Mazda

The Mazda Miata is now in its third generation after over 20 years of faithful service to the motoring community. And its determination and steadfast grip on the original mandate of a lightweight, scrappy two-seat convertible-- all to be had for an affordable price-- has been rewarded with well over 800,000 sales worldwide since its launch. Even with all of its commercial successes, many observers have never gotten past thinking of the Miata as a "cute little convertible." What they fail to recognize is that the MX-5 is a pure driver's car with enough attitude and balls to put a grin on anybody's face. After all, this car has its own spec racing series, not something a dainty roadster could credibly claim.

With the Honda S2000, Toyota MR2, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky all falling by the wayside, the Miata is now in a class by itself, and it makes sense since this is a market segment that it has lived and breathed with no compromises for decades. The 2010 Mazda MX-5 is available in a soft-top version or power-retractable hardtop (PRHT) with either a 5- or 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic gearbox. And it comes in the following flavors - Sport, Touring and Grand Touring - with the price ceiling hitting $29,500 fully tricked out.

That true performance cars can only be rear-wheel drive (and in some glorious instances all-wheel drive) is taken as the gospel truth by a great many gearheads. Never mind that the majority of the world’s new cars pull rather than push themselves down the road, and that the washcloth of automotive history is quite damp with fun rides derided by some as “wrong-wheel drive.” In fact, we managed to name ten front-drivers that are buckets of fun. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are.

Mazda is celebrating the 20 anniversary of its highly successful and downright fun sports car the same way the world celebrates New Year's Eve, with each region getting its own party and count-down. Special editions for the UK and Japan have already been released, and continuing East it's now continental Europe's turn to receive their own party hat.

Debuting at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show is the 2010 Mazda MX-5 20th Anniversary Edition. Differing it from a normal MX-5 are special door handles, headlight fascia, grill surround, and silver fog lights.

Racing documentaries are nothing new, but most tend to look back into motor sports history and cover well known superstars. Cargo Productions took a different perspective and spent 18 months following twelve up-and-coming drivers in the Star Mazda race series to showcase what it takes to become a professional driver. The documentary examines not only the drivers but every aspect of motor racing from the money, marketing, politics to the mechanics and engineers. Interviews include Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Raphael Matos and Frankie Munoz. It should be very exciting to see the real deal behind these standouts as they compete for a $750,000 Grand Prize and a chance to get a full-season ride in the Formula Atlantic Championship. With over 140 hours of solid footage we can't wait to see what the fully edited feature length documentary looks like... Check out the trailer below:

Today, I attended Mazda's media preview for their 2009 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development season. The day kicked off with some serious chow-down via a roving In-And-Out Burger wagon tugged by a monster Mercedes-Benz rig. Several burgers later we checked out a great presentation by Robert Davis, SVP of Product Development and Quality. Many interesting things come to light during this discussion. First of all, from a production vehicle standpoint, there will be a new MAZDASPEED3 at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and the CX-7 and CX-9 will get a refresh for the NY Auto Show. Sales were down 11% in 2008 but Mazda still managed to increase market share.