2008 Mazda Cx-9 Touring on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Reminder: Come hang out with Autoblog and the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata on Tuesday, May 19

Do you love chilidogs, French fries, meeting new friends, and the world's most popular convertible? Do you live in Southeast Michigan? Do you like lists of questions? If you answered "yes" to any but the last of those, we'd like to invite you to a little get-together we're hosting next week. Driving impressions are still under embargo for the US-spec 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, but somehow we've conned convinced company PR reps to show the car to you, Joe Public Autoblog Reader. We're enthused about telling you more about the ND Miata, but before we do we'd love to share a Coke and talk about cars. Here's the skinny. A group of Autobloggers will be hanging out at the Athens Coney Island, in Royal Oak, MI, next Tuesday, May 19. We'll have the car on display from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and we'd love to see you. If you're a Miata owner, we'd also love to for you to bring your car along for the party. The more convertibles the better (just be prepared to have your picture taken). Go ahead and set your navi for Athens – 32657 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48073 ­– and we'll look forward to seeing you Tuesday. Mazda Geeks unite. Related Video:

2014 Mazda6 gets up to 38 mpg, priced from $20,880*

The 2014 Mazda6 starts at $20,880 - *excluding a $795 destination fee - and will offer buyers up to 37 mpg highway in base form. That money will fetch buyers a 2.5-liter four-cylinder paired to a six-speed manual - a setup packing 184 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque. The Skyactiv powertrain is good, Mazda says, for 25 miles per gallon in the city and 37 mpg on the highway. Stepping up to the six-speed automatic gearbox will yield an additional 1 mpg in city and highway driving for up to 38 mpg highway. Despite offering more equipment, the base 2014 model carries a modest $155 price increase over its 2013 predecessor.
Available trims include i Sport starting at $22,495 and i Touring at $24,495 (*both excluding destination charges). The latter swaps the standard car's 17-inch wheels for 19-inch rollers and includes dual-zone automatic climate control and leatherette sport seats among other niceties. Buyers can snap up a tech package that includes TomTom navigation and an 11-speaker Bose Centerpoint sound system for $2,000. Keyless entry, rain-sensing wipers and the company's Smart City Brake Support are all part of that kit as well. Check out the full press release below for more information, and look for more details on the diesel-powered 2014 Mazda6 as we get closer to that vehicle's launch.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata First Drive [w/video]

Hypothetically speaking, if you blindfolded me, put me in the car pictured above, and told me to hit the road, it would have taken me maybe two minutes to figure out that I was driving the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. There are just certain facets about Miata driving that have been baked into every generation of Mazda's roadster, and it makes for a symbiotic relationship between car and driver that's truly unique. Sure, I could rattle off a list of cars that come close to offering the same sort of experience, but they just can't quite capture the same intrinsic Miata magic. Mazda knows its Miata is an incredibly special machine. Listening to the company's engineers and designers talk about the development of this fourth-generation ND model is fascinating. The attention to detail is astonishing, and every single person involved in the Miata program knows that the most important goal is to keep this car as true to its predecessors' ethos as possible. It cannot just be a great convertible, or even a great Mazda – it has to be a great MX-5 Miata. But the company did not just want to improve upon the third-generation NC Miata, which has been around since 2006. They wanted to tie the ND Miata's roots back to the original NA from 1989. Back in '89, the Miata was a less-powerful, 1.6-liter model with 115 horsepower and 100 pound-feet of torque. Mazda's team said they are proud of every version of the MX-5, but it's this specific, first-generation model that the company calls the "most right" – the most true to the idea of what a Miata ought to be. So that's why, before being allowed to attack the winding roads of the Spanish countryside in the 2016 MX-5, Mazda wanted me to spend some time with a cherry example of the original NA Miata: a Mariner Blue darling that, even with some 239,000 kilometers on its clock, still felt absolutely impeccable from behind the wheel. Light, responsive, and perfectly balanced, it was the original embodiment of the harmony between driver and car that Mazda wanted in every Miata. Mazda executives said they felt the first Miata was also the right size. So they chopped off three inches on the ND compared with the NC, and put it on a wheelbase that's been reduced by six-tenths of an inch. In fact, these dimensions mean the new Miata is more than two inches shorter in length than the original, and only two-tenths of an inch taller. In this day and age of ever-expanding waistlines and footprints, it's a remarkable achievement.