raceway. The SPEED3 comes with a 2.3L direct-injected turbo engine that produces 263hp. The Sport package starts at $22,935 and the Grand Touring package at $24,650. If you are in the market for a FWD [...]

2007 Mazda CX-9 Video

Mazda’s 2007 CX-9 crossover SUV mixes sport utility with modern styling and comfort. With COMFORTABLE seating for seven (unlike some crossover SUVs that say seven, but really only fit five comfortably), ample cargo room, smart card key, and logical placement of controls, the CX-9 is the perfect vehicle for the family on the move. [...]

2007 Mazda CX-9: Bigfoot Goes Zoom-Zoom

The Mazda CX-9 is an automotive oxymoron. It’s a 200-inch-long, three-ton SUV from the same company that produced famous lightweights like the Miata, RX-7, RX-8, and assorted hot hatches. What does Mazda – the company with the infamous “Zoom Zoom” slogan – think it’s accomplishing by producing such a vehicle?

An awful lot, by [...]

Interview with Mazda’s Franz von Holzhausen

Franz von Holzhausen, director of design of Mazda North America, is responsible for all the products that come from Japan to our U.S. dealers. He started at Mazda on February 21, 2005, and the members of WAPA had the opportunity to interact with him on his two-year anniversary with Mazda.
He has since designed the Kabura, [...]

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 with a very well thought [...]

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 of zoom.

With the Mazdaspeed3, the [...]

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, and the RX-8’s weight distribution [...]

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 ground clearance that nobody uses. [...]

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 is often secondary to shape.

Ahead [...]

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 like-pint-sized, grinning machines straight out [...]