Mazda3 Gray S Sport Stick Shift Moonroof Loaded Runs Great Inspected Sunroof on 2040-cars

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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.

Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.

It wouldn't be a European auto show if we weren't teased with at least one mainstream vehicle we can't have here. At the Geneva Motor Show last week, the small but vocal contingent of shooting-brake buffs lamented that the Mazda6 wagon won't be coming to our shores, although they can take comfort in the fact that the vehicle won't get the torquey 250-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine we'll get here. Mercedes-Benz also announced a new headlight technology in Geneva that likely won't be available here anytime soon. It's just the latest in a long line of innovative and potentially lifesaving front-lighting solutions that the federal government doesn't allow in this country due to outdated standards — and a current lack of leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Mercedes-Benz's new Digital Light system that debuted in Geneva uses a computer chip to activate more than a million micro-reflectors to better illuminate the road ahead. The Digital Light headlamps works with the vehicle's cameras, sensors and navigation mapping to adjust lighting for the given location and situation and to detect other road users. The Digital Light technology also serves as an extended head-up display of sorts by projecting symbols on the pavement ahead to alert drivers to, say, slippery conditions or pedestrians in the road. And it can even project lines on the road in a construction zone or through tight curves to show the driver the correct path. Digital Light will be available on Mercedes-Maybach vehicles later this year, although like any technology it's bound to trickle down to less expensive vehicles. That is, if we ever get it here in the U.S. Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads. And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either.

2019 Mazda3 fuel economy announced for AWD, hatchback models

Although Mazda engineers gave us fuel economy numbers for one configuration of 2019 Mazda3 at the car's Los Angeles debut, there were still a few versions left out. Now Mazda has released the data for every body style, drivetrain and transmission configuration. That includes the all-new all-wheel-drive iteration, which we will have a full review of this week. Discerning these numbers is a tad tricky since there are three powertrain combinations for each 2019 Mazda3 bodystyle, and they all get slightly different fuel economy. We've listed the different combinations in a chart below: There are a few key takeaways, the first being that the sedan is always the most efficient version of the Mazda3, likely because of better aerodynamics compared to the hatchback. Second, all-wheel drive will cost you fuel economy due to the extra weight of the axles and differential, and the added drag on the engine. Third, the most efficient versions of each body have the same fuel economy numbers as the outgoing Mazda3. The manual transmission-equipped Mazda3 has actually improved fuel economy over the old version by 2 mpg on the highway, and 1 in combined driving. Also worth noting is that only one trim level of the sedan is available with cylinder deactivation and front-wheel drive, and that's the top-level Premium trim. Opting for all-wheel drive on any trim or body style will come with an engine with cylinder deactivation. The hatchback is also the only Mazda3 available with a manual transmission, and it's only offered on the front-drive version.