Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Mazda 3 saloon (2009): first photos

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 09 October 2008 12:20 Mazda is replacing its 3 family of hatchbacks and saloons and we'll see this US-market sedan at next month's Los Angeles motor show. It's a four-door for the notchback-obsessed Americans, but we'll see the five-door Euro-style Mazda 3 hatch a few weeks later at the 2008 Bologna motor show. The new Mazda 3 is believed to be based on the engineering skeleton of a Ford Focus, so expect a front-wheel drive layout and a wide spread of diesel and petrol engines.

One Lap of the Web: Peking to Paris Rally, classic car inspection guide and pointless cars

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Join the Hooniverse debate as they ask: What's the dumbest car sold on the market today?

Mazda Furai concept burns in Top Gear's hands

It's the 20th anniversary of Top Gear -- the magazine anyway -- and as it celebrates its 20th anniversary, the magazine has copped to the destruction of the Mazda Furai concept, which caught on fire while in its possession an unspecified length of time ago. "The 20th anniversary collectors" edition of BBC Top Gear magazine…reveals a host of until-now untold secrets," says a statement from the magazine's publisher, "including the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of Mazda's astonishing Furai concept (hint: it involves the East Anglia fire service)." Well, that sucks. Look at that picture above!