Flashback Fridays: 2007 Mazda Mazdaspeed3

Story by John LeBlanc This article was originally published in May, 2007 – Among other things, including helping to start a little company you might have heard of called Intel, Gordon E. Moore noted more than 40 years ago that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit — processing power — doubles every 24 […]

Comparo: 2010 Mazdaspeed3 vs. Volkswagen GTI

[svgallery name=”2010 VW GTI vs Mazspeed3″] FTD 4s The future of high-performance squares-off By John LeBlanc Whenever the economy tanks or governments want people to drive more fuel efficient or environmentally friendly automobiles, expect the auto industry to adopt a “let’s-get-small” attitude. Take the recession of the late ’50s and early ’60s, which spawned the […]

The Straight-GOODS/Hot Hatches

2010 Audi A3 2.0 TFSI quattro Base Price: $36,900 Driver Must Haves: Sport Package ($3,100) It’s not as sharp as a Subie WRX265. But think of this classy-looking A3 as the Golf R Volkswagen Canada (shy 80 hp) won’t bring here. The five-door A3 is chock-a-block with all-wheel drive, twin-clutch gearbox, a gutsy 200 hp […]

2010 CCOTY: Sports & Performance under $50k

[svgallery name=”CCOTY_Sports_under_50k_hirez”] Story, videos and photos by John LeBlanc As a member of the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (hey, they have cheap travel insurance), I got invited for two days in late October to drive new 2010 cars over public roads and an airport test track. The goal was to pick a category winner […]

Video: 2010 Mazdaspeed3

One lap of the Niagara airport test track in a 2010 Mazdaspeed3 at this year’s Canadian Car of the Year.