Mazda Reviews & Ratings

Mazda CX-9 Review

By William C Montgomery
October 29, 2007 - 61,720 Views

I’ve spent countless hours rolling down serpentine highways through the deserts and mountains of the West’s big sky country. Hundreds of times my knuckles have whitened, pupils dilated and pulse quickened as I got up my gumption to pass a velocity-challenged vehicle. In my younger years, this TED (Time Exposed to Danger) was delivered courtesy of a wheezing four-banger struggling to crank out double-digit horse power. This week I put Mazda’s modern incarnation of the family hauler, the CX-9 Grand Touring AWD, to the test. Yup, it’s déjà vu all over again.

Mazda CX-9 Review continued »

Mazda CX-9 rating summary and performance review

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 53 comments

Mazda Mazda3 Review

By Joe Chiaramonte
March 14, 2007 - 132,314 Views

Opportunity doesn’t always knock; sometimes it breaks down the door with a crash. When my daily driver became the caboose in a rush hour conga line gone bad, I found myself in that placeless place where car reviewers go when the press fleet is permanently out to sea. To the chagrin of Saturnistas everywhere, I passed on the Ion proffered by the perky rental car desk jockey. At the appropriate moment, I gratefully grabbed the keys to a 2006 Mazda3 sedan. The four-door filly had been ridden hard and put up wet, bearing 16k miles. Another TTAC road test had officially begun.

Mazda Mazda3 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 82 comments

Mazdaspeed 3 Review

By Lyn Vogel
October 20, 2006 - 111,898 Views

I remember the day my Dad brought home a brand new ’66 Barracuda. While such an auspicious automotive occasion would make any Sting Ray-riding nine-year-old pop a wheelie, the ‘Cuda arrived on the same day The Green Hornet made its TV debut. Both productions proved equally fantastic. Plymouth’s fastback was an effort to sex-up their Valiant sedan with the equivalent of a low-cut party dress. Trouble was, the girl underneath was someone you could only really appreciate for her personality. How times have changed. To wit: the Mazdaspeed 3, an example of what today’s boffins can do with a basic economy car.

Mazdaspeed 3 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 70 comments

Mazda B4000 Review

By Jonny Lieberman
September 21, 2006 - 60,189 Views

I'm good with names. Meet me at a party. Five hours and seven beers later, I'll cruise up and say, "Hey Benjamin, how goes it?" That’s assuming A) your name is Benjamin and B) you’re interesting. If a person is as dull as Tuesday afternoon C-Span, then the part of my brain that puts faces to names shuts down. I mention this because I had to click over to mazdausa.com to figure out if I’m driving the B4000 or B4400.  Turns out it’s the former. Who knew?

Mazda B4000 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 59 comments

Mazda MX-5 Miata Power Retractable Hardtop Review

By Jonny Lieberman
August 31, 2006 - 77,065 Views

Why is it so hard for carmakers to get the little things right? Most of these guys have been building cars for over a century. Yet they put the pedals in the wrong place, or give their machine numb steering, or equip the interior with less style than a Day’s Inn. One reason: compromise. Manufacturer X could offer you perfect pedal placement, or share pedals between five models and save you a grand. Another case in point, who doesn’t want a convertible? Put another way, who the Hell wants a convertible? With the MX-5 Miata Power Hartop, Mazda has removed compromise from that particular equation.

Mazda MX-5 Miata Power Retractable Hardtop Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 64 comments

Mazda Speed6 Review

By Jonny Lieberman
August 25, 2006 - 72,773 Views

For a certified car freak living in the City of Angels, the drive to Las Vegas is a special treat. Sure, LA is only a traffic jam or three away from the kind of twisting coastal tarmac that ad makers and throttle jockeys adore. But the two hundred seventy-five mile haul across Interstate 15 to Sin City tells you everything you need to know about a car’s capacity for long distance love. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. My tale began when my friend and I jumped into the hairy knuckled Mazda Speed6 and set off for a suite at Caesar's Palace.

Mazda Speed6 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 52 comments

Mazda CX-7 Review

By Michael Karesh
August 4, 2006 - 58,330 Views If any mainstream brand can build an SUV that handles like a sports car, it’s Mazda. The Japanese automaker has a proven track record of developing vehicles with superior agility and dynamic appeal. Little wonder that ads for Mazda’s new CX-7 imply that it drives like a sports car, and that most junket-based reviews of the new “crossover” verify the claim. Well, I’ve driven the CX-7 and I’ve driven sports cars and the CX-7 is no sports car.

Mazda CX-7 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 37 comments

Mazda 5 Review

By Michael Karesh
May 6, 2006 - 15,816 Views

Procreating pistonheads must give up many things: impromptu sex, driving nowhere in particular, sleep. Unfortunately, twisty tackling and stick shifting are also on the parental hit list. Even Dads or Mums with a sports car tucked away in the garage end up spending virtually all their driving time schlepping their brood in a slushbox-equipped family hauler. Yet all is not lost. A three-rowed three-pedaled bespoilered people-mover survives in clutchophobic America: the Mazda5. This vanlet offers pistonheads hope they can meet their needs and satisfy their desires with a single set of wheels. Or not.

The 5’s basic shape— droopy nose, big boxy butt, conspicuous door tracks— is all minivan. Just this, and no self-respecting pistonhead would bite. So Ford’s Japanese subsidiary gilded the box with a huge crosshatched grille, a fierce boy racer body kit, high-mounted Altezzas and bold five-spoke 17-inch rims. It’s not much of a disguise, but sleep and adrenalin deprived enthusiasts could well be fooled.

Mazda 5 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 2 comments

Mazda MX5 Review

By Robert Farago
October 12, 2005 - 14,924 Views

The new Mazda MX5 is the sports car I always wanted. It's a small, sexy, sure-footed thrill machine that easily and completely outwits all those huge, over-embellished, slow-witted American muscle cars. The only problem is, I wanted the MX5 way back in '75. Things have moved on since then. There's a wide range of well-balanced sports cars vying for the enthusiast's attention. Some of them are even American. And none of them are as dangerous as Mazda's diminutive roadster.

Endless reviews praise the MX5's purity of form, clarity of purpose and banquet of sensations. None mention the pint-sized roadster's lack of "compatibility". In other words, when the MX5 collides with something, the something's driver gets out and says "Dang!" whereas the MX5 driver... doesn't get out. No wonder the website's safety section begins with "Beyond the safety benefits of having a car that allows you to react quickly to avoid hazardous situations…" and touts "systems that help make it easier to avoid accidents in the first place."

Mazda MX5 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | no comments

Mazda RX8 Review

By Robert Farago
April 30, 2004 - 26,135 Views

Fancy a game of "spot the triangle"? The RX8 wants to play. I spotted a triangle between the exhausts, in the front spoiler, embedded in the bonnet, under the headrests and on the top of the gear lever. They're there to remind us that Mazda's top-shelf sports car has a rotary engine, which consists of two triangle-shaped rotors, four spark plugs and… that's about it. So what? Most drivers wouldn't care if their car was powered by racing hamsters - just as long as it doesn't break.

As you might expect from a car with a four-year, 50,000-mile, bumper-to-bumper warranty, the RX8 is reliable enough. Any doubts about this singular machine centre on its performance and handling, rather than its quirky propulsion. Sports car buyers want to know one thing: how's it drive? To which the only possible answer is "like a motorcycle".

Mazda RX8 Review continued »

Posted in Mazda | Car Reviews | 6 comments