"I had another chance to try Mazda's Protegé replacement, the Mazda3. I had wondered whether my positive opinion of the car during the international press preview in Paris had been influenced by the French cuisine. Nope. The food at the hotel was actually pretty awful. The car, decisively, is not. Could the reign of the Honda's Civic as Canada's top-selling subcompact — top-selling car — be coming to an end?"
"A half-step up in size and price are the Mazda3, Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback, and Saturn Ion Quad Coupe. Of these, the Mazda3 is the most conventional, being a four-door sedan. But even it is designed and packaged with a degree of flair and innovation that you wouldn't have imagined even five years ago of a sub-$20,000 car - sub-$17,000 in base form. Check out the swooping roofline and the beautifully finished interior with its chrome-ringed gauges, three-spoke steering wheel and gorgeous materials, and your first impression would be this is a sport sedan, not an economy car. Drive it and you'd decide you were right. With a gutsy 2-litre engine and a terrifically tuned suspension, the 3 is as fun as a 3 from another market segment - the one BMW competes in."
http://thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Rende- r&c=Page&cid=1067943774406
Stay tuned for results and more in-depth reviews in the months to come. The winner will be announced at the Toronto Auto Show (Canadian Int'l) in February 2004.
"A half-step up in size and price are the Mazda3, Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback, and Saturn Ion Quad Coupe. Of these, the Mazda3 is the most conventional, being a four-door sedan. But even it is designed and packaged with a degree of flair and innovation that you wouldn't have imagined even five years ago of a sub-$20,000 car - sub-$17,000 in base form. Check out the swooping roofline and the beautifully finished interior with its chrome-ringed gauges, three-spoke steering wheel and gorgeous materials, and your first impression would be this is a sport sedan, not an economy car. Drive it and you'd decide you were right. With a gutsy 2-litre engine and a terrifically tuned suspension, the 3 is as fun as a 3 from another market segment - the one BMW competes in."
http://thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Rende- r&c=Page&cid=1067943774406
Stay tuned for results and more in-depth reviews in the months to come. The winner will be announced at the Toronto Auto Show (Canadian Int'l) in February 2004.
