2014 Mazda Mazda3 I Touring on 2040-cars

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2019 Mazda CX-5 fuel economy takes a hit with new turbocharged engine

We learned all about the 2019 Mazda CX-5 last week, and now we've discovered fuel economy for its new 2.5-liter turbocharged engine. Unsurprisingly, it gets slightly worse fuel economy than its naturally aspirated counterpart. The 2019 turbo crossover, which only comes in all-wheel drive form, gets 22 mpg city and 27 mpg on the highway. Front-wheel drive CX-5s with the naturally aspirated 2.5 liter net you 25 mpg city and 31 mpg highway — all-wheel drive drops 1 mpg in both categories. For a little comparison, the turbocharged engine makes 250 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque on 93 octane gasoline, while the non-boosted engine makes 187 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque. You're definitely taking a hit in fuel economy, but the gain in power might be worth it, since the decrease isn't that terrible. Cars in its price and power range with all-wheel drive have comparable fuel economy. The Ford Escape with the 2.0-liter turbo is rated at 20/27; Chevrolet's Equinox with the 2.0-liter turbo is 22/28 and the VW Tiguan gets 21/29. There isn't really a clear winner in fuel economy for this much power when you look around the segment, but Mazda's engine is half a liter larger than everyone else. This translates to better torque than most of its competitors, but Mazda manages similar fuel economy. Also similar to many of these decked-out compact crossovers is the new high price of the Mazda we wrote about before. You won't be getting in to the turbocharged CX-5 for any less than $35,865. If you wanted a bigger Mazda like the CX-9, its fuel economy figures aren't significantly worse than the CX-5. Front-wheel drive versions are rated 22/28, and it drops 2 mpg in each category for all-wheel drive. The updated 2019 CX-5 should be coming to dealers soon. Related video: Featured Gallery 2019 Mazda CX-5 View 9 Photos Green Mazda Fuel Efficiency Crossover SUV mazda cx-5

2014 Mazda6: Winter's End Update

The Winter Without End is seemingly dead. Outside my office windows, my brown and yellow lawn is fully exposed to the increasingly powerful sunshine, the morning birdsong is louder than anything until the garbage trucks start rolling, and I'm seriously considering having the summer tires put back on my personal fleet. That last one is a little scary, as I'm a firm believer in the April Snow Jinx, but you get the idea.
The long-term Mazda6 has also long since left my driveway. Looking back on my notes from the time it was in my charge, however, I see all remarks are dominated by one highlighted section at the top: "worst winter drive of all time." I hardly need the reminder, to be honest. Here's what happened.
When the Mazda showed up at my door, we'd already fitted the thing with its new winter rubber: Bridgestone Blizzaks. Plunking down for dedicated snow tires was a near necessity this year - as it almost always is in Michigan. We didn't see much reprieve from snow-choked, iced over roads here in Ann Arbor, and the knobbier rubber proved invaluable in getting me out of my house time and again.

Leaked images show digital gauge cluster for Mazda3

Most everything divulged about the 2019 Mazda3 so far has focused on the trick Spark Controlled Compression Ignition (SPCCI) Skyactiv-X engine. If a series of photos posted on a Chinese website are accurate, it looks like Mazda has novel plans for the cockpit as well. The three images show a three-color, all-digital gauge cluster in two different configurations. The first configuration places a three-digit speedo in the center of a blue-ringed tachometer, with gear indicator and water temp displays on the left, fuel range calculator and what appears to be a funky clock on the right. The second configuration splits the tachometer to the left and the speedo to the right. In between them is what looks like a road surface display for automatic cruise control. Trip info lies just under the blue-banded road, while water temp, fuel gauge, gear indicator and range info line up across the bottom. A swath of empty space on the left could be where Mazda's relocated the current car's passel of warning signals. Of note: Everything around the digital gauges appears to come straight from the current Mazda3. The instrument panel surround, the steering wheel and buttons, the stalks, all of it is lifted from today's car. If the photos are what's headed our way on some trim of the 2019 Mazda3, though, they show a clean, handsome evolution of the no-nonsense cluster in the current compact hatch. Mazda's worked up a head of good press on the run-up to the Mazda3 launch for both the engine and the dynamics. We're told we'll get between 10 and 30 percent more torque from the 2.0-liter SPCCI Skyactiv-X, and about 25 percent better fuel economy compared to today's 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G. Handling-wise, the jinba ittai philosophy — horse and rider as one — has led to engineers reworking everything from tire sidewall stiffness to multi-contoured torsion elements and the mounting and shape of the seats. The hatchback's torsional stiffness climbs by 30 percent, any excess rigidity countered by 7.5 meters of "matrix resin material" applied in 16 places on the body "to absorb vibration and dissipate it as heat." The point has been to eliminate dynamic static between the driver and the road, and then to give the driver the best natural seating position to take advantage of the body's reflexes to dynamic input. At the same time, this digital gauge cluster might also give that driver something tasty to look at. Related Video: