The Mazda3 has the hot hatch look but, until recently, it was all for show. With the introduction of turbocharged power starting with the 2021 model year, Mazda injected this car with desperately needed oomph and smartly bundled it with standard all-wheel drive. Also sold with a naturally aspirated version of the same engine but with front-wheel drive, including an available, model-exclusive manual transmission, Mazda has bumped up horsepower and …
Micah Kanters, the little kid from the Zoom-Zoom ads, is now 31 years old. Let that sink in for a minute. And I mention this only because Mazda is in a much different space then they were back then. Today, their sights are set on the premium German and Asian brands as they try to rise above the perception as a secondary, Japanese manufacturer of inexpensive small cars. Which is …