Auto News 5

Mazda made some very minute aesthetic updates to the Speed3 for 2013 -- blacked out mirror caps, wheels, and rear diffuser -- but most important is the sole interior upgrade: a new navigation system. The new head unit contains the same touchscreen-based system used in the CX-5 and the 2014 Mazda6, complete with TomTom navigation. Compared with the old, steering-wheel-controlled navigation system and its teeny-tiny screen, the new system is a welcome upgrade. However, with the addition of the new unit, there are now five different screens for the driver to pay attention to: the new infotainment one, the trip computer one, the climate display, the boost gauge, and the odometer/trip odometer. Even with the plethora of places to look for information, they’re all very well placed. The boost gauge is between the large tachometer and the speedometer, and the odometer sits below. Mounted atop the center stack, just below the windshield, are the trip computer and the climate screens; just below the upper dash vents is the new navigation unit.

The enthusiasm of the staff for hot car-chase scenes in movies continues unabated, as evidenced by our five -- count 'em, five -- page opener to this issue of Automobile Magazine. It makes me weep with joy to see the unbridled love of fast-car fun enjoyed by the heart and soul of our team, that is, the Young Boys, who, led by road test editor Chris Nelson, tracked down The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker for an interview (and then rightly ranked him lower than Paul Newman on the car-cred scale); argued (as all of us and every one of you have done) over the best car movies (and I would argue that they should be about cars); and then filmed their own car-chase scene.