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2019 Mazda3 Hatchback AWD Premium Second Drive | Gushing about an exceptional car

The 2019 Mazda3 Hatchback is quite simply one of the best cars I've ever driven. During my week with one, specifically a range-topping Premium package version for $31,335, I struggled to come up with bad things to say apart from elements like rear visibility and back seat headroom that are directly related to its distinctive, avant garde design. That's an acceptable tradeoff in my book. So many of the new 3's elements can serve as a measuring stick for other cars. Not just its specific compact hatchback/sedan class, but all other cars, period. I had the Mercedes CLS 450 at the exact time, a car I deeply appreciate and that cost $69,000 more, and yet it was a struggle to decide which I wanted to drive. Perhaps not surprising given the 3's history, but the measuring stick is set first by the handling. It dances between corners with composure and feedback that you just don't get in cars any more Í– let alone at this price point. This is a car you feel through your butt, your heels on the floor and your hands on the wheel. Everything is just so right. And it should be noted that I came to this conclusion before remembering that Mazda switched to a cheaper, less sophisticated torsion beam rear suspension for this latest model. Perhaps you can tell the difference driving 10/10ths at a test track, but in the real world, I certainly didn't notice or log a complaint. Grip is superb. Even when the tires gave way a bit on my mountain road evaluation route, there was only a bit of squealing and it resolutely whipped itself through hairpins with shockingly little understeer for a front-drive-based car, helped no doubt by its all-wheel drive system. It would be interesting to see how much understeer the front-drive versions allow, and whether AWD is mitigating torque steer given the 3's not-insignificant power. As it is, the 3's standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder produces 186 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque, which is substantially better than virtually every other base engine in the segment. Its throttle response should be copied by everyone, as should the steering. OK, maybe not Porsche, which I keep finding myself drawing comparisons to whenever experiencing a new Mazda. Take that as the compliment it seems to be. I'd also like to note that the 3 has a six-speed automatic transmission rather than an easily confused eight-, nine- or eleventy-speed unit. Or a damn CVT.

Mazda and Toyota formally announce plans to 'make cars better'

Following Monday's report that Toyota and Mazda could be expanding their cooperation, the two Japanese automakers have made it official, issuing a joint press release announcing a "mutually beneficial long-term partnership" that will "make cars better." The two companies will set up a joint committee to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each party. As we explained yesterday, that likely means Mazda will benefit from Toyota's plug-in-hybrid and fuel-cell tech, while the world's largest automaker can take advantage of the Zoom-Zoom automaker's line of efficient Skyactiv engines. "I am delighted that our two companies can share the same vision and work together to make cars better. I can think of nothing more wonderful than showing the world – together – that the next 100 years of cars will be just as fun as the first," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in the attached joint statement. Mazda President and CEO Masamichi Kogai echoed that sentiment, saying: "I hope that by working together to make cars better, we can raise the value of cars in the eyes of consumers while also enhancing the manufacturing capabilities of our home, Hiroshima, and all the communities we are involved in as well." Scroll down for the official joint press release. Toyota and Mazda Team Up to Make Cars Better Tokyo, Japan, May 13, 2015-Toyota Motor Corporation and Mazda Motor Corporation today entered an agreement to build a mutually beneficial long term partnership. By leveraging the resources of both companies to complement and enhance each other's products and technologies, the partnership will result in more appealing cars that meet the diverse needs and tastes of customers all over the world. A joint committee will now be set up to evaluate how best to utilize each company's respective strengths. The committee will encourage broad and meaningful collaboration across a range of fields, including environmental and advanced safety technologies. Marking the agreement, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said: "As evidenced by their SKYACTIV Technologies and KODO-Soul of Motion design, Mazda has proven that it always thinks of what is coming next for vehicles and technology, while still managing to stay true to its basic carmaking roots. In this way, Mazda very much practices what Toyota holds dear: making ever-better cars. I am delighted that our two companies can share the same vision and work together to make cars better.

Mazda officially hints MX-30 could get a rotary range-extender

Mazda recently penned a paean to itself celebrating 100 years in business. This, naturally, meant the document also served as a love letter to the rotary engine, since, "The joy of driving, lightweight design and the rotary engine [are] three elements that define Mazda’s DNA." One of those elements has been AWOL for eight years, since the end of RX-8 production. After years of rumor feverish enough to impress Slenderman, two years ago Mazda announced it was prepping a rotary range-extender engine for a model to debut in 2020. Here we are in the anticipated year, and we still don't know anything else about that vehicle — or perhaps we do. When Mazda debuted the MX-30 battery-electric crossover in Tokyo last year, it bore an e-SkyActive powertrain with a 35.5-kWh battery sending current to an e-motor on the front axle producing 141 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. With a range of around 130 miles on the European cycle, even though the crossover was meant for markets like Europe and Japan, almost everyone chimed, "This would be perfect for that range-extender engine." The automaker has hinted at that very thing for its centenary celebration. In a paragraph touching on alt-fuel RX-7 variants, the Mazda press department wrote, "Later, the company developed a prototype Mazda2 EV with a small single-rotor engine used as a range extender. A similar system could find its way onto the Mazda MX-30, a brand new battery electric crossover SUV arriving at dealerships this year." The word "could" didn't make the leap from the printed page into the video translation of the presser, a Mazda video on "The Dream Engine" ending with footage of the MX-30 rolling under the caption, "Mazda MX-30 with rotary range extender." When asked, Mazda's head of R&D in Europe explained the battery size and resultant range with wheel-to-well considerations that factored energy input and emissions output from making the battery to exchanging the battery after 100,000 miles of driving. Since the carmaker doesn't deem the pure-electric MX-30 suited to the U.S., the question bubbling beneath the latest news is whether this revised model with more range could make it here. Given a suitably sized fuel tank that could power the little people mover beyond 150 miles on U.S. roads, and a fair price, we suspect there'd be a great deal of interest. Now, Mazda, about that rotary-powered RX-7 ... Related Video: