Recent content by LennyR

I have a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata for summer fun (photo at left) and wouldn't give it up for any front-wheel drive vehicle. Not that there aren't some really good ones out there, like the Mazda 3. However, RWD is just a different animal to drive. For example, if you push the Miata hard through a...

Actually, 17s may be the way to go.

This is what the IIHS test report says in regard to the post-October build changes: The Mazda 3 was redesigned for the 2014 model year. Beginning with 2014 models built after October 2013, the front suspension was modified to improve occupant protection in small overlap frontal crashes (note...

About a month ago, I saw a Red sTouring hatchback parked on the street. In fact, I noticed it driving by, stopped my truck (driving the Tundra that day for some reason), and got out to to give it a good walk-around. I have to say, it did look great sitting there!

You don't need to adjust your seat to position the image in the heads-up display -- you can adjust the angle of the display itself using the settings menu on the dashboard screen.

BTW, that review appeared in the Sunday print edition of the Times, which normally devotes the last page of the Sunday sports section to articles about and reviews of cars.

I think that only having a pocket on the right-side seat back is fairly common, the logic being that if the driver's seat is pretty far back to accommodate a (male) driver, you don't want stuff in a seat-back pocket pushing up against a rear passenger's knees.

Spoiler Alert: They like it alot. The written review has an embedded video that's also worth a watch: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/automobiles/autoreviews/performer-available-for-private-parties.html?hpw&rref=automobiles&_r=0

Does anyone know whether the Mazda Owner Loyalty program, whereby someone who currently owns a Mazda gets a $500 rebate on the purchase of a new one, is ongoing or whether it comes and goes?

No sure about yours, but many BMWs that are not bought off a dealer's lot are built to order because there are so many different packages and options. So, naturally, that takes a while from start to finish. I don't believe that Mazda does orders like that, at least not with the 3. It's mainly a...

I want a hatchback Soul Red 3s T. Seems (to me, at least) like it should be a popular combination.

My strongly preferred way of buying a new car is to order the model and color that I want, then get the car fresh off the truck, without its having been used as a demonstrator. I asked one of the local Mazda dealers recently how long it would take to get a Mazda 3sT that way, and he said two to...

Nice photo. I've looked at Mazda 3's in all of the colors (at multiple dealers) and like the red best, at least in the hatchback. I plan to get a Soul Red 3sT come February, give or take.

The December issue of Car and Driver, in my mail a couple of days ago, presents a competitive analysis of the 2014 Mazda 3i GT and the Ford Focus SE. The reason for this pairing is that the Focus has won C&Ds comparison of all the best compact cars for the last three years, and the editors saw...

It certainly is curious that, if C&D is correct about possible feedback with electric power steering, Porsche would have chosen to make the new Boxster's and (its coupe sibling) Cayman's steering so numb. That's the one strike against otherwise stellar machines.