2004 Mazda Rx-8 4dr Cpe 6-spd Manual on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hiss off! Venomous snake takes refuge in Australian man’s engine bay

A man who went out for a walk in suburban Sydney got quite a surprise when he returned to his red Mazda. Left on his windshield was a hand-written note warning him that a venomous red-bellied black snake had taken up residence in his car. "Hi," the note read, "this afternoon a red Belly slithered up into your front left tyre. Please be careful." The snake is a native of wet areas of eastern Australia that can grow up to 2.5 meters (about 8 feet), making it one of Australia's largest venomous snakes. They're considered dangerous, but shy, unlikely to bite unless severely agitated. When Michael Garbutt popped the hood, he found the snake coiled up inside in the corner. "To say I was shocked is an understatement," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "On reflection I don't think I would have put my hand out to pop the bonnet if I had known it was there." So he took to Google to look for a local snake wrangler and found Andrew Melrose, of Shire Snake Catchers. By the time he arrived, the snake had moved down into the engine. Then it moved behind the wheel guard, and then under the engine to the front bumper, then back to the right front wheel. Melrose said he coaxed it out by gently touching its body. "I've done it my whole life," he said. "It looks simple but if you haven't done it before you can get killed real quick." In the end, Melrose ended up grabbing the snake from the ground outside of the car and dropping it in a bag. The whole de-snaking process took about an hour. Melrose said the snake is common on the swampy peninsula area where it was found, since it finds plenty of frogs, eels and other creatures to eat. He says it's common to find them in cars. "If they get startled they look for the first place that is safe," he said. "The place I found it was very bare. There was no place for the snake to escape. People would have startled it and the only place for it to hide was the car. The driver could have driven off unaware and parked and the snake would have left the car when it felt safe." So let this be a lesson for you, Autoblog readers: familiarize yourself with your local venomous snakes. And keep the number of your local snake wrangler handy at all times. Or just don't move to Australia.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Unknown Auto News Weird Car News Mazda snake

Mazda's new turbo four fits in both the 6 and the 3

Despite the size differences, the Mazda CX-9 shares a lot with its smaller car-based siblings, the Mazda6 and Mazda3. That could allow Mazda to slot its full-sizer's new 2.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine under the hood of its smaller offerings. Pardon us while we do a happy dance. "[The 2.5-liter turbo] fits in a lot of our cars, and where we're actually going to put it is another question," Mazda North America vehicle development engineer Dave Coleman told Australia's Car Advice. Coleman specified that the turbocharged engine will fit in all the same applications that can accommodate the company's 2.5-liter gas and diesel engines. "Basically, that big space we used for the bundle of snakes exhaust manifold, the turbo is in that space too. They're all packaged to occupy the same space. It's exactly the same clearance as the exhaust manifold of the other engines." This kind of logic – if Engine A is the same size as Engine B, then both should fit in Car C – is what's lead us to imagine a turbocharged Mazda6 since the new engine was announced. In short, it's great news. Mazda's 2.5-liter turbo is a hell of an engine in the CX-9, and it's hard to imagine it'd be worse in a lighter vehicle. But just because it works from an engineering standpoint doesn't mean it's going to happen. At least, not soon. "It fits. I'm not a product planner so I don't get to make that call," Coleman told Car Advice. "It's up to the product planners to decide what they're going to put it in." The most obvious application for a turbocharged engine in the 3 or 6 is as a reborn Mazdaspeed model. But don't get too excited – Coleman said Mazda hasn't even gotten as far as building an engineering prototype with this engine. We're still firmly at the theoretical stage. And that's bad news, because it gels with what we've been reporting – that Mazda will wait a generation for future Mazdaspeed models. We just stopped doing our happy dance. Related Video:

10 of 18 midsize SUVs earn 'good' IIHS side impact safety rating

It's not terribly surprising that midsize SUVs earned better safety ratings than small SUVs in the latest side-impact tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Just how much better they scored, on the other hand, certainly raises an eyebrow. Ten out of 18 midsize SUVs earned the highest rating of 'good' in the stringent new test, altered for vehicles starting with the 2020 model year with a heavier barrier (4,200 pounds) that moves at a higher speed (37 miles per hour) and is fitted with a hard honeycomb frontal structure. By way of contrast, just one out of of 20 small SUVs earned a 'good' score.  SUVs that receiving 'good' scores were the Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX60, Lincoln Aviator, Mazda CX-9, Nissan Pathfinder, Subaru Ascent, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Atlas, Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport and Volkswagen ID.4. For EV fans, it's worth noting the ID.4 was the only electric vehicle included in the test. The Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse scraped away with 'acceptable' ratings while the Honda Passport, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Wrangler 4-door, Kia Telluride and Nissan Murano were deemed merely 'marginal' in the tough new test. Only two models — the Mazda CX-9 and Volkswagen ID.4 — earned a "Good" rating in every test category.  Interestingly, the Jeep Wrangler would have scored a 'good' rating if it were equipped with side airbags for the rear seating positions. It would likely be an engineering challenge to equip its removable top and/or doors with airbags, but the lack of that safety feature allowed the head of the rear passenger dummy to hit the vertical support of the top. Otherwise, the Wrangler scored good ratings across the board. The new Ford Bronco, which makes more allowances for side-impact safety, has not yet been tested.  The popular Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride SUVs stand out in the test with 'poor' ratings for driver pelvis injuries. The Nissan Murano, a vehicle last redesigned for the 2015 model year, was the only vehicle tested that received a 'poor' rating for its structure and safety cage. Videos of the tests of 12 of these 18 SUVs can be found on the IIHS' YouTube page. Related video: Green Buick Chevrolet Ford Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jeep Kia Mazda Nissan Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Safety Crossover SUV IIHS Insurance Institute for Highway Safety