1993 - Mazda Rx-7 on 2040-cars

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IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards get tougher: Here are the latest winners

Automakers love to trumpet the accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but the agency keeps making its best grades harder to achieve. For 2020, it is raising the bar again, requiring a better score in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test, wider availability of top-performing headlights, and automatic emergency braking systems that effectively avoid collisions with pedestrians, in addition to its previous benchmarks. Why the 2020 criteria is harder: To be named either a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, the required performance in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test has been raised from Acceptable to Good, meaning that the model must achieve Good ratings in all crash tests. The Nissan Rogue, for example, scored an Acceptable in the passenger-side small overlap crash, and so it loses its Top Safety Pick rating for 2020. To achieve either of the top ratings, a vehicle's automatic emergency braking system must effectively avoid hitting pedestrians as well as other vehicles. (The automatic emergency braking system can be optional, but then the award applies to the model only when so equipped.) Any vehicle whose automatic emergency braking system does not include pedestrian detection would lose its TSP or TSP+ rating for 2020, the Ram 1500 being one example. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the model can have no variant with headlights that achieve less than an Acceptable rating (most new cars have different headlights — often LEDs — that are exclusive to upper trim levels).

2021 Mazda CX-5 gains new infotainment, cheaper entry for the Turbo

Mazda has updated the 2021 Mazda CX-5 with a couple notable changes in the new model year. It’s the brandÂ’s best seller by a longshot, and we think buyers of the 2021 car will like what Mazda has done. The infotainment system is new this year, as Mazda has yanked its new screen and software out of the Mazda3 and CX-30 for duty in the CX-5. That means thereÂ’s a new 10.25-inch high-resolution widescreen sitting atop the dash, and the software itÂ’s running is much improved over the previous Mazda infotainment. ItÂ’s also the end of the touchscreen, because Mazda has designed this new system to be exclusively operated by a rotary dial. Previously, you could operate the CX-5Â’s screen via touch if the vehicle was stopped. We prefer the new system greatly over the old interface, so this is a big upgrade. The new screen comes standard on the base Sport trim, and both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also standard. Secondly, Mazda has added availability of more safety systems this year. Both rear automatic emergency braking and a driver attention monitor (alerts the driver when it senses fatigue or inattentiveness at the wheel) come standard on the Signature trim. For those who buy the Signature (or any trim with the 2.5-liter turbo engine), Mazda has added a new “Turbo” badge to distinguish the cars with the more powerful engines. There are a couple trim/packaging changes for 2021, as well. The first weÂ’ve already covered: the Carbon Edition. Two Carbon Edition models will be available; one has the turbo engine, and the other has the standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder. You get Polymetal Gray paint, gloss black trim on the exterior, 19-inch black wheels, red leather seats, red stitching and black honeycomb patterned interior trim. The second new trim package is called the Touring Preferred SV Package, and it costs $1,445. It fills the small gulf between the Touring and Grand Touring trims by stealing some of the features from the Grand Touring and splitting the difference on price. This package adds the Bose 10-speaker audio, leather seats, power liftgate, power moonroof, auto-dimming rearview mirror with Homelink, six-way power passenger seat and eight-way power driverÂ’s seat with lumbar and memory. The 2021 CX-5 starts at $26,370, which amounts to an $80 increase over the 2020.

Mazda Mexico debuts Mazda3 Turbo before official U.S. reveal

We should have been keeping an eye on our neighbors to the south, who did us the favor of showing off the turbocharged 2021 Mazda3 last week. The automaker teased the reveal for the U.S. market to happen on July 8. It's reasonable to expect slight changes between our two countries, but the Mexico introduction makes a good base to know what we're getting. The prime specs: 2.5-liter Skyactiv-G turbocharged four-cylinder with 227 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. As suspected, this is the same engine found in the Mazda6, CX-5, and CX-9. As such, we expect those output figures are based on using 87 octane gasoline; in the other three Mazda offerings, 93 octane gas unlocks 250 hp and 320 lb-ft. So at worst, the Mazda3 turbo makes 41 hp and 124 lb-ft more than the naturally-aspirated engine in the current hatch and sedan. At best, the improvement runs to 64 hp and 124 lb-ft. Comparing the turbo Mazda3 to the segment-standard Volkswagen Golf GTI, the incoming 2021 German will make 241 hp and 273 lb-ft. Only a test drive will reveal how the battle of sportiness vs luxury turns out for the Mazda. The numbers make a case for the former, but there's enough of the latter to sway us into believing this will primarily be a quicker Mazda3, with nary a hardcore edge. The only transmission mentioned is a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters that sends power to both axles via mandatory all-wheel drive. In Mexico there are only two Mazda3 trims, which start at 329,990 pesos ($17,050 U.S.) and 429,900 pesos ($19,294 U.S.). The turbo will introduce two new trims there that start at 489,900 pesos ($21,987 U.S.) and 529,900 pesos ($23,782 U.S.), MSRP increases of about 29%. For the supplemental dosh, the Mazda3 turbo in Mexico comes with a leather interior, sunroof, 12-speaker Bose audio, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, LED headlights, blind-spot monitoring and auto-tint side mirrors, reversing sensors, and black 18-inch aluminum wheels.  Other than those black wheels and some badging, though, there's nothing to differentiate the forced-induction model from the naturally aspirated one. When a Jalopnik source tipped that site to some 2021MY Mazdas based on dealer codes, there was a "MAZDA3 HB PP TURBO." That "PP" likely stands for Premium Package, which is the highest trim offered on our Mazda3 right now, already comes with 18-inch black wheels, and starts at $28,445 after destination.