Declan Colley test drives the new Mazda2 model, but finds it falls short in the highly competitive supermini segment

I don’t know if there has been any other manufacturer which has received praise on such a lavish basis in these columns in recent years as Mazda – and for very good reason.

The jury in a capital murder trial has been shown footage of the moment when a garda was shot dead in the car park of a credit union during an armed robbery.

More than 10,000 Mazda cars are being recalled over safety fears they may stall unexpectedly.

Rochard Bruton said: “It is my ambition to have the Climate Bill enacted before an election."

A pair of armed robbers who pointed a firearm into the face of a middle aged postmistress have lost appeals against the severity of their nine-year sentences.

It seems incongruous in a business where pushing technological and engineering boundaries are a commonplace taken-for-granted thing, that certain cars can maintain their position at the head of the sales charts not so much for years, but for decades, without really being challenged even by a determined opposition.

A PSNI spokesman has made an appeal for witnesses to come forward.

The injured 22-year-old, understood to be from Co Donegal, was arrested yesterday on board a plane about to take off from Sydney Airport.

Gardaí pursued a dangerous drink driver from Cork city to Ballyvolane where he crashed into a ditch, and gardaí found numerous open cans of Budweiser beer in the car.

Global shares and the price of oil slumped, as President Donald Trump shocked markets by opening a new front in his world trade wars by setting a tariff demand on Mexico.

The T-Cross is Volkswagen’s smallest SUV to date. Ryan Hirons asks whether it can be a big success.

They are a funny crowd, those guys at Mazda.

Tom Wiltshire takes a test drive to see if more power, plus some technology updates, have enhanced the charming Mazda MX-5.

A 22-year-old man is due in court later, charged in connection with a fatal road traffic collision in Co Donegal.

Ryan Hirons gets behind the wheel of the latest Mazda MX-5 special edition.

Paul Bradley (54) and his sons Jason (20), Dean (24), and Ryan (18), of Liscarne Gardens, Dublin 22, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Neil Reilly (36) at Esker Glebe in Lucan, Dublin on January 18, 2017.

Rebecca Chaplin takes to the roads of the Azores to discover what these enchanting islands have to offer.

A husband who murdered a popular primary school teacher after she confronted him about making indecent images has been jailed for life in England with a minimum term of 23 years.

A sleight of hand saw a black bag containing an iPhone, iPod, and iPad being replaced with a similar bag containing nothing more valuable than two bottles of water and some paper.

The Prius is undoubtedly number one when it come to hybrid cars says Declan Colley but their latest edition is going nowhere fast

CCTV has been released in a fresh bid to trace a man believed to be involved in a hit-and-run in England which left a mother and newborn baby in hospital.

It’s usually premium brands that attract the most fervent fan bases, but one lifelong family of car addicts has set up its own museum in Germany for a very unusual collection indeed.

I often wonder when I see a Mazda6 pass me on the road why it is that so few of them are around and about on our highways and byways, writes Declan Colley.

Connacht v Scarlets, Guinness PRO12: Kieran Marmion admits complacency cost Connacht dearly as they failed to defend their Guinness PRO12 title this season.

Gardaí have today appealed for witnesses to last Friday’s robbery and false imprisonment at a service station in Athy, Co Kildare.

As the recessionary ‘80s gave way to the Celtic Tiger era, Irish consumers began to spend again and Ford, retaining its Cork links, launched a raft of models which became industry leaders.

A woman in her 70s has died following a two-vehicle crash in the North.

The long-awaited Mazda MX-5 RF (standing for ‘retractable fastback’) will officially launch in Ireland in just over a week’s time.

Automotive tuning company BBR has released a new performance package for the third-generation 1.8-litre Mazda MX-5, which boosts power from 136bhp to 175bhp.

Ballistic experts are conducting forensic tests on two guns found in the wake of a suspected gangland assassination in Dublin.

A lorry driver in England who killed a woman and three children by ploughing into their stationary car while scrolling through music on his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years.

The look of the Mazda 6 hasn’t changed much since its revamp last year. But the new Tourer has made changes under the hood (and to the driving experience) which show Mazda really listen to customer feedback

Some of the bigger marques stayed away but there was plenty to see in Paris, says Hannah Elliot

IT IS very interesting to observe the goings-on at Mercedes right now as the company eyes-up a rate of expansion that is more wildly ambitious than anything the great German marque has undertaken in its long and illustrious history.

We take the new Kia Optima for test drive to find out if it’s worth the investment.

Connacht prop Denis Buckley has his sights set on an international call-up as he prepares for another massive season with the Guinness PRO12 champions.

Gardaí in Kerry were last night hunting a third member of a gang after a post office was robbed at gunpoint, a Garda car repeatedly rammed, and detectives discharged warning shots.

IT IS something of a mystery to me why Mazda is what might be termed a serial underperformer in sales terms here in Ireland.

A Jaguar Land Rover manager left two young sisters paralysed after smashing his company 4x4 into their father's car during a road rage chase in England, a court heard.

Some farmers in Somerset, England decided to take drastic action after finding a strange car parked in their drive.

There is a certain irony in the fact that as one of the fore-runners of the whole crossover genre, the Toyota RAV4 now finds itself swamped by a whole host of wannabe contenders. As one of the original of the species, the RAV4 was designed and built to give drivers an off-road look with very much an on-road demeanour, writes Declan Colley

ALL too few cars ever attain any sort of legendary status, vanishing into the mists of time — as they do — in a haze of exhaust fumes as noxious and unpalatable as the designs themselves.

What’s new? The DS brand is one of the youngest and least-understood on the roads. Intended as an upmarket spin-off from Citroen, DS began life selling upgraded versions of existing models from the popular French carmaker.

Gardaí are appealing for information on a car believed to have been used in a shooting in Tallaght.