mazda

China becomes the world's largest car market, but Ford is unable to unload Volvo there; you may get to write off part of your next car purchase; and we drop the top on a Corvette convertible. In January.

• China overtakes the U.S. in auto sales for the first time

• GM eyes S.F. and D.C. as early home runs for the Volt

• CNET Review of the Corvette Convertible

• OnStar looking for a home in non-GM cars

• New Mazda3 variants to bow in Geneva early March

Mazda Motor Corporation will debut two new Mazda3 variants at the 2009 Geneva auto show. The Mazda3 with i-stop and the Mazda3 MPS boost performance of the standard Mazda3 in very different ways: the first boosts economy, the second boosts performance.

The i-stop system, debuting on the Mazda3's MZR 2.0 DISI (Direct Injection Spark Ignition) engine, boosts fuel economy up to 12 percent by shutting down the engine when the vehicle is stopped.

The Mazda3 MPS sport compact (essentially the European version of what we call the Mazdaspeed3) features a sharpening of the 2010 Mazda3's big, goofy grin, … Read more

As you approach the Mazda Mazda6 i Grand Touring, your walkway is illuminated by the Welcome Lighting on the underside of the rearview mirrors. Don't bother taking the smart key out of your pocket, a mere touch of the door handle will unlock the vehicle. Don't bother futzing with the headlamps or windshield wipers either, it's automatic. Just settle into the heated leather-trimmed seats, press the start button to bring the peppy engine to life, and you're off.

For 2009, the Mazda6 has grown in both size and ambition. When viewed from the front or rear … Read more

A great car can be fast, comfortable, or cheap, but never all three. As a lover of speed and cheap thrills, I often find myself behind the wheel of vehicles lacking in the comfort department.

But what qualifies a car as uncomfortable? Sometimes it's a bone-rattling sport suspension or oddly bolstered seats. Other times, it's a jerky, quick-shifting transmission.

We've rounded up the five most uncomfortable cars to pass through the CNET Garage.

See our five picks for most uncomfortable rides.

We occasionally run across online postings and get questions about whether radar-based cruise control and collision prevention systems being rolled out in new cars will set off radar detectors. Car radar systems work just like police radar guns, sending out a radio signal and detecting how that signal gets bounced back. Both radar systems use Doppler shift to figure out the speed of the vehicles in the path of the radio signal. Car radar systems use the data to match your speed to the car in front, while the police radar can get you a ticket. Because of this similarity, … Read more

We just saw the unveiling of the new for 2010 Mazda Mazda3 sedan at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, but curiously, the 5-door hatchback was missing in action...until now.

Mazda has released details and photos of the all-new Mazda3 5-door hatchback, which it plans to showcase at the Bologna Motor Show on December 3, 2008.

Bologna being a European show, Mazda has shared details about the newly-developed 2.2-liter turbodiesel, which we won't be getting in the States (for now). The 2.2-liter oil burner will be offered in two tunes, a high-power 182 horsepower version and … Read more

A dramatic new look and lots of what they call "content."

See all coverage of the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Mazda presented its new 2010 Mazda3 sedan at the 2008 LA Auto Show, and I have to admit that I don't really know what to make of it.

The revised front end has more overtones of Mazda's Nagare concept than any Mazda vehicle to date. From certain angles it's decidedly sinister, with its sharply raked bi-xenon headlamps, enlarged lower grille opening that eliminates the need for an upper grille, and organically styled side grille openings with integrated foglights. But from other angles, that huge grille opening looks like a big goofy grin.

Moving back across the body, … Read more

What will race cars look like in 2025? The Los Angeles Auto Show, in its fifth annual Design Challenge, posed this question to automakers' design studios. Entrants from Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen show off differing takes of what will be required for future racetracks.

Click here for renderings of future race cars.