1990 Mazda Protege 4wd Sedan 4-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

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Jeremy Clarkson chooses his top 10 cars for 2015 and 2016

Jeremy Clarkson is well-known for his role as co-host on the old Top Gear. But the frontman of the upcoming Amazon Prime Show, The Grand Tour, also has a standing column for The Sunday Times in the UK where he reviews the latest cars. With fall nearing, Clarkson put out a list of his top-10 cars from this year and 2015. Some on the list will surprise you, while others represent everything we've come to love about Clarkson. In order to make his list of star cars, the vehicles must offer what co-host James May calls "the fizz." The vehicles, Clarkson claims, have something that is out of the ordinary. Whether it's the car's looks, the way it gets up to speed, or its high-tech gadgets, Clarkson's top-10 list is made up of items that are more than just tools for getting from point A to B. So which ones made the list? Head over to the column in The Sunday Times. Mazda MX-5 Miata 2.0 Sport Recaro Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe Mercedes-AMG GT S Ford Focus RS Ford Mustang Fastback 5.0 V8 GT Volvo XC90 D5 AWD Vauxhall Zafira Tourer 1.6 CDTi Tech Line BMW M2 Ferrari 488 GTB Lamborghini Aventador Related Video: Featured Gallery Jeremy Clarkson's Star Cars For 2015 and 2016 View 11 Photos News Source: The Sunday TimesImage Credit: STEFAN HEUNIS / AFP / Getty Images Celebrities BMW Ferrari Ford Lamborghini Mazda Performance bmw m2 ferrari 488 gtb

China's FAW now building all three Mazda6 generations

The Chinese auto market is one of the most interesting in the world to look at. Its automakers appear to still be figuring things out and remain open to experimentation. For example, at this moment, you can buy new copies of all three generations of the Mazda6 from showrooms there.
Mazda joint-venture partner FAW recently introduced the latest generation to China as the Mazda6 Atenza, according to Just Auto. Yet buyers still have the option of getting the previous generation as well, which is sold as the Mazda6 Ruiyi. Obviously, that isn't too remarkable - companies in the US have briefly sold two generations of the same nameplate simultaneously for brief points in the past, and the practice is much more common in developing markets. However, Chinese consumers still have the third choice, too - the first-generation model that dates back to the early 2000s, is still on offer, known simply as Mazda6.
While it would be hard to imagine selling three generations of the same models at once in the US, the idea is an interesting one. We enjoyed our long-term test of the latest generation, and the previous models weren't bad cars either, so provided there's a healthy difference in pricing and marketplace confusion is limited by differing names, we can see it working. If nothing else, it's a fascinating illustration of how broad China's developing auto market really is.

Our Mazda MX-5 Miata has the best engine bay in the business

One of the things that's really disappointing about modern cars is how they all hide their technology under a proverbial bushel. You pop the hood, and nine times out of 10, you're faced with some amount of black plastic hiding the functional bits. On some cars the plastic covers the bare minimum to have a "presentable" engine. Others have every tank, hose, wire and screw buried under a layer of smooth plastic. Few exemplify this practice better than engine bay of the current Lexus LS 460, seen below. If Lexus was this embarrassed about its engine, maybe it should have simply bolted the hood shut. However, like with weight gain and power creep, our fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata bucks the plastic trend. Lift the aluminum hood of the little roadster, and you travel back in time more than a decade. (See the gallery up top.) Only one bit of decorative plastic is in sight, and it proclaims the car's Skyactiv technology and hides some of the wires leading to the ignition coils. Otherwise, nothing else is obscured. The shock tower braces, manifolds, battery terminals, the whole shebang is all right there for you to see. What's particularly amazing is that it all looks good. Even in some cars that eschew plastic covers, it's no guarantee of an attractive engine bay. We just had a new Honda Civic Sport hatchback (seen immediately above), and while it doesn't sport a plastic engine cover, you can see from the photo that it's not particularly attractive with tubes and cables snaking every which way. But in the Miata, the hoses and wires are kept to a minimum, and the ones that are there are arranged in a way that isn't haphazard or tangled. Then, in the middle, there's the clean, simple aluminum cam cover as the gleaming centerpiece, similar to those of the first- and second-generation cars. As the owner of a '99 Miata, this detail in particular gives me the warm fuzzies. The fully exposed engine bay fits with the Miata's personality. The car is very straightforward, it features just the absolute minimum of style and comfort additions, and is highly accessible. I would say the Miata's engine bay is the window to its soul, if driving it didn't offer a clearer picture. Related Video: