In an era when almost everyone is rushing headlong into autonomous vehicles, I’m glad #mazda still believes #cas16
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Photo taken at: McCormick Place
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2016 Scion iA First Drive – Just Walk Up From Behind and Get In
A dozen years after Toyota launched the Scion brand as a way to attract younger customers into the fold, the world’s largest automaker is hitting the reboot switch. After some initial success with the first-generation xA and xB, the second-generation xB and the xD that replaced the xA never really caught fire with consumers. While the tC coupe and the FR-S have done reasonably well for their segments, Scion is about two launch two new bread and butter models, the C-segment iM and the B-segment iA which I’ll discuss here.
Could Mazda Return to Le Mans with a Hydrogen Rotary Hybrid
The 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans will actually mark two very important anniversaries in the history of the world’s most famous endurance race. It will be the 50th anniversary of the first of four consecutive victories by the legendary Ford GT. It also marks the 25th anniversary of Mazda’s only victory with the rotary-powered 787B. Just after Ford announced it’s return to France next year, Mazda’s Nubohiro Yamamoto told Top Gear magazine that he would like to see the Japanese brand return to the endurance race.
2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring AWD – It’s the Crossover With Zoom-Zoom
The typical American car buyer is a fickle beast, constantly evolving and chasing the latest fashion. You might think that as the second biggest purchase that most people make after their home, selecting a vehicle would be a more rational decision, but in reality it is often far more emotional. That’s probably why the crossover utility vehicle has become one of the hottest segments in the market with the Honda CR-V and Ford Escape each selling more than 300,000 units in 2014 and numerous other models in the segment topping 200,000. For Mazda, the compact CX-5 is the brand’s second best seller, just behind the Mazda3 and selling nearly twice as fast as the midsize Mazda6 sedan. I recently got to spend a week with the 2016 CX-5 Grand Touring AWD to see if it lives up to the brand’s fun-to-drive philosophy and came away impressed.
2015 Mazda3 s Grand Touring – It’s great fun
2015 Mazda3 s Grand Touring
As someone that is terribly fond of driving, especially in fun cars, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about the prospect of human-driven cars becoming obsolete some day. Then again, I’m old enough and there are enough technical, legal and ethical problems to overcome that the fully autonomous car may not arrive in my lifetime. Alternatively, if all cars were as enjoyable as the 2015 Mazda3 s Grand Touring, there might not be any customer desire for cars that handle the driving.
2015 Mazda6 Touring – A Sedan Saving the Stick
The 2015 Mazda6 represents an endangered species. Don’t worry, Mazda is in no immediate danger of going defunct, in fact it’s currently in a real renaissance period. What makes this particular car a dying breed is the fully manual gearbox.
For the 2015 model year, the number of midsize sedans available in America with a three pedal layout has dropped by nearly half. Both the Ford Fusion and Hyundai Sonata have lost their stick shift options as a result of extreme customer apathy, leaving only the 6, the VW Passat and the Honda Accord.
Am I the Only One Not Loving This?
Let me preface this by saying that I know as well as anyone that adequately capturing a sculpted three-dimensional object like a car in a static two-dimensional medium like a photograph can be extremely difficult. That said, I’m just not digging the face of the new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Last night, Mazda finally revealed the all-new next generation MX-5 Miata and while there appears to be much to love about this roadster, the front end is leaving me cold. This is a problem with many cars including the new 2015 Ford Mustang. I was fortunate enough to actually see a full-size model of the new Mustang in the studio months before I saw photos of it, but others that saw photos first didn’t car for much of the styling until they saw it at an auto show or on the road.
For 25 years, I’ve loved the clean, simple design of Miata which began life by taking inspiration from classic British roadsters like the Lotus Elan. The shape has aged extraordinarily well over time. The new edition is the biggest visual departure yet from the original formula.
From behind and in profile, I think it works great. I actually see quite a bit of inspiration from the Honda S2000 which also looks better in the metal than photos. The steeply sloping nose looks great from the side. But moving around the front, the headlights in particular just don’t seem to look right.
Mazda has been even more stingy with technical details than we were at Ford when we revealed the new Mustang last December. However, the European press release does say the new MX-5 is 100 kg (~220 pounds) lighter than the current model. How much of the weight savings survives to the U.S. model remains to be seen, but at least Mazda has been on the right track with all of its recent introductions.
Since I wasn’t in Monterey for the big reveal last night, I’ll reserve judgement until I actually see the new MX-5 in person. The worst case scenario is that I’ll still hate the face but I’ll never see it from the driver seat which is ultimately the only angle that really matters.
