Mazda

We get a relatively rare one in this series today -- a 1989 Mazda MX-6 GT Turbo.

In a conference room in downtown Detroit, Mazda’s top North American safety executive played the short crash test video once, then twice for me, becoming more enthusiastic and emphatic each time.

Friend of TTAC Connie Peters reviews the 2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata and RF hardtop. That latter one might be of interest with winter coming.

We have a recall involving the 2025 Mazda CX-50, as well its hybrid version.

It seems clear that the Mazda Vision X-Compact previews a future Mazda crossover. But the Vision X-Coupe concept -- it's harder to tell.

Mazda has hauled the wraps off two concept cars, called the Vision X-Coupe Concept and Vision X-Compact Concept. Appearing at the Japan Mobility Show, they are a pair of studies which could point the company compass to a future design direction.

Mazda recently released pricing for its 2026 vehicle lineup, and the automaker has bucked the upward trend seen in most of the auto industry. Some models became cheaper, and most came close to their fairly reasonable prices from the year before.

The Mazda CX-70 debuted just a couple years ago as a two-row version of the CX-90, and it’s scheduled for a modest update as it heads into the 2026 model year. The SUV has a range of standard advanced driver-assistance features, an upscale interior, and new styling elements.

Toyota’s sports car partnership with Subaru might be coming to an end. The tie-up delivered the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86, but a recent report shows that Toyota may take its version of the car in a different direction.

Today we have a recall from Mazda, thanks to wonky instrumentation.

Hello! It's time for the TTAC podcast!

Mazda has revealed the next incarnation of the practical and fun-to-drive CX-5. The crossover grows larger for the 2026 model year and adopts some new technology. But Mazda has attempted to keep what has proven to be a winning recipe mostly the same.

Mazda in North America is recalling certain units of the Mazda3 and CX-30 from 2024-2025 model years over an airbag sensor.

Patent documents show that Mazda is working on an electric-vehicle setup -- and one of the drawings is suspiciously Miata-looking.

Rumors have been percolating that the next Mazda Miata might be an electric vehicle, or at least electrifed.

Miata is always the answer, until you’re actually trying to buy one, apparently. Mazda is reportedly holding MX-5 shipments at the port, delaying customer deliveries by weeks in some cases, but the cause is said to have nothing to do with tariffs.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) regularly updates its crash-testing standards, which often knocks some vehicles out of contention for a Top Safety Pick award, but Mazda put up a strong showing. The IIHS recently released its list of 2025 Top Safety picks, and the automaker has earned more awards than any other so far this year.

When the Australian government debuted its Motor Industry Development Plan in mid-1984, it believed the solution for the nation's automotive industry woes was at hand. Through streamlining and becoming more cost effective, the plan intended to cut the number of domestically produced vehicles in half, close down underutilized production facilities, and reduce import caps and tariffs on foreign vehicles. The plan also forced domestic Australian and Japanese automakers to work together to create badge engineered vehicles. Ford, Holden, Nissan, and Toyota were all victims of the plan as the manufacturers with the largest footprint on Australian soil. The very same year, Nissan and Holden were the first pairing to debut an exciting new badge engineered vehicle!

Picture it, 1984. The world is filled with Malaise era automobiles, neon colors, and a hot new TV show called Miami Vice just debuted on NBC. The Australian automotive market is in turmoil, suffering from inefficiency, oversupply, import restrictions, and tariffs of around 60 percent. What’s a government to do? Force every manufacturer’s hand, that’s what!

Mazda is apparently updating its logo.

Does it need to?

Mazda has apparently updated its logo for the first time in nearly three decades. However, the changes being made are the now-familiar minimalist approach taken by loads of other automakers in recent years.

Mazda announced plans to continue developing Wankel rotary engines for use as generators on upcoming electric vehicles last month and says it plans to stay the course. The automaker, which used high-revving rotary engines in its performance vehicles through 2008, remained committed to repurposing them as battery chargers. However, the last model it tried that on turned out to be a bit of a dud in terms of sales.

Today we bring you a 1991 Mazda B2600i. Small trucks for the win.

Sport, utility, and efficiency all seem like three qualities that, if blended together correctly, could result in a very desirable compact crossover.

The 2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid gets those three things mostly right. Unfortunately, some negative qualities intrude on the experience.

Many have wondered which direction Mazda would take with future powertrain development, as the automaker has talked about rotary range-extending engines, plug-in hybrids, and more. We’re now starting to get a clearer picture of how Mazda’s propulsion systems may look going forward, as it recently snuck some significant news into its latest financial report.

The Mazda-Ford partnership brought us quite a few Familia-based cars during the 1990s, including the post-1990 Escort and 1991-1994 Mercury Capri. The chassis of the bigger Mazda Capella spawned some interesting US-market offspring as well, and we've got one of them for today's Junkyard Find.

Today we bring you a fun relic of 1990s corporate synergy -- this 1994 Mazda B2300 pickup truck.

Mazda recently released a pair of closely related SUVs in the two-row CX-70 and three-row CX-90. The latter will see a decent update for the 2025 model year that brings a new trim and updated styling elements, along with slightly higher prices across the line.

In a rare Uno Reverse moment, the crew at Mazda has reduced the price of entry for the generally excellent Mazda3.

Today we bring you a 1994 Mazda Miata with a turbo. And a lot more.

Japanese manufacturers are in the middle of a minor crisis after the nation’s transport ministry noticed irregularities in the certification process of several domestic models before launching a formal investigation. Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha Motor have all been faulted with submitting either incorrect or intentionally misleading information in regard to vehicle certifications.

Last week we brought you news that Fiat is bringing gas back -- and we also discussed Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru's decision to back off from full electrification.

Meanwhile, Nissan says it won't invest in any new gas engines.

What's going on?

Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru conducted a press event designed to explain why they’re walking away from full-blown electrification. While this is something numerous automakers have done in recent months, the “Multipathway Workshop” faced a predictable amount of criticism from EV acolytes.

For some reason, animals seem to love checking out large crossovers.

Last summer in upstate New York, a deer paused its day to check out the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas I was driving, nearly giving me a heart attack in the process. Last week in Desert Hot Springs, California, a wandering canine got my attention and forced me to stop as I piloted the 2025 Mazda CX-70. He or she checked out the CX-70 for about half a minute and then moved aside and started licking its fur.

Whether that’s a gesture of approval, disdain, or just a dog being a dog, I will let you decide.

Our regular programming will be a bit different over the next day or two, as I am in California to drive the 2025 Mazda CX-70 and the schedule doesn't leave me a lot of laptop time.

The Mazda CX-5 is aging compared to the rest of its fleet, but it remains a top seller for the brand. It’s still a surprisingly engaging and well-equipped compact SUV, however, and Motor1 recently found clues that it would be getting an overhaul with a hybrid upgrade.

Last week’s match-up between the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 was fairly close. However, readers seemed to gravitate toward the Toyota due to several factors. It boasted a traditional 8-speed automatic transmission, rather than a CVT, and made power from a larger motor that sidestepped forced induction. This led to many assuming the Toyota would handle long-term abuse better than the Honda — which was further supported by the vehicle having been on the market longer and proven itself as reliable.

As the point of this segment is to create the automotive equivalent of Sophie’s Choice, we’re bringing back the RAV4 and pitting it against the 2024 Mazda CX-5.

When we think about rear-wheel-drive Japanese luxury sedans of the early-to-middle 1990s, the Toyota Cressida, Lexus LS 400 and Infiniti Q45 come to mind immediately. Mazda was in that game as well, though, with the all-but-forgotten 929, and I've found one of those rare cars in a Colorado junkyard.

Mazda recently revealed the CX-70, a new two-row SUV closely related to the three-row CX-90 that debuted for the 2024 model year. Like its larger counterpart, the CX-70 is available with electrified powertrains, including a plug-in hybrid option. The automaker has just released pricing for the new SUV, which starts at just over $40,000.

Imagine this: You're looking for a crossover with a pinch of sportiness. None of the current crop of two-rows in the upper $30K to $50K range are doing it for you. You like the swoopy Mazda CX-90 but it's too big for your wants and needs. You hear the phrase "zoom zoom" whispered by unseen forces. You get to your Mazda dealer and see that a new contender has emerged. Enter the 2025 Mazda CX-70.

In what may be described as a ‘sky is blue’ moment, eagle-eyed fans of the Mazda brand have uncovered some filings with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) indicating the snazzy new CX-70 is going to share greasy bits with the tony CX-90.

Despite being the kind of brand that always tries to do things a little differently, Mazda is supposed to follow nearly every other manufacturer down the rabbit hole of fleetwide electrification by 2030. While this is supposed to include the MX-5 roadster, the company doesn’t even like to see the model utilize forced induction on the grounds that it would tamper with what management would argue is the perfect recipe for its lightweight and naturally aspirated sports car.

There are a lot of questions about the Mitata’s long-term future as it pertains to electrification. However, Mazda does seem interested in leveraging the possibility of the current ND model being the last of its kind into additional sales.

Mazda’s electrification plans have been a little all over the map, as the automaker released a super-short-range EV and then stopped selling it before re-releasing it with a rotary range extender. The company recently displayed an exciting electric concept, but it retains the range extender, a complete oddity in today’s world.

Mazda’s iconic roadster has undergone some changes in Japan for the 2024 model year that should likewise underpin the variant slated for our market. While some of this pertains to updated safety tech few MX-5 owners are likely to care about, there are also a host of mechanical upgrades that should actually make it a better performance machine.

The Mazda MX-30 EV will be pulled from the U.S. market after 2023, with the manufacturer stating its preference to prioritize hybrid models. While the small crossover will live on in other parts of the world with a rotary range extender, mimicking what BMW did with the i3 with some Mazda-specific flair, the company’s first all-electric vehicle seems to have been a flop in North America. 

With reports of Toyota developing a turbocharged version of the GR86, many are wondering when Mazda is going to release a boosted variant of the MX-5. Toyota’s coupe already delivers a smidgen more oomph and so does the Subaru BRZ. So it seems plausible that the Miata might see a bump in power to remain competitive. 

However, Mazda doesn’t seem to think there’s any need and has suggested that chasing power would risk spoiling the model’s sublime balance. 

This one hardly comes as a surprise, given Mazda is in the throes of completely revamping its lineup – complete with straight-six engines and extra zeroes in its model names.

Despite being on the market for a few years, the Mazda 3 remains high on our list of recommendations whenever someone asks for advice on affordable compact cars. For the 2024 model year, Mazda has gifted it a handful of updates.

Alert members of the B&B know that applying skiffs of paint and wallpaper to create a new trim can be a great way for an OEM to grab attention on a model that’s between development cycles. Mazda has dabbled with a Carbon Edition in the past but is now applying a similar treatment to other vehicles in its range.

As I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge for the third time, thanks to Google Maps failing at its one primary job (more on that later), I realized I’d be quite late for lunch. No matter, I thought, since I’d get more time with the 2024 Mazda CX-90.

The new Mazda CX-90 is coming in spring with three new powertrains, a shockingly nice interior, and the right features to make “Ze German” luxury SUVs quake in their opulent, leather-clad interiors. Mazda recently announced pricing for the vehicle, which starts in mainstream territory and extends dangerously close to the premium-brand MSRPs of the vehicles it’s chasing. 

Matt reported earlier today that Mazda is intent on keeping the Miata around basically forever. But it's unclear what it has in mind for the car in the future.