We just published our First Drive of the U.S.-spec 2014 Mazda6, a midsize sedan priced from a base $21,675 Sport model as much as a higher equipped Grand Touring model that, before adding packages, carries a $30,290 MSRP. Sure that you can get a respectable midsizer just like the Mazda6 for around $25,000, but would you rather have a loaded compact for a similar price Motor Trend forum member THE­­_atvman is combating what’s surely a standard predicament. A Mazda3 Grand Touring, for instance, nets leather seats, navigation, and a premium Bose Sound System (and the high-performance Mazdaspeed3 starts at across the same price, too). But just how important is the additional rear-seat and trunk space As we’ve noted numerous times, automakers are stepping up their game in relation to compact...

Before Lexus waves goodbye to the LFA forever, the automaker threw a going-away party to honor the last LFA to be sold in America. We visited the Toyota Automobile Museum in Southern California, where Roy Mallady took delivery of his new LFA – but not his first. examples of the ear-shattering V-10 powered supercar were hand-built for patrons around the world, but only 178 units came to the U.S. Of these, 22 Nurburgring Editions were sold inside the States, including Mallady’s number 499, which wears steel gray exterior paint, red brake calipers, red leather interior, and an optional $25,000 carbon fiber roof. Although the Georgia native has a taste for exotics (he’s owned everything from a Maserati Merak to Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and a tuned GT-R) Mallady has a sweet...