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The Mazda MX-5 Miata and saving a marriage

I've had the privilege of knowing Zach Bowman – former Autoblog scribe, now penning great things over at Road & Track – for nearly a decade. We met at the Detroit Auto Show when we were both relatively new to the business, and joked about how someday, we'd work together and eventually conquer the world as big shots in the industry (we're still figuring that last part out, by the way). Thus, I was thrilled when Zach joined Autoblog in 2010, just a couple of months after I was hired, and was equally saddened when I learned he'd be leaving us. Zach is someone I'm proud to call a colleague – nay, a friend – and I've enjoyed the voice he's brought to this line of work. I tell you this on a personal level because Zach has just published what you could arguably consider his most heartfelt piece of automotive work to date. It's a charming, emotional story about his relationship with his wife, and how they, like so many young couples, learned to make marriage work through the many ups and downs found in any solid relationship. I call this "automotive work" because Zach intertwines this tale into a story about driving his 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata across the country, his wife by his side, learning about love and life from the cockpit of a two-seat roadster. I can honestly say it's one of the best things I've read in a long while. Rather than continue to wax poetic about Zach's latest piece, I'll let his own words speak for themselves. Head over to Road & Track to read the full piece.

Mazda shows lightweight MX-5 Spyder and Speedster at SEMA

Ever since Mazda dropped the first teaser on us last week, we've been looking forward to seeing what it had in store for us at SEMA this year. Now we've seen it what Mazda has dubbed the MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster, and they were worth the wait. The Spyder goes vintage with a silver paintjob and a brown top stretched overhead. It also has an aero kit, grille, and tonneau cover done up in carbon fiber, rides on 17-inch wheels, and features a natural leather interior. The blue Speedster, meanwhile, goes for the stripped-down, wind-in-your-hair experience. It has no roof or windshield, just a tiny deflector at the front of the dashboard. It's dropped an inch closer to the ground on an adjustable coilover suspension with 16-inch alloys, and features a center-exit exhaust. Carbon fiber helps trim 250 pounds from the curb weight, along with a stripped out interior trimmed in Alcantara. Both look pretty slick, and disappoint only in so far as they (like so many of their predecessor concepts) won't be heading for production. If they were, we'd be hard pressed to choose between the two. Which would you go for? Mazda Reveals Extreme Lightweight Design Concepts at 2015 SEMA MX-5 Concepts Display Two Different Takes on Staying True to Pure, Lightweight Sports Car Philosophy LAS VEGAS (November 3, 2015) – Mazda revealed two design concepts today at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, based on its all-new 2016 MX-5 Miata—MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster—demonstrating two vastly different takes on lightweight, open-air performance. Lightweight. Fun-to-drive. Roadster. Those three tenets have served as the foundation for the Mazda MX-5 Miata since its 1989 introduction and continue to serve the new fourth-generation model. Focused, lightweight engineering is a guiding principle of every Mazda vehicle made with SKYACTIV Technology, allowing for greater efficiency, improved performance and agile handling dynamics. But what if that sense of lightweight performance were taken to the extreme? What if Mazda's North American designers harkened back to vintage roadsters to create thoroughly modern, bespoke concepts for what a lightweight performance car should be The results would be the MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster concepts. "Both MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster are uncompromising designs that highlight the core strengths of MX-5," said Ken Saward, design manager, Mazda North American Operations.

2016 Mazda CX-9 caught on video

We already know from earlier spy shots that the second-generation Mazda CX-9 is advancing in development, but here's an opportunity to actually see the crossover on the road. The video shows the CX-9's rear, but wait 50 seconds for a good look at it in profile and from the front. The CX-9 is no longer wearing the same camouflage from the last spy photos, but this time it has more cladding to hide the lines. Even with the obfuscation, you can still get a sense of the general shape. The CUV largely looks like a stretched version of the CX-5, which is a great place to start. Rumors suggest the new CX-9 will debut in November at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show and to launch in 2016 for the 2017 model year. Power is tipped to come from a turbocharged, 2.5-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder, and all-wheel drive is expected to be available. Related Video: