Mazda’s adding a new clean diesel to the ever pop­u­lar Mazda 6 fam­ily sedan. The new CRTD is based on the stan­dard 2.0L petrol, but only gains 6 kg despite tur­bocharg­ing and a bevy of improve­ments. The 136KW(185HP), 400nm motor promises to be an exer­cise in torque steer for the light sedan, but own­ers will be smil­ing with an impres­sive fuel econ­omy of 5.6L/100kms.  The new CRTD will be sent first to Europe, and it remains to be seen if motor will arrive in Australia.

Mazda Devel­ops new Clean Diesel Engine with Improved Out­put and Envi­ron­men­tal Performance

As a result, the new cat­a­lyst mech­a­nism reduces the amount of fuel required to burn off the par­tic­u­lates (soot). This improves the over­all fuel econ­omy, and results in lower CO2 emis­sions and cleaner exhaust gases.

[Source: Mazda]

To all inter­state and local Ade­laide Japan­ese car lovers, a new event is on the hori­zon! Here’s the low down, straight from the horses mouth:

What is All Japan Day?

Sick and tired of car shows that spend so much time pro­mot­ing them­selves that they’ve for­got­ten all about the cars?

So was the All Japan Day organ­is­ing com­mit­tee! We decided to band together and cre­ate a sim­ple event that ‘got back to basics’ and allowed entrants and spec­ta­tors to do what they love doing best — just admire and talk about the sen­sa­tional cars on dis­play. By keep­ing it sim­ple, we’ve also kept the costs down, which has ben­e­fited both entrants and spectators.

We are very excited about our inau­gural event on 27 April 2008 and we hope its suc­cess will encour­age suit­able entrants from inter­state (maybe even over­seas? Mazda please send us a 787B racer!) in future years.

So, come and enjoy us for a relax­ing day out and be daz­zled by some of Australia’s finest Japan­ese automobiles.

So for those of you in Ade­laide who love Japan­ese cars, head over to the All Japan Day web­site to learn about becom­ing an entrant and spectator.

Mazda has released a made-​​to-​​order ver­sion of the MX-​​5 (known as the ‘Road­ster’ in Japan) called the ‘Pres­tige Edition’.

It’s another in a long line of spe­cial ver­sions that we won’t see over here in Aus­tralia, and dare­say won’t see in the USDM either. Here’s the low­down on what we’re all miss­ing with the new ‘Pres­tige Edition’.

• Heated bucket seats
• Black Leather upholstery
• 17″ alu­minium BBS wheels
• Front fog lights
• Stain­less steel scuff plates
• Front strut brace
• Dynamic Sta­bil­ity Con­trol (DSC)

The new edi­tion is strictly made to order, and will set prospec­tive own­ers back 2,950,000 yen for the six-​​speed man­ual trans­mis­sion and 3,050,000 yen for the six-​​speed auto­matic trans­mis­sion model.

[Source: Nihon­Car]

Bored, a good writer or artist, want to get in on Mazda’s ZOOM ZOOM style, and want to win a prize?

Well here’s just the thing! Mazda have announced (on face­book at least) a design com­pe­ti­tion for all who are inter­ested in� win­ning a trip to the L.A Autoshow in Novem­ber. Enter the MAZDA Design Chal­lenge to win:

• �All expenses paid trip to L.A
• $1000 spend­ing money
• A Mazda 3 for the week of the show (Doesn’t appear you get to keep it. Awww!)

All you need to do is write 150 words or less on what you expect 3 of 2018 will look like — and yes, you can send in a sketch. But you bet­ter get mov­ing, sub­mis­sion ends Octo­ber 12, 2007! Hit face­book for the com­pe­ti­tion group.

Note: The com­pe­ti­tion is open to US cit­i­zens only. Bugger.

[Source: Grand­JDM]

It must be the week for sexy white per­for­mance Japan­ese cars.

40th Anniver­sary RX-​​8. Click to Enlarge.

Mazda is build­ing 200 Marble-​​White, lim­ited edi­tion RX-8’s in order to cel­e­brate the 40th anniver­sary of the rotary engine. The car only comes in Mar­ble white , and unfor­tu­nately offers the same power as the exist­ing, stan­dard RX-​​8. Darn.

The car is dis­tin­guished by spe­cial badg­ing, Alcantra and leather inte­rior, spe­cial retro stitch­ing, Bil­stein dampers, a foam filled cross­mem­ber and some new 18″ shoes.

Per­son­ally I was hop­ing for a tur­bocharged RENESIS, or a lim­ited edi­tion in the form of the JDM Series 8 RX-​​7 motor with the boost wound up a tad. But if wishes were wings…

[Source: Auto­blog]