regfootball

Nissan could learn from GM of the past, keep your engines up to date. Let it linger too long, then you have a long ways to catch up later....

Well all the other Asian makes are in love with the CVTs now too. The Subaru boxer motor isn't all that creamy. The toyotas are never to write home about. Maybe this is a new tactic for all the Asian cars

in the instance someone is cross shopping the Trax and Renegade, i think the interior space advantage the Renegade has could be killer. Kia's Sould doesn't have AWD and really is not their competitor here, but I was checking MSRP's on those today for kicks, and I found it crazy that most of the MSRP's on those are getting up in that territory of the Renegades and Trax as well (FWD's at least).. It is scary the asking prices on these small rides. Conversely today I saw that Ford is really breaking out incentives on the Escape nowadays. They are really cheap to buy right now and I don't mean just the S model. One shop I looked at had a FWD 2.0 Escape for like 22 and change, that was almost 7 grand off. With the new Edge coming in and trying to seek high transaction prices, and with Ford having no direct competitor in the Trax type segment, I think Ford has a strategy of dumping Escapes for market share....now that this new body has been out for awhile. If I were shopping and were drawn to the Renegade or Trax, I think the Escape prices would bring me in for a test drive and to be honest their value proposition would probably be what wins me over right now. I'm not sure Ford wants to be in the small CUV segment to be honest.

DRIVEN: 2016 Mazda Mazda6 Sport 2.5 AT HIGHS: For many, quite a rakish look in the blah midsize sedans segment. Looks sinister in certain colors with gunmetal wheels. Knockout cabin, in particular when fitted with white seats and dash accents. Like the Mazda3, its very reminiscent of German designs like BMW and its done fantastic. Great materials. Ergonomics and controls all down pat. Control wheel for the screen is a nice add. Like the engine in the Mazda 3, the 2.5 has pep and goes about its business with almost 'just enough' power for most. Linear power delivery and within decent smoothness. Automatic trans seems well mated to the car's power output. Backseat accommodates many, even if leg room is a little less than competitors. Comfort is good for size given. Seats well shaped. Very confident this rig will get advertised mpg, which is quite good. Feels stable on the road. "Good" ride, handling, steering. Linear and predictable action in all the controls. Seems quieter than the 2014 model. Good value for the price, and feeling of a well made piece. The fact that I could duplicate many of these same good attributes from the Mazda3 test drive, yes the cars feel very much the same. LOWS: Needs a bit more punch, and lacks torque. Needs a sweet spot in the powerband somewhere, otherwise, this is merely just a motor. Auto tranny tries, but you might want to sample the stick. Hey Mazda, do a turbo. Not as bad as the tires on the Mazda3, but these OEM's weren't great. Again, like the Mazda3, there is nothing elevated driving experience. There is no zoom zoom in the ride, handling or steering. Steering in fact felt pretty slow. I am still liking the Passat and Fusion ahead of this. In particular I don't see this Mazda doing anything the Fusion doesn't already do as well or better, with the only exception being the BMW knockoff interior. Improved noise level inside doesn't come with all road surfaces, some pavement types will bring a fair amount of tire noise back inside. Like the Mazda3, to me this car struggles to compel you to buy it with any one superior feature. No performance version in a car and brand that advertises it inside and out is pretty lame. Yes, I understand I was not testing the top end model........ SUMMARY: Again, this will be similar to my Mazda3 review, except i think more criticism can be laid down here. Don't expect any sizzle with the steak as far as elevated performance here. Yes, it's a nice uptick over a Camry or an Altima, but this really is not a driver's car yet. The magazine buff books are do desperate to crown a king in this segment that has some life in it and so they don't have to heap all the praise on Honda. So its almost like they are giving a trophy to anyone who half heartedly tries. I do give Mazda props for the interior updates, they are knockout, and in fact if you tell me you love this car for merely the styling, interior, and pleasant drive for a Japanese brand, I say that's bangup. But that's only because the Camry's and Altimas are so low bar. Mazda up until now has had to spread their resources real thin, and so I imagine this body will be around several years. The fact that they remade the interior so quickly and integrated the new screen and control wheel, it shows me they are committed to keeping this design fresh. So I have to believe they have some things in the works for the future for performance here. I can't blame anybody for liking the car, as it is good or very good. But it's not king of the class. It's probably in the top 3 or 4. The Fusion is still really the car that will satisfy the biggest cross section of buyers. Mazda really desperately needs to get a version of this car out that has a killer motor and damn great steering and handling, and leverage their supposed elevated driving experience rep. Maybe the upper trim does? Buy it, you are not in any way getting a bad car, but for all the hype, its still a bit away from delivering on that IMO....... B+

yeah, they are mimicking the Germans and the screen sticking up out of the dash thing........

Because Nissan has just about given up on anything that isn't a CVT. With everyone trying different things to get better fuel mileage for CAFE standards, Nissan's biggest push in that direction so far really has been CVT everything. It has it's good and it's bad points, it isn't horrible for those looking for an appliance, but they need to get their heads out of their rears and realize that if they are going to label something as a sports car it definitely should not be running a CVT. Their CVT has been really good at hiding the deficiencies of their 4-cylinder engines in the NVH department. is that how Nissan gets away with their ancient engines too?

not attractive, based upon this pic. Maybe GM will buy Tesla, then we won't have Musk to deal with.

nice, seats look better too

LOL@Drew's post.... There is no reason for this thing to exist IMO

a 1.6t or 1.8t and 8 speed auto would be nice on the Nox. But would the rest of the chassis be up to date then.....2.5 is not great.... They got rid of the CD player, how is that for an interior upgrade? (fossils like me still buy cds and use them in the car, sometimes)

MKZ exterior needs no work, its stunning. The fusionesque interior needs to go, it needs a luxury car interior. 2.7 TT v6 would be the best motor for this rig.......2.3 would be a great base motor........

concur. i think they like to think their stores are like apple stores for cars. You can't pull that off with stores that are not real bricks and mortar.

i have to admit, i like the styling of the crossblue and to be honest if it were available when we got our town and country recently (over Traverse and Explorer) I think it may have taken the crown. But I would still have leased......never BUY a VW.....is what i hear

DRIVEN: 2015 Mazda Mazda3 Sport 2.0 MT, msrp 19,265 (no options) HIGHS: Attractive and intimate driver cockpit, simple, ergonomic, and somewhat reminiscent of a BMW or Audi design inside. Comfortable drivers chair, and more cabin girth than you'd expect. All controls well laid out. Touchscreen with secondary control wheel and pushbutton start included in sport trim 2.0 has pep and goes about its business with 'just enough' power for most, while not being offensive from the smoothness standpoint. Power delivery is VERY linear. Manual trans shifter, while not 'sublime', falls into line of 'very good' and with what you would expect from advance billing Despite not having a lot of room (and the silly cab rear packaging), the backseat is actually a comfortable place for a girthy six footer, due to the shape and height of the seats, the size of the footwell, and the sculpting of the rear of the front seatbacks. Good mpg numbers which i have no doubt are capable of being met real world. "Good" ride, handling, steering. Not a Sentra or Corolla. Linear and predictable action in all the controls. Fairly quiet for a car in this class on the road. Good value for the price Feeling of a well made piece. LOWS: How much more room and space could this car have had without the silly cab rear styling? Styling which, while a bit classy, is tepid at best. Sport model interior is too much black inside, and the cloth needs an upgrade. Non turbo mill has no torque burst anywhere. Always only just barely enough, no "sweet spot" You feel a little bit of mechanics in the shifter at times. Terrible choice of OEM tires (Bridgestone Ecopia, there for mpg) put mush in the steering and dull the road holding Entertainment system and control knob / screen were gonna take a while to figure out (this is why we need Apple CarPlay) I don't see this car as having a much elevated driving experience above competitors like Golf and Fusion and to be honest in some ways really the Cruze is the best car in the class for a lot of folks. Why is Mazda trying to look Euro when people in the US loved its Japanese Pontiac styling of the previous gen? Driving experience is simply not enough in this trim and powertrain to warrant a performance car or driver's car image (even if it hints a little at it) Car does not compel you to buy it with any one superior feature. SUMMARY While this car is a well made quality piece that will please an owner with its goodness, to me it teeters on the edge of what hype says about this car. In this trim and powertrain, this is not a 'driver's car'. You are not getting something here that you are not capable of getting in some other cars in this same class. For example, I don't believe that a Civic or Focus wouldn't drive as nice. I bet the new Golf is a better car. To me, the current since 2011 Cruze has a superior powertrain and yes, shifter. So this is not a bad car at all, but don't wade into the pristine clear water river created by the buff books here. Perhaps the higher trim level gets you what you would expect here from a performance standpoint, and even then, the only engine options are the 2.0 and 2.5 non turbo. Toyota as the GM of Japan now has crafted an empire where Subaru is the AWD Toyota division, and apparently Mazda must be headed for the 'Toyota that drives decent' division. If you must use that standard, a better driving Toyota, then it excels. But the car needs some tweaks before it is a step above the competition IMO. I think Mazda spent what little resources it had the last few years working on fuel efficiency and a couple new products, and because so, they simply haven't been able to divert attention to zoom zoom anymore. It shows here (and will in my Mazda6 review too). Where i end up is actually with a semi offensive statement, to some. For a Japanese make car, its pretty good and probably an A-. In the realm of the whole market, I would expect a car of this billing and hoopla to have a little more engine and definitely tighter ride and handling (and certainly not $h!ty Bridgestone Ecopia tires). This car has a lot of potential yet, though and that is reason to be positive and optimistic. This is just a good, solid, pleasing car, if you aren't assigning inflated performance expectations to it. B+ now time for me to find a Golf to drive.......and save my pennies for a 16 Cruze...... By the way, if Toyota is Mazda's overlord now, where does this leave Scion? And probably some will say next time test the Grand Touring model.....

No no, I think you misunderstood me. I'm saying that the 'Nox is almost the size of a GC, so $28k isn't a bad price for one..... but at $34k for a smaller CR-V I would have second thoughts when not getting a V6. (that said, you can get a Terrain Denali with an I4 for Grand Cherokee Limited money, but hey, it's your money) gotcha. The Equinox is the seller it is because it is one of the few GM vehicles that is packaged well. Lots of first and second row room for its class. I am worried what GM will do to it downsizing it. Even if the interiors are out of date, i think the design of the dash is well done still. Chevy could have stood to have upgraded the seat cloth and door panels a bit, i think. If GM merely did interior upgrades and an all new powertrain in the thing, they could continue to sell it with the same body style for 3 more years easy.

for me, just having the music interface be on the dash instead of my phone, will be great. i have had apple devices and itunes for many years. my library is stored on one computer and then since itunes knows that, i can stream what i own on my phone with my unlimited data, i don't need to copy it to the device. the biggest problem has been having to run it on the phone, my cobalt with USB i can go through menus but it is nowhere near as easy as using the phone itself. having the same interface on the dash will be holy grail. Now if i can check email on the dash when the car is parked i will be super giddy.

Gonna call your bluff and ask you to find the Equinox with a sticker price of 28 grand and a v6. A discounted price, maybe, but not an MSRP.

its a sports car compared to the cream puff Altima. The Max is the only car left aside from the Z with any kind of performance image. And people still love Maximas. I think they did this new one right, aside from the CVT, because of how different it is than the Altima. They really should keep a traditional automatic or DCT in the Max. I was reading FB posts on a post Nissan made about the Maxima and clearly people love Maximas. But what was also funny were how many people were complaining about blown CVT's.....

this is 5 years late but considering how well audi crossovers sell and how desperately German wannabees want a German crossover but won't have the cash, this should sell well if VW prices it right. then they also better build it right too

Congrats. Nice rig.

nice write up!

I think Drew's right, this market segment will be so big it will be enough to support all the entries. Also right is the notion that cars are getting so expensive and little rides like this being 25-30+ is a little outrageous, but that is the market. These things will sell because they are actually some of the cheapest cars to get new yet. A Trax ought not be 28k in the showroom, that's even a hard pill to swallow for an Equinox. Really love everyone's findings and take on this rig so far. Great to hear. I hope to get a chance to test drive one this week.

great writeup, thanks! I drove a turbo Malibu once, and it handled well, the turbo four had torque steer but had some nuts. Our van has the Chrysler Pentastar that is the same in the 200 and it is a good motor although it could use more torque. No wonder the 200 seemed to fun to drive. I wonder if over time we might see v6's come back for some folks. The mfrs have done as much as they can to make the 4 poppers smooth, but a v6 still ends up being smoother most of the time.

Motor Trend has been wrong before. Cadillac should be sure to pump up their available crossovers to sell in bunches to enable them the cash to make cars like the ATS-V+. I am sick of seeing the roads full of Audi Q's and Merc and BMW bim and buffy machines that pad their bottom lines to allow them to spend so much money making cool sedans and coupes.

HIGHS: Sexy looks Price and value at this trim level Surprised that I liked the improved interior Six cylinders came standard GIRTHY wide cabin and comfortable seats Ride wasn't bonecrushing punishing at least Nice view out the front and good side mirror visibility (despite the squashed roof) Roof did feel squashed but not as severe as I feared Not quiet inside, but not excessively loud. Cupholders, nice setup LOWS Shifter a bit notchy. I would not get this car with a stick.....stick...with the automatic Hard to drive smoothly (unless you own the car for a few weeks first I imagine) Lots of business and effort to just get it to drive smoothly. Engine sound not anything to write home about, and not terribly refined. Can the parking brake lever BE any bigger or look any cheaper Front end felt heavy, didn't feel greatly balanced, FWD cars feel better Whole car felt big and heavy actually Suspension nothing to write home about, nor was steering I get it's not a luxury car, it just felt unrefined and slapped together like old school GM Even still, the bunker feel would get old Hardly any trunk This v6 manual version is enough of a turd, it really makes you understand this car needs a v8 to tap its character. Car would suck as a daily driver SUMMARY I thought with good deals on 15 Camaros I would check one out. We know the car will be changed a great deal when the new ones come out. I was checking to see if that made it a great buy now. I would not waste any time on the LS manual. I really do believe an automatic may have made the big difference here, probably enough to transform the car (I have never much liked the GM 3.6 anyways). The v6 is nothing to write home about and the driving experience did not do anything for me. Otherwise, I was surprised that the interior did not turn me off so much. The low roof and small glass did annoy me but not as much as i had feared. The car felt cobbled together and old. The supposed refinement of the 2016 version is therefore probably well worth the wait. A friend who has rented Camaros at the airport on business before had said as much about the car. Lets hope the 16 model brings big improvements in drive and refinement all around and makes the car more than just a pretty face. C-