Overwrought excitement about hybrid and electric vehicles to the contrary, the internal combustion engine (ICE) will still propel the vast majority of new cars for at least the next decade. Mazda, an iconoclastic company with a legacy of challenging convention, has chosen to focus its energies at making the most of what most of us will still drive. These are the folk that brought us such leftfield thinking as the rotary engine, successfully reinvented the affordable sports car with the Miata, and are still the only Asian company to win the fabled 24 Hours of LeMans race. Skyactiv is their name for a suite of technologies that maximize efficiencies across the whole of the car, while preserving the company’s fun-to-drive ethos. I flew to Vancouver, BC, which touts itself as the greenest city in North America, to get a sample of Skyactiv. There, I drove advanced prototypes alongside current models to see what affect this new tech will have on cars in the real world—and came away very impressed. These development ‘mules’ featured each of the two new engines, the Skyactiv-g, a 2-liter gasoline direct-injection unit, and the –d, a 2.2-liter twin turbodiesel. Both are audacious in design and execution. The gas ...

Over the past five or six years one of the areas of car safety that has improved is whiplash protection and neck injury. Leading safety advocates like Saab and Volvo came up with ‘active’ headrests over a decade ago. These stayed at a comfortable distance from the back of occupant’s skulls, but in the event the car being rear-ended, moved forward to reduce the gap between the person and seat—dramatically reducing the incident of neck injuries. The IHSS found a 43% reduction from Saab’s system, which is astounding. So effective were they that our government decided we all needed to be protected, and 2009 vehicles have to either have active restraints or headrests that basically press on the back of occupant’s heads at all times. Now, I’m all for passive safety—especially when there’s rarely anything one can do when someone careens into the back of your car. But the implementation of these laws varies so widely it behooves consumers to make sure they can live with what the manufacturers have done. Some do it right: even inexpensive cars from Kia and Hyundai have active headrests that stay out of your way until there’s a crash; they use ...

With all the technology being thrown at cars, trucks, and SUVs these days, it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Herein some personal opinions on what’s worthy of your respect and dough, and what’s simply overkill or marketing manipulation. I’m using generic or commonly accepted terminology for these, as the manufacturers love to come up with their own labels and acronyms. SMART KEY: A key that you can keep in your pocket; usually the doors lock and unlock based upon your proximity to the vehicle. This is indeed a wonderful feature, especially if, like me, your hands always seem full when you’re climbing in and out. A ‘start/stop’ button fires the motor and turns it off. Companies like Nissan offer this all the way down to basic models, while BMW charges extra. TREAT. REMOTE START: Another legitimate life-improver: hot day? Let the A/C take the cool the cockpit while you sit in your office. It’s a safety feature in winter, as you can thoroughly de-ice the windows before you head out on the road. The eco-warriors wont like the fossil fuel you’re burning to do so, but a car ...