I suspect many people don’t understand the total cost of ownership of a track-built vehicle like a GT350. Sure, they can just afford comfortably the $1300/month car payment for their realistic dream fun car. But then after a few $120 oil changes (all synthetic, 8.5 quarts), or after a few burnouts and realizing it’s…

The thing about Mustangs is that they’re great performance machines that make great daily drivers. GT350s do not make great daily drivers. The exhaust sound is awesome and intoxicating, but it gets to be a little bit much every time you run out for groceries. The suspension is way harsher than you’d like unless you’re…

Probably a little more hardcore than people thought they wanted, and when it came down to the reality of them they realized they wanted the looks more than the reality

What he meant to say is that Mazda doesn’t make enough money with performance variants, and we’re all gonna ask for stick when nobody buys it anyways. 

It’s 2019, this is what brings real money to Mazda, not low-volume variants of cars the internet “might be interested to buy if only it had more power/was less expensive/didn’t share parts with X car/pick whatever excuse”. It’s already nice they keep making the Miata.

In what way is Mazda stagnant? I’d call them relatively conservative, but they've made pretty big strides in recent years with the Skyactiv platforms and seem to currently offer impressive value when it comes to luxury and quality for the money. Also, it has always been my perception that the “luxury compacts” sell…

Don’t forget that the market for those types of cars is bigger in Europe, home court for zee Germans. That those cars do reasonably well in the U.S. is a bonus, not the reason they stay in production. The story is different for Mazda.

Or they don’t want to spend all that money just to have everyone turn their nose up and say “The TDI is still better!”

Yes and no. Relatively cheap, turbocharged cars are much more prone to aftermarket part swaps and tunes than expensive, naturally aspirated cars. There aren’t many people buying a $60,000 car looking to take it “stage 3", but every 20-something year old flat brimmer out there buying their first new car is. 

Yeah the risk/reward is low for them. It would be a low volume model, people would bitch that it won’t have a stick shift (although the reason for having only the automatic would be to sell more), and it would likely cost more than people would want to pay.

By the time this is all put into a Mazda3 (don’t forget one or more LSDs, too), the price of the car shoots up into the $35k range, where it’s now getting cross-shopped against the STi, Golf R, and Civic Type R, while being slower than all three and trying to get by with a torsion-beam rear in a field saturated by…

You’re telling me the company that has balanced it’s balls on bankruptcy and small cash flow doesn’t want to invest into a market that is pretty much cornered and demands perfection from every automobile?

Yep. I feel like something that was lost in the last 30 years is that Lexus launched with a re-branded 2nd Gen Camry (ES250), then the LS400, followed by the 3rd gen Soarer two years later in 1991. Yes, the LS400 went toe-to-toe with the establishment, BMW and MB. But, a lot of thought and care (and money) went into…

1st/Neutral: Mazda would be a top-tier brand tomorrow if they addressed the dealer experience nationwide.

I’m not even two minutes in, and I’m already impressed.

The Mazda 3 tops out where the GTI begins. And the new 3 is more powerful than any of the previous (not counting the speed3). So depending on how the features/options works out, and what is more of a priority to a given buyer, going with the GTI may be the choice that is the lesser car, even if it does have more power.

It would've been worth the wait if 75% of it wasn't too dark and shaky to see anything. 

Couldn't see shit

Bold choice to film the episode entirely in black and darker black.