Mazda MAZDASPEED3 News

In Japan it's the Axela (above), but we know it as the Mazda3, and this morning, Mazda announced that it's built a million of them.

On this episode of the Autoblog Podcast we welcome Damon Lavrinc, Autoblog's newest victim, to the mic where he and I attempt and fail to wrap our heads around the 2Q earnings reports from General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler. It isn't pretty, but it is funny to hear us flounder. We also talk about the Tesla Roadster that was recently unveiled in Santa Monica and how it just might be the next Tucker (Damon disagrees). Finally we finish the podcast salivating over the MazdaSpeed3, which was j

Observant Autoblog reader Matt Miller informed us that Mazda has quietly released the pricing of its forthcoming MazdaSpeed3 on the car's website. The 250-hp wonder wagon will start at $22,800 for the Sport model and feature a six-speed manual transmission, stability and traction control, 18-inch wheels, four-wheel ABS, and more. The Sport model will be topped by the Grand Touring, which begins at $24,515 and adds automatic on/off headlights, rain-sensing wipers, Xenon HID headlights, LED rear c

It seems like horsepower wars are popping up everywhere. While the supercars of the world are currently battling it out between 600 and 1,000 horsepower, economy cars are waging war between 200 and 300 horsepower. While we have no information on how much power the next generation Nissan Sentra SE-R will produce, we'll tell Nissan straight up it's going to need at least 225-250 ponies to compete. These spy shots show the Sentra in SE-R trim with the obligatory revised front and rear fascias plus

The MazdaSpeed3 has yet to go on sale in the U.S., so Inside Line booked a flight to Japan for a quick jaunt in the JDM market Axela MPS. Their first impression of the new pocket rocket is one of gushing praise. Mazda engineers benchmarked the Volkswagen GTI and apparently have easily eclipsed the hot hatch that started it all. The Mazda's 2.3-liter turbo four pumps out 264 horsepower and 280 ft-lbs. of torque, eclipsing the GTI's motor by 64 hp and 74 ft-lbs. of torque, respectively. Oh yeah, a