I don’t listen to music on Spotify, but the app was apparently telling listeners how old they were by their musical taste. That’s rude. Apple Music did no such thing. Instead, it let me know I was one of the top 100 listeners of Elastica on the planet. I’m pretty sure no member of Elastica listens to as much Elastica as I listened to this year.
My instinct this morning was to write about the big Oval Office meeting featuring various leaders from American automakers. Thomas already wrote about the surprising Kei car announcement. There was a lot of discussion without a lot of detail. I think I’m going to wait for the details.
What’s worth talking about today is Mazda, which finds itself doing slightly better than you’d maybe guess. It’s made its average car more expensive, while also increasing market share. How it did this is important when considering that dealers, on the whole, have a negative view of the market since the pandemic.
Honda dealers probably feel good about things overall, given where its sales have been, and there’s a fun little nugget this month about Prelude sales. And, finally, The Morning Dump will take a look at hybrid reliability.
What Can We Learn From Mazda?
When I was on the launch for the Mazda CX-70, I was surprised to see that the company parked a brand-new BMW X7 next to it for comparison. The X7 is an exceptional SUV and nicer than the Mazda.
How much nicer? The price delta does suggest that the Mazda is probably a good value (An X7 is now like double the price). That seems to be the strategy for the company as it tries to enter the gray space between what a Toyota offers and what a Lexus offers.
It seems to be working, as in the last eight years the company’s market share has recovered to 2.6% from 1.7%, which is a reasonable turnaround. More importantly, the average transaction price has climbed to $33,000 per vehicle from $24,000. Hans Griemel did an interview with CEO Masahiro Moro, and the focus was on the difference between the retail experience and the product itself:
“For a long time, people said Mazda relied too much on product-led growth, because we were very strong on product,” Moro said in a Nov. 19 Talk From The Top interview at the company’s Tokyo high-rise office.
“But in North America, especially in the U.S. and now Mexico, we are now seeing something very, very different. We see retail-driven growth. This is maybe the biggest change in recent years,” he said.
Premium cars, increasingly, demand an even more premium price, and trimflation means your theoretically affordable midsize crossover is now what you’d have paid to buy a BMW a few years ago. That space in between is greater than ever, and your average Kia dealer is going to have a hard time replicating that luxury experience.
One big advantage that dealers can still wield over online retailers is a positive, perhaps luxury experience when buying a car. Subaru has already started doing this with its REI-fication of its own stores.
Obviously, there’s a lot of grey space at the bottom of the market as well, but in this environment, it’s harder to fill.
Dealer Sentiment Drops To Lowest Level Since The Pandemic
Yikes, the Q4 Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index (CADSI) data is out (you can see the question being asked at the top of the plot above), and it’s rough, with huge declines in sentiment.
“Dealers are signaling caution as 2025 ends,” said Mark Strand, deputy chief economist at Cox Automotive. “Persistent economic uncertainty and fading consumer confidence are weighing on sentiment. Compared to the rest of the year, the current market feels like it’s running out of gas. As we look ahead at 2026, renewed market momentum is entirely possible, especially if we get material interest-rate relief and a rebound in consumer confidence.”
Something is going to have to give for the market to improve next year, whether that’s products, the economy, or interest rates.
People Are Buying Preludes; At Least 30 People
I still have positive feelings about the 2026 Honda Prelude, and I look forward to driving one when I get the chance. It’s a little expensive, but so is everything else. Will it sell?
As noticed by someone on Reddit, there were at least 30 of them sold in November. This is a brand new car, and it only got to dealerships at the very end of the month, so this data is mostly entertaining and not actually meaningful. Given how long it takes to ramp up production and sales, it’ll probably be the end of Q1 2026 before anyone can make a completely fair judgment about the vehicle.
I hope it succeeds. We need more coupes and more hybrids, and this is both.
Survey Shows Hybrids Are More Reliable Than Non-Hybrids
Something about this news feels familiar to me… but Thursdays often feel like Tuesdays to me, and vice versa.
Hybrids have been in regular usage in the United States for a quarter of a century, meaning it’s a fairly established technology. Perhaps my “decade of the hybrid” language is too late. Maybe it’s not 2024-2034, maybe it’s 2020-2030?
I say all of this because our friends at Consumer Reports are out with their annual scorecard, and Subaru and BMW are right at the top. The Subaru bit may be somewhat surprising given some of our experiences around here, but as I’ve mentioned before, there are some good reasons for this. Specifically, owner satisfaction is high, the cars come with a lot of standard safety equipment, and Subaru makes no truck-based vehicles to pull down the score (as Toyota does, for instance).
“I’ve always been very honest about this. Consumer Reports does not rate vehicles based on what Jake likes, or Stef likes, or a bunch of us who are auto enthusiasts like,” Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at CR, explained to me. “These are definitely not ratings for an auto enthusiast, these are ratings for that small niche group… that are like 90% of the market [and aren’t] looking for rear-wheel-drive, stick shift sports cars.”
Owned. For his part, Jake recently bought a Honda Civic Si, which is both a reliable and CR-recommended car, as well as an absolute hoot.
What really struck me from the press release was this:
When it comes to the reliability of electrified powertrains, hybrids continue to stand out. On average, hybrids have about 15 percent fewer problems than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, a significant boon to the growing number of Americans who are buying hybrids. A record 1.6 million were sold last year, according to U.S. Department of Energy.
Of the approximately 30 hybrids for which CR has sufficient data, only the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid, and Mazda CX-50 Hybrid have below-average predicted reliability scores. CR’s survey shows both EVs and PHEVs continue to experience growing pains. On average, they have about 80 percent more problems than ICE cars. For half the brands in this year’s rankings, the least reliable car is a plug-in hybrid or fully electric vehicle. Seven of the 10 least reliable cars are either PHEVs or EVs, with issues related to EV battery, charging, and drive systems being among the commonly reported problems.
Fisher expanded on this with me, pointing out that “You’re just not relying on your brakes as much because you have the regenerative braking,” and the engine is under less stress in certain situations. Driver behavior, also, is likely gentler with your average hybrid than, say, a WRX.
Of course, as pointed out, plug-in hybrids aren’t faring as well. Some of this comes down to which automakers focus on which technology. Honda and Toyota are the leaders in hybrids (which is probably affecting why hybrids fare so well in reliability), whereas Stellantis is the leader in PHEVs.
“Stellantis as a whole has always had issues with reliability. They’ve changed ownership a few times, [and] bringing in FIAT helping them out with reliability… certainly is not the best strategy,” Fisher said.
Yup. Jeep, as per usual, is at the bottom.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Did I have any choice? It’s Elastica with the rockin’ and extremely mean (probably to Damon Albarn) “Stutter.”
The Big Question
Which brands need to move upmarket? What about down?
Top photo: Mazda
Thanks for reminding me to listen to more Elastica.
I can attest that their strategy worked on our household, exactly as intended.
Background: we have mostly been a one car household, driving exclusively German (v6 B7 Audi, E90, 2.0T hatchback Audi, E91) until I starting keeping cheap second cars around (PT Cruiser, HHR SS, C-Max, Aztek, etc). Two things happened: we moved to a big city for the time being, which changed most of our driving from regional + highway trips to a lot of city tooling around, as our kiddo enters toddler activity age etc. And the BMW reached the point of no return for us in no uncertain terms (a BMW mechanic bought it and is doing wonderful conversions to it).
We settled on a brand new Mazda CX-50 Hybrid Preferred, which was unexpected for us manual transmission couple. The Mazda actually reminds me of the E90 in a lot of small ways. The rotary knobs are similar, the recessed smaller screen makes us happy, and the interior feels like a good place to be. It had to be a first year 2025 for us, as that is the only slicktop CX-50 hybrid trim in existence – 2026 Preferred got the sunroof.
Driving in the city with it has been a revelation. No winding up an inline six, just point and shoot rather quietly, until the beast kicks in. My brain is already dubbing the engine grunt as “torque,” which is good. 700 miles so far, more than half of the second tank remaining (10-11 gallon tanks, cheap swill). It really is efficient.
The highway run is the only place where I want to shed a tear for my old friend the BMW. The Mazda is fine, but the way the bimmer settled into speed was just special.
Dealership expereince was great… until it wasn’t. It was already advertised with three k off, as it was base trim of outgoing year), and they honored it straight up. All I had to do is negotiate their doc fee off, which they agreed… done deal at 32k plus TTL. Except…. weeks later I realized they fraudulently added the “paint protection” charge of sixteen hundred surreptitiously to our Mazda loan, with an admittedly fantastic rate of 1.9%. My eloquent e-mails did the trick, though we’re still waiting on that reimbursement check. I was prepared for pressure, of which there was none. I now know why…. they went straigth into fraud. But…. we’re getting it back.
Overall, I’d purchase the car again, exactly in the same trim. It’s a great car that does so many things wonderfully, and the rest of it pretty well.
“What Can We Learn From Mazda?”
I learned that these days in automotive, it pays to be boring and ‘luxurious’
Seriously, Mazda from 15 years ago was more interesting (aside from the rust) with their Mazdaspeed models. And you could get a minivan with a manual from them even!
Did enough people buy these more interesting vehicles? Hell no!
“Which brands need to move upmarket? What about down?”
Lincoln needs to be more up-market. Right now Ford is running Lincoln too much like Mercury.
Cadillac also needs to move up-market to give Buick more ‘space’.
And VW needs to move downmarket and forget about trying to be mass market ‘luxury’. That’s what Audi is for.
Does that mean that the salespeople will walk away once they find out I am already an
REISubaru co-op member?Behold, the most batshit, off-the-rails Reddit “ask me anything” A CEO ever fell into unexpectedly: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3scce7/i_am_jerry_stritzke_ceo_of_rei_and_were_closing/
Are those people in the top picture extraordinarily small or what?
So small, they don’t even cast a shadow….
So Mazda is going after the vampire demographic after Subaru’s success in niche marketing?
Hard to cast a shadow in the shade.
The only thing that kept me from buying a Mazda3 when I purchased my WRX was lack of Manual Transmission and Turbo engine available together. What a combo that would be!
Honestly, I hope that if/when my wife replaces the Forester (which I’ve spent a lot of time defending here, though tends to test my patience) that she tries to move over to a CX-50. They’re typically available for around 34k, and they’re just so much nicer looking inside and out than the competition. Not to mention a real automatic transmission.
“ real automatic transmission” as opposed to what?
Those double clutch things that shift themselves seem problematic, but the eCVT thing that Toyota and Ford use are great. Torque converters still give me the icks.
I guess an auto with both a clutch and a converter sort of splits the difference, but seems complicated.
I was trying to keep it vague to not incur the wrath of a certain Jatco Xtronic CVT.
Speaking of not casting a shadow.
I would prefer to drive a CX-70 over an X7. The BMWs features & sophistication are certainly impressive, but I find them more irritating in a daily driver than attractive. I much prefer the simpler and more honest feeling Mazda.
I don’t get Mazda.
Quality is not really good….in CX60, the materials are cheap, everything is rattling, the powertrain of the hybrid has the worst NVH and shifting behaviour I have witnessed in a long time.
I don’t know, I thought the CX90 was very nice when we rented one last year. My sister-in-law likes her CX5 so much so that her husband just bought one for himself.
My job is the evaluation of vehicles…and I was not very impressed.
Fair enough. I enjoyed my time with them, but I have not spent time in anything more upmarket than than my wife’s Mini Cooper S
I saw one of those 30 Preludes, and I LIKED it a lot.
I drive a Mazda cx-5 and I often refer to it as my Japanese Buick, it feels premium without breaking the bank and a better interior then the other Japanese cars I test drove when I was shopping for a car. among the top 5 rated in terms of reliability and build quality. And not as expensive as a Lexus or Acura. Like a Buick if you were to compare to Chevrolet or Cadillac .
Never owned or even considered a Mazda in the past, so not what you’d call a Mazda fanboy (until now maybe?) So I’m gonna add my anecdotal, totally subjective, doesn’t-apply-to-most-people, based on zero actual data, 2 cents: my new-to-me ’24 CX-50 Turbo is an absolutely brilliant car (for the $) – I honestly can’t find anything I don’t like or love about it.
Just got a 2025 CX-30 this spring (never owned a Mazda before, and only knew one person who did), and yes, they are great cars for the money. The styling, the fuel economy, the features…it’s like getting a Honda or Toyota, but at 20% less. Only thing I’m surprised at is that the infotainment screen isn’t touch, but I guess considering the functions are all controlled via central knob, they maybe felt it was redundant?
You can turn on touch screen for Android Auto / CarPlay in settings – it’s just disabled by default.
So the much less reliable Mazda wants to assume the position below reliable luxury cars and above reliable general cars by selling less reliable and less quality vehicles. I wonder how that will work. Probably not well
Either Kia or Hyundai needs to move down. One needs to be a true entry level.
As someone who actually bought a brand new Mazda CX-90 PHEV back in August, I have to say it’s really not that far off luxury makes like BMW and Lexus. I’d say it’s nicer inside than Acura and especially Infiniti. The CX-90 is packed to the gills with all the latest tech, the napa leather seats are genuinely super lush, it’s very quiet and spacious, and returns about 50 mpg combined with driving mix.
Where it misses from a true luxury SUV is in the regular sprung suspension (which is inoffensive, but things like air suspension aren’t offered), and the PHEV drivetrain tuning could use some refinement, but it’s a lot of car for the $47k we paid after all the rebates Mazda gave us.
Back in 2015 I bought a Mazda 3 sedan, new. It had almost no options and I put 93,000 trouble free miles on that car. It held it’s own in fit and finish and punched way above it’s weight in every category. I recommend Mazda to everyone who is looking for something a little nicer than your average car.
Sorry Mazda doesn’t suck but it is far behind Toyota and Honda on quality and reliability. I wonder if you are trying to justify your purchase?
Username checks out.
For actual facts, Mazda scored 3rd overall in vehicle dependability from JD Power in 2025: 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) | J.D. Power
Consumer Reports ranks Mazda 14 overall, but #3 for used-car reliability, just behind Toyota and Lexus, and beating Honda: Which Brands Have the Best Long-Term Car Reliability? – Consumer Reports
All these aggregate ranking have biases, but Mazda is right up there with the bigger brands. Also, I personally find Toyota interiors very bland and uncomfortable, and the most recent models really aren’t all that well made. I know Toyotas are reliable, but I like to actually be comfortable in my cars, and I’m just not in Toyotas.
Anecdotally, everyone I know with various Mazdas has spoken well of them. I’ve personally owned 3, and none ever gave me any issues or required any serious repairs. My biggest beef with Mazda is in their infotainment design in modern cars, but that’s still fairly minor.
Lol, I remember when Mr Sarcastic was “deleted” by Matt Hardigree back in May 2024; I remember because it was such a happy day that I took a screenshot to commemorate the occasion.
I guess he’s back and ready to shower us with more hot takes and excessively contrary opinions! Buckle up everyone, everything you say is about to get shit on for no reason at all.
Our last 4 vehicles have been Mazda.As previous Toyota owners we can both attest that their reliability is on par with Toyota.Each vehicle had or has high mileage and absolutely no mechanical issues.I will say while not as fancy the Toyota interiors do hold up better and fit/finish may be a tad better but other than that I can say out Mazda’s have been as reliable as our previous Toyota vehicles.
TBH, I would avoid a car with air suspension; eveyone I know who has had a car with that (from a cousin’s 745 to my brother’s Lincoln) had issues with it. The concept is nice, but ultimately not worth it IMO. I saw a CX-90 on the showroom floor when we bought our CX-30 this spring,and was like whoa, cause I had no idea Mazda made cars on that level.Another cousin has an X-5, and it made me think of that, from the patterned seats to the two tone interior. It was really gorgeous!
Yeah, but my comment on air suspension was more pointing out it isn’t even available as an option. I’ve never had a car with air suspension, but I know it’s typically available on luxury SUVs. The BMW X5 doesn’t come with it standard, but it’s a $1000 option, for example.
As I said, I find the CX-90’s ride to be inoffensive. I don’t think it’s as supple as luxury SUVs costing $30k more, but it’s above an average family SUV, and the steering is very well weighted. It doesn’t feel like a barge to handle either.
Also yes, the interior (especially at the higher trims) could easily pass for a BMW, Range Rover, Lincoln, etc. The materials all feel very premium, NVH is minimal, and it’s got all the latest tech. I particularly like the full color HUD with navigation directions displayed in it, which also works with CarPlay navigation apps.
Conceptually air suspension is so simple, adjustable, and progressive, and it works great on semi trucks. I don’t understand why auto manufacturers always screw it up.
Agree 100%. My ex-wife had a ’15 X5 Sdrive3.5i with self-leveling air suspension. Maybe if she hadn’t optioned the M package, it would have ridden and driven better, but it started sagging while parked. The ’18 MDX that replaced it rode and drove so much better. I’m sure the X5 would have been faster around a track, but we never tracked either one.
My son recently bought a non-turbo CX-5 and he and his wife both love it.
Lack of air springs is a reason to buy it not a weakness. Any advantage air springs give is lost behind the extra complexity and poorer feedback through the chassis.
I just meant it’s not even an option. I’m not particularly sad it doesn’t have it, but luxury SUVs typically have it at least as an option.
There is no reason an air spring should provide less feedback. It’s just a progressive spring without resorting to weird geometry. It’s dampening and geometry that determines handling and feedback.
We rented a CX90 last year for a ski trip and I enjoyed how nice it was. The only thing that was a potential issue was it’s performance in the snow, but it was on unknown tires and we were traversing a barely plowed road in an active snowstorm.
My friends were disappointed in it’s performance, but they were comparing it to a fully loaded Grand Cherokee.
Wait, which brands should move up-market? Aren’t they all there already? I haven’t seen an affordable new car in decades.
I saw the interior of a Palisade the other day (it was a soft grey or white, something extremely light), and it was amazing. I knew they (and Kia) were upping their game, but it looked on par with a Range Rover in terms of look/ expensiveness/ comfort. If I had the money, I would definitely consider one!
Well there’s not much of a market for cheap cars new when there’s an abundant supply of depreciated more expensive cars available.
Note that cheap doesn’t necessarily mean affordable, but without buying a new car and owning it for 20 years there’s no way to know. And with manufacturers constantly updating their cars there’s no way for a platform to get a reputation for durability and affordability,
Frankly seeing what other OEM’s are putting out, and considering what Mazda offers as entire experience, it has well earned its ambition and placement among the likes of Lexus, Lincoln, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo. Arguably Genesis, too (see bottom paragraph).
For context, I’d rank the likes of Infiniti and Audi (see below) a partial tier down from that level, as they don’t seem to really have their whole package figured out, and/or rely too heavily on badge-engineered models from their corporate co-brands with arguably just enough to justify the price premium. The next tier down would be “introductory” luxury/premium like Acura and Buick/gmc, as they essentially only offer reskinned models from their lesser corporate co-brands. If Infiniti didn’t have their RWD models I’d put them in this same category. Below that we get the top-spec offerings from mainstream brands, like Ford’s King Ranch and Platinum trims, and other brands’ fancy Platinum and Limited trims and such.
Further to Mazda’s credit, they are wisely priced essentially how Lexus entered the market decades ago against the European stalwarts: higher than their mass-market rivals that they might not directly compete with but are comparison-shopped against anyway, but cheaper than their true target competitors. Unfortunately some of their dealerships’ staff need to remember and practice that they are no longer chasing the bottom part of the market against Kia/Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Honda, and the domestics.
Genesis has a similar good thing going on, even though I’m reluctant to admit it given Hyundai/Kia’s many recent issues and bungling of their widespread engine failures (requiring synthetic oil and having a built-in oil change reminder for the operator might have helped a lot; they were one of the last to adopt these).
If I were buying a brand-new (or recent) vehicle with my own money, Mazda is solidly in my top three for consideration. And I encounter nearly every brand on a regular basis in my profession, so it’s not (solely) being a fan of the brand. It’s putting my money where my mouth is.
Edited to add: where does CR think that the CX-50 Hybrid would be unreliable? It uses the proven RAV4 Hybrid’s system, both to its credit (proven, good info, parts availability), and deficit (NVH)
I cross-shopped Mazdas with the lineups from Honda, Subaru, and Toyota when my wife’s car was totaled a few months ago. Mazda’s MSRPs were mostly on-par with the other brands, but I found Mazda’s actual list price was much lower when accounting for trim level features. Low end Mazda trims have more standard equipment than the other brands, which led us to getting a new CX-5.
Their higher end trims may compete more directly with the luxury brands you mention, but the low end is more than competitive with the mass market brands.
Yeah they have a delicate balancing act for their prices, but seem to be handling it well.
Honestly, I think the “unreliable” factor is more of a “how many literal problems have you had?” vs. “has this car left you stranded on the side of the road?”. That said, the “problems” are probably like “I couldn’t get CarPlay to work!” or “my cat got stuck in a tree!” issues than actual unreliable issues with them.
So Mazda wants to be what they have been for quite some time now – the Japanese Volkswagen? That is exactly the niche that VW mostly occupies, “premium”, but not “luxury” – a luxury VW is an Audi. I would put Buick in there too, the premium alternative to luxury Cadillac, even if at this point I don’t think they share any platforms.
I’d put Mazda a tier higher, actually in the luxury space but priced in the premium space until they are more established in that space.
Their interiors are superior to many of the competition’s offerings in pretty much all ways except space (but I also don’t mind their tighter packaging as these aren’t cargo vans, after all). The styling is handsome and appealing. Their driving dynamics are very strong, especially from the interaction of driver and vehicle. They have one of if not the most reliable mass-market 4-cylinder engine on the market, which also serves as their primary engine. Their biggest shortfalls are being a small independent company (which is also endearing as they’re an underdog) which slows development time and deployment speed, along with certain cost-cutting (but they manage it better than, say, Subaru or Mitsubishi); and also having a smaller network and a heavier reliance on international parts supply, as their only US-made vehicle (for now) is the CX-50 assembled at their joint factory with Toyota in Alabama.
In the US, maybe. VW mostly sells crappy US-specific cars here other then the GTI and Golf R. Globally, not true at all – VW is very much considered a premium car everywhere but here. The VW group equivalent of Mazda is probably Skoda.
I almost said “ugh” to the Buick part (premium?), but it’s ironic; we crossed shopped an Encore with the CX-30 we ended up getting, and it was night and day. Buick seems like they’re stuck on “let’s vomit a bunch of chrome on stuff and hope people think it’s fancy enough to buy!”, vs. Mazda actually providing you with useable features, tech and aesthetics. As for Cadillac? I think they’re finally killing the game and making some vehicles I’d actually want to own (LOVE the Lyriq!), instead of tolerate, which is all I can see from Buick. The Avenir is kinda nice though.
Is the avenir the one that looks like a catfish-faced dog doing a #2? Not only I dislike their shape and fascia, the brake lights are sooooooo poorly located, much like the chevy volt’s where they’re in the bumper, despite having red lenses for something up at “normal” height.
I want whatever drugs he’s taking, because you have to be high to even remotely think Chrysler and Fiat merged because “Chrysler wanted Fiat to help them with reliability”. Fiat wanted a cash cow, and they could help each other with some things. Reliability though? When I buy from his dealer, will they tell me that Fisher does so many drugs, the cartels won’t sell to him anymore because they think Fisher has been selling it? What a crock of crap.
I think that’s obviously a joke he is making.
I doubt that, honestly.
Well Americans have been making joke’s about Fiat reliability for 70 years or so.
A friend used to have a Poughkeepsie-built Fiat in the barn with a 8.5 liter engine. Built around 1915 or so, it had a limousine body and an open touring body. They would take it back to the factory twice a year to have the body changed. They lived about 25
miles from the factory. Then of course WW1 happened and put a stop to that, but Fiat was somewhere between Packard and Pierce Arrow.
After WW2, things were different.
I love my 2020 Mazda 6 but the pleather in my car is wearing terribly.The driver seat is peeling and steering wheel looks years older than it should.Mechanically it has been perfect but I would definitely buy real leather or cloth next time.
Just bought a 2026 Mazda CX-90 last week in Soul Red and we’re loving it. It matches our 2014 Mazda CX-5 that we’ve had no issues with. When my mom needed to replace her Volvo they got a CX-50.
Drove the Toyota Grand Highlander and didn’t like it. Local dealers have also tacked on a $5k markup. They’re also very aggressive, to the point I thought my wife was going to start (uncharacteristically) start yelling at the salesperson and their manager. The CX-90 was cheaper, nicer and better features.
CR section is the same as, um, yesterday, or something? By you or someone else?
This confused me as well and I was surprised to see you were the only one who commented about it.
I assumed the Deja Vu was a glitch in the Matrix. Matt mentions it feels familiar in the post, but I am unsure why it appears to have otherwise been re-posted.
Huh. It was in the Tuesday Morning Dump, but has been removed.
I’m guessing whatever happened there is related to Matt’s note yesterday:
Mazda’s interiors have been really nice for the money, functional, comfortable, and thoughtful. The new CX5 interior, however, appears to me that they’ve abandoned those goals for touchscreen tech that saves them money on switches and wiring.