96 Mazda 626 Lx on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2019 Mazda3 First Drive Review | Defining the term 'fun to drive'

Fun to drive. The phrase gets blasted from seemingly every car commercial, magazine ad, and influencer account – overused that it has lost all meaning. So when Mazda, a small firm that actually does make cars that are fun to drive, talks about their most compelling trait it gets lost in the cacophony of ad spends. However, we're here to tell you that yes, while it's difficult to quantify, some cars are objectively more fun to drive than others, and the all-new 2019 Mazda3 is — and this is a very technical term — a freakin' blast. At Mazda's behest, we took a 2019 sedan up Angeles Crest Highway just outside of L.A. With plenty of yellow signs, tight sequences of banked curves and elevation changes, it's the platonic ideal of those serpentine mountain roads you see in car commercials. The instant the Mazda3 reaches the windy roads, it glides in like an otter diving into the sea. Lively and graceful, it dances along a ribbon of asphalt more naturally than any compact sedan we've driven since the advent of drive-by-wire. The steering is not only direct and true, but possesses an extraordinary ability to maintain trajectory. From the moment you turn in, you never need to make adjustments to the steering wheel until the front tires are straight again. The car goes exactly where you intend, always. That's not hyperbole, but an amazing feat of engineering. In nearly every other vehicle, even those that purport to be sports cars, unless you're incredibly familiar with the machine and know the road like the back of your hand, minor mid-corner corrections are an inevitability. With the 3, you get it right on the first try. Now imagine you're on strip of canyon pavement with lots of short switchbacks in varying radii coming up fast, one right after another. The 3 links them all together with pure ease, and soon you're developing a rhythm through the curves. While other cars charge, the Mazda flows. The car's poise is particularly evident as momentum shifts from one direction to another, what Mazda chassis engineer Dave Coleman termed "transience." In most cars passengers are tossed around the cabin like mannequins, but the 3 cuts out the turbulence, its body engineered to move in a smooth undulation. At the midpoint of the transition, there's even a moment of weightlessness before the car tucks into the next turn and the seat seems to scoop you up and carry you onward.

This is the 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF targa-roof fastback

We knew Mazda was going to introduce a new Miata variant ahead of the 2016 New York International Auto Show, but the smart money was on a power retractable hardtop version that largely mirrored the last-gen car's folding number. So it was a surprise when the new 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF – retractable fastback – drove onto the stage sporting wild buttresses and a hide-away targa roof panel. The buttresses lift up and swallow the rear window and roof panel in a matter of seconds, and then the buttresses snug back down. This leaves a hoop spanning the buttresses, but at least it's done up in black to be less visually apparent. The result is more of a targa roof experience, rather than the previous PRHT which gave occupants essentially the same experience as the soft-top with the top down. No matter. The result is stunning, and will differentiate the RF even more from the standard MX-5. Mazda designers took extra care to make sure the interface between the MX-5's dramatic fenders and the trailing edges of the roof support provided enough visual drama. Mission accomplished, we'd say. We can't take our eyes off that part of the car. View 13 Photos As you might expect, mechanical changes seem to be minor, although we'll be asking for detailed specs. Both the 1.5- and 2.0-liter engines will be available globally, but only the 2.0-liter Skyactiv-G engine will be sold in the US. The roof can be operated at up to 6.2 mph. Mazda claims the truck space is unaltered from the soft-top model. We don't yet know how much, if any, the RF's mechanism adds to the bantamweight roadster, nor the premium it'll command. Expect those details closer to launch. Related Video:

Mazda 767B crashes during Goodwood, suffers heavy damage [UPDATE]

Update: Autoblog has learned that the Mazda 767B wrecked at Goodwood was being driven by Seniji Hoshino. He was not seriously harmed and was able to walk away from the crash. Hoshino's car was chassis 001 and scored a win in the GTP class of the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Mazda 767B Group C racer suffered a crash the Goodwood Festival of Speed that tore off the rear wing and did some fairly serious looking front end damage. According to Jalopnik, the racer was taking a timed run during the event's famous hillclimb when it went into the hay bales. The driver is reportedly okay, though. We've reached out to Mazda and Goodwood sources to identify the pilot in question, with no luck so far. Look for an updated post later in the day if we get any answers on that front. Images of the sad wreck seem to be populating on Twitter feeds as we write this. The racing Mazda clearly suffered a big hit today; painful to look at even after the fact. But we're not sure if the damage is beyond the abilities of skilled factory workmen to fix. Our collective fingers are crossed. Mazda has a major presence at Goodwood this year, including the event's art installation. Among all of its vehicles, there are two privately owned 767Bs. These racers have a four-rotor engine, said to be good for more than 600 horsepower in racing trim, and are predecessors to the famous 787B that scored an overall win in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.