2007 Mazda Rx-8 Grand Touring Coupe 4-door 1.3l W/ Navigation on 2040-cars

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Hiss off! Venomous snake takes refuge in Australian man’s engine bay

A man who went out for a walk in suburban Sydney got quite a surprise when he returned to his red Mazda. Left on his windshield was a hand-written note warning him that a venomous red-bellied black snake had taken up residence in his car. "Hi," the note read, "this afternoon a red Belly slithered up into your front left tyre. Please be careful." The snake is a native of wet areas of eastern Australia that can grow up to 2.5 meters (about 8 feet), making it one of Australia's largest venomous snakes. They're considered dangerous, but shy, unlikely to bite unless severely agitated. When Michael Garbutt popped the hood, he found the snake coiled up inside in the corner. "To say I was shocked is an understatement," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "On reflection I don't think I would have put my hand out to pop the bonnet if I had known it was there." So he took to Google to look for a local snake wrangler and found Andrew Melrose, of Shire Snake Catchers. By the time he arrived, the snake had moved down into the engine. Then it moved behind the wheel guard, and then under the engine to the front bumper, then back to the right front wheel. Melrose said he coaxed it out by gently touching its body. "I've done it my whole life," he said. "It looks simple but if you haven't done it before you can get killed real quick." In the end, Melrose ended up grabbing the snake from the ground outside of the car and dropping it in a bag. The whole de-snaking process took about an hour. Melrose said the snake is common on the swampy peninsula area where it was found, since it finds plenty of frogs, eels and other creatures to eat. He says it's common to find them in cars. "If they get startled they look for the first place that is safe," he said. "The place I found it was very bare. There was no place for the snake to escape. People would have startled it and the only place for it to hide was the car. The driver could have driven off unaware and parked and the snake would have left the car when it felt safe." So let this be a lesson for you, Autoblog readers: familiarize yourself with your local venomous snakes. And keep the number of your local snake wrangler handy at all times. Or just don't move to Australia.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Unknown Auto News Weird Car News Mazda snake

2015 Mazda3 shows its shape

Mazda's new Kodo design language is set to quickly spread across the automaker's entire lineup, judging by these spy shots of the next-generation Mazda3 that show some very familiar styling cues. No matter, we're impressed with what Mazda has done on the CX-5 crossover and Mazda6 sedan in terms of design, and we're happy to see the C-segment hatchback ditching the smile-for-a-mile Nagare design.
It's unclear what sort of architecture is found below the new Mazda3 - our spy shooters suggest that the car could simply be using a heavily massaged version of the Ford C1 platform found under the current car. Our best guess is that it's actually a reworked version of the platform used in the CX-5 crossover, however, chocked full of weight-saving Skyactiv technologies. After all, the CX-5 plays in the compact CUV segment, and those vehicles are commonly based on C-segment platforms. And besides, there's probably some economic savings at work with the new chassis - both in terms of fuel efficiency and economies of scale. Still, no one is totally certain what lies under all that black-and-white paper at the moment.
The new Mazda3 is targeted to arrive for the 2015 model year, meaning we could see a final production car debut as early as this year. We expect the hatch you see here to debut along with a traditional four-door sedan, and unless we hear otherwise, we don't doubt that a Mazdaspeed version will be far behind.

2021 L.A. Auto Show roundup | All the reveals, reviews, pictures

The L.A. Auto Show took place this week for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. It was a show packed with news and reveals, which hasn't really been the case with other shows we've seen this year, and Autoblog was on the floor covering every minute of it. Well, Riswick and Stocksdale were, anyway. The rest of us were sitting at home in our sweatpants, but hey, we'll take credit anyway. Let's get to it. Hyundai Seven Concept This is the Hyundai Seven Concept, and it’s meant to act as a preview for an incoming electric SUV for the Ioniq brand. It leans more toward the concept side of the spectrum than a production car, but expect the final SUV to take design cues from the Seven Concept. Kia Concept EV9 The Hyundai Seven counterpart isn't the only big, bold electric SUV at L.A. this year. Kia has its own take, and it's a modernized version of the traditional boxy utility vehicle called the Concept EV9. It also previews one of the next production electric cars for the brand, which should look right at home next to things like the Telluride. 2023 Kia Sportage HEV As promised, the 2023 Kia Sportage HEV has been revealed. The hybrid powertrain makes the compact SUV the most powerful version available, and it goes on sale next year. The engine is a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder paired with a 44-kW electric motor. Total output is 226 horsepower. The company didn't give a torque number, but it should basically be the same as the Sorento HEV that has the same basic powertrain: 258 pound-feet. Those numbers are a healthy step up from the 187 horsepower of the base 2.5-liter engine. 2022 Range Rover If you noticed how extra smooth and suave the new Range Rover looked during its recent reveal, Autoblog's James Riswick got a design tour that revealed some of the technological secrets to its success. "Less is more" is harder to achieve than it looks. Fisker Ocean Fisker has brought the new Ocean EV to the L.A. Auto Show, with a public preview at Manhattan Beach and a presence at the show itself. You can watch the public show reveal above, and see more shots from the show floor below. Fisker says the Ocean will start at $37,499 before incentives. That entry model would be the Sport trim with a single, 275-horsepower motor driving the front wheels and 250 miles of estimated range. It also has a 0-60 time of 6.9 seconds. 2023 Toyota bZ4X This is the 2023 Toyota bZ4X, due to hit U.S.