Mention the snow word to most enthusiasts and the first thing out of their mouth is likely to be: “I’ll drive the beater.”
But I grew up in Queens where ice and snow are as common as NY pizza . . . and I enjoy both. My first forays into the world of cold, low-coefficient driving came behind the wheel of a 1963 Chevy Biscayne 6-cylinder. The family car. I snuck out one night when my parents weren’t watching and drove to a large, vacant parking lot. There, on that expanse of asphalt, covered with about three inches of virgin snow, I discovered the exhilaration that led me into a life of living on the edge . . . and beyond.
The Mazda3 is a great success story. The first generation sold for the past five years was purchased by nearly 2-million owners around the world. One out of every three Mazdas sold worldwide is a Mazda3. In the US, its sales increased each year for the last five years. In 2008, the last year in the first generation Mazda3 lifecycle, it singlehandedly represented 44 percent of Mazda North American Operation’s sales volume. (more…)
Mazda designers and engineers faced a serious dilemma as they gathered to create the next Mazda6. The current model didn’t have the broad appeal of its direct family sedan Asian competitors—Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata—because it was smaller on the outside and on the inside. It also trailed these competitors in quality and power. (more…)
Nobody asked me, but . . .