2009 Mazda 3 S Hatchback Touring 4-door 2.3l on 2040-cars

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2014 Mazda6: July/August 2013

Our newest long-termer - the Soul Red 2014 Mazda6 seen here - arrived in my driveway at the end of June. Without hesitation, I immediately put it to work as a daily driver, carpool bus and family vacation sled, and it accomplished all of those tasks with aplomb. Now, more than 4,000 miles down the road, I am left convinced that Mazda's latest midsize sedan is one of the best in its segment.
During the past 60 days, I have subjected the Mazda6 to scorching travel across Southwestern deserts, wheezing climbs over 8,000-foot-high Sierra Nevada mountain passes and basking in the cool ocean breezes of Malibu. It traveled with four passengers and a full load of luggage from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe, and it braved the bumper-to-bumper freeway congestion on a weekday trip down to San Diego. It accomplished everything that was asked of while hardly skipping a beat - it has only required a regular sip of unleaded fuel to keep it moving forward.

2020 Mazda6 Signature Driveway Test | A luxury car interior with a non-luxury price

The 2020 Mazda6 Signature is pure luxury on the inside. If one were to remove the Mazda badges and replace them with Audi’s four rings, or LexusÂ’ stylized L, customers may not even bat an eye. Alas, that is the point of MazdaÂ’s range-topping Signature trim. Mazda fancies itself a “premium” car brand at this point, and the Mazda6Â’s cabin does an excellent job of selling that theme. A luxury interior starts with excellent and original design, and then itÂ’s finished with quality materials. Anybody can throw leather, suede and wood around, but if the design itself isnÂ’t moving, the fancy materials look tacked on. Mazda has managed to ace both the design and material quality sections of its test with the Mazda6 Signature. ThereÂ’s beauty in simplicity, and the Mazda6Â’s interior exemplifies that. A wide, sweeping dashboard dominates the view from the driverÂ’s seat. An endless swath of soft-touch UltraSuede is front and center, splitting the climate controls from the vents and infotainment screen above it. Mazda says itÂ’s “adorned with a subtle gold tint,” and itÂ’s made in a similar fashion as ornate kimonos. I found myself staring at the stitching running the full length of the dashboard. ItÂ’s topped by a silver strip that extends from one side of the cabin to the other into the side air vents. Interestingly, the side air vents extend beyond the rest of the dash into the door, so they look like silver metal wings sticking out with the doors open. Above the silver strip is something Mazda calls “Sen Wood.” It looks and feels like real wood, because it is — Mazda says Sen wood is used in taiko drums and Japanese furniture.   And then thereÂ’s the lovely continued presence of physical buttons for vital controls. All of the climate control options are integrated into a classy strip just below the suede in the center of the dash. The buttons themselves are high quality, easy to find and satisfying to use in their action. Same goes for the climate control temperature knobs. They turn with precision and give a clear indication of each degree of change. The ribbed faux metal (it's extremely convincing as real metal) surround on the dials makes it feel like youÂ’re changing the climate control on a car that costs twice as much as this Mazda does. Even some luxury cars donÂ’t offer the same level of tactility and satisfaction in their controls.

Jay Leno brings a rotary-powered VW Beetle to the garage

It takes something really unique or inventive to pique Jay Leno's interest. His show, Jay Leno's Garage, has featured everything from concours-worthy classics to completely custom, home-built machinery. How do you get Leno to feature one of more than 20 million Beetles on his program? Stick a turbocharged rotary engine under the hood. The Beetle's owner, Mario Markakis, swapped the car's stock flat four-cylinder for the Wankel engine from a 1990 Mazda RX-7 Series 5 Turbo. The engine's 250 horsepower are fed through a reinforced version of the Beetle's stock four-speed transmission. That's about five times the original engine's output. It works well, with the car putting down some impressive times at the drag strip. Markakis did most of the work to the Beetle in his garage. In addition to the engine swap, he's modified the car's brakes, suspension, and interior. Check out the video to hear all the details of this custom Wankel-powered Volkswagen. Related Video: Celebrities TV/Movies Mazda Volkswagen Classics Videos Jay Lenos Garage rotary mazda rx-7