I remember ten years ago when you could buy a car with zero luxury features for very little money, depending on the size of the vehicle. People were content with their choice, although much else in their life was as exciting as their mode of transportation. But as time, and people’s tastes, have changed, so have the cars.

Vehicles today come with normal extravagances such as power windows, air conditioning and a CD player. Of course, those of us who need it all can get home theater-quality sound systems, navigation system that can direct us around traffic, and temperature-controllable seats to make sure our fannies stay at the optimal temperature.

But more importantly, these economy cars are now fun to drive. No longer do you have to deal with numb steering, lifeless brakes, and a floppy chassis. Now, you can do the daily commute in comfort, but have fun on the weekends. Here are some cars that will give you both worlds.
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Sweet Jesus, has it been 20 years already? Yeah, yeah I guess it has. I remember in 1989 I was working for an aircraft manufacturer. There were four car guys in the office, including me. At the time, an ongoing topic of conversation was something along the lines of: “Why doesn’t Honda/some other Japanese car company take one of their four cylinder engines and sit it in a two door convertible body?”

And one day I walked into the office with the latest AutoWeek in my hands, dropped it on the conference room table and said, “Bob, Ernie. Take a look at this!”

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Well this one seems like a no-brainer to a guy like me. As someone who is a life long, died-in-the-wool sportscar guy, and is a particular aficionado of light weight sportscars and Miatas in particular, these rumors of what the next gen Miata will be sounds like music to my ears.

What the next gen will hold, potentially, is a smaller engine, electric power steering and best of all, more lightness.

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Seeing is believing?

There’s two more vids after the jump.

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2010 Mazda3

Mazda today unveiled their all-new Mazda3 sedan at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The Mazda3 is their best-selling car worldwide, accounting for one-third of Mazda’s total sales.

So, what’s new? Not wanting to screw up a good thing, the new Mazda3 retains the same overall shape as the outgoing model, but has been completely redesigned. This must be the happiest car I’ve ever seen with the new front grille shown in the above photo. The vertical fog light and air intake combo complements the front, giving it a slightly aggressive feel. The rear is new too, of course, and features larger sporty tail lights above the dual-exhaust. The car is larger in every dimension.

The interior is redesigned as well (see image below,) focusing on driver comfort. Extending the seat cushion one inch gives the driver additional thigh support, and the backrests were extended and redesigned for improved posture.

The Mazda3 carries over the 148 horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder used in the outgoing model, but adds the 167 HP 2.5-liter engine used in the new Mazda6 for the sporty s model. A 5-speed manual transmission is standard in the Mazda3 i, while the s gets a 6-speed manual. A 5-speed automatic is available in both.

Fuel efficiency, which is a big selling point for the Mazda3 remains similar to the outgoing model. The 2.0-liter engine achieves a commendable 25 city/33 hwy mpg, and the 2.5-liter in the s model gets 21/29 mpg.

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Ford Motor Company announced today that it will be selling a large portion of their stake in Mazda to help strengthen their balance sheet. This will bring their share in Mazda from over 33% to only 13% - netting Ford a total of around $540 million.

Ford and Mazda will still share vehicle platforms and powertrains, so don’t expect a big change in their line-up. This change seems to be only numbers - we shouldn’t see any difference in operating procedures, vehicle line-up, design, or staff changes.