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    Ruari Griffin

    Ruari Griffin

  • Living with the Mazda3 Long-Term Tester: Interior Quality and Quirks

    With many cars, even after a year of driving age starts to slowly take a toll. Having personally owned a 2007 MazdaSpeed 3 and a Honda Civic, I find the fit and finish of our long-term Mazda3 tester to be a huge leap forward.

  • Living with the Mazda3 long-term tester: Year-end update

    The Mazda3 is shifting perceptions; it’s no longer a compromise to settle for the compact model in lieu of a midsize. Most people didn’t buy a full size car back in the ‘80s, but today it’s that same size car leading the sales charts, perhaps this is a side effect of the SUV age. Is limo like rear seat legroom really worth the compromise of nimble handling, ease of parking, and fuel economy? The Mazda3 makes an excellent case for compacts to become tomorrow’s volume leaders, even if the Accords and Camrys still dominate the sedan sales charts.

  • See this airbag-equipped motorcycle jacket inflate on impact

    We'd heard about Alpinestars street airbag system unveiling at its last product launch, but it wasn't officially announced until last week's EICMA show. The new Tech-Air Street Airbag System was developed for street riding and could be a major advancement in motorcycle safety.

  • Living with the Mazda3 long-term tester: Fit for a cyclist

    Unless you’re driving a packaging marvel like a Honda Fit, living with a compact comes with inevitable utility compromises—but hauling a bicycle isn’t one of them, as we’ve seen with our Mazda3 one-year test vehicle.

  • Living with the Mazda3 long-term tester: Avoiding dangers with radar

    Last month I drove down to the Castle Air museum in Atwater, California with the Mazda3, our one-year, long-term tester. Amidst the collection of Cold War and World-War II planes was the sleek SR-71A Blackbird, a technological marvel for its time. Using brute speed and radar avoidance technology, it was never shot down—but advancements in drone technology ultimately made the black beast obsolete. Similarly, radar and tech advancements push us towards self-driving cars--like from Google--which threaten to make drivers obsolete. But for now we reap much of the technological strides, as seen in our Mazda3.

  • Cheapest and most expensive states to buy a car: Unexpected fees that drive up cost

    Some states are a bargain, but consumers in some states can expect to pay an extra couple of thousand dollars for costs you might not think of when you shop for a car – state and local sales tax, registration fee and so-called “doc fees,” short for dealer documentation fees.

  • Living with the 2014 Mazda3: The sweet spot between sport and efficiency

    Spirited performance typically incurs a hefty mpg penalty, but as we’ve experienced with our one-year long-term tester, the company has found the sweet spot where sport and efficiency intersect.