Automotive

2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata Soft Top Arrives

The answer, as another website once said, is always Miata. And who am I to disagree with that? There are few things a gearhead can ask of a car that a Miata, from any of the now four generations, cannot do.

Look, I’ll get my prejudices out of the way right here at the top: I love these cars. Miatas are, all things taken into account, one of the best cars a car enthusiasts can own. I’m on my second one at the moment, a 1994 R-Package that I acquired from a friend that won ProSolo Nationals with the thing. Twice.

Automotive Origins

Yes, I grew up in a British sports car family. Yes, that has colored my opinion of what is “acceptable” in a car and what is not. I often say a Miata is the best British car I’ve ever owned, and I’m only half joking. They, and I mean all four generations of them, turn in like Emma Peel’s Élan and are forgiving like my brother’s TR4A (poor guy owned three of them in high school and college). They go, turn, and stop just like you ask them to.

They grip like a simian and can stop on a dime and give you nine cents change.

And, the cherry on top, is they are cheap. The cost of entry for a new one is low, and used ones are laughably affordable. Maintenance? Are you crazy? They cost next to nothing to run, and they run forever. Yes, they have their downsides. The trunk is the size of a lunchbox. Yes, they need more power, but I know guys that got AC Cobras that are whining about more top end. So deal. Keep that right foot planted and steer the thing.

It usually works.

The new 2017 MX-5 Miata soft top is arriving at dealers nationwide this month, and, as usual, they’re cheap like the budgie. The Miata keeps its $24,915 base MSRP, which is about . . . no wait, that’s less than a minivan, isn’t it? If it is, you have no excuses to not buy one.

With ultra-high-tensile strength steel and an aluminum construction, the fourth-generation MX-5 is approximately 150 lbs. lighter than its predecessor. All North American MX-5 models come equipped with a quick-revving, 2.0-liter SKYACTIV-G engine that produces 155 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels. Photo: Mazda North American Operations.

Safety & Security

Mazda points out how the new Miata has more standard safety equipment for 2017.

Sadly, this is the usual safety geegaws that do for you what you should be doing for yourself. For 2017, Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert are standard equipment for MX-5 Club models. Before, you could only get these on the MX-5 Grand Touring, but who am I to complain?

Having this stuff in the car, and shoot, almost every new car these days, most likely keeps the lawyers at bay, and it does help if you’re a completely inattentive boob.

Trim Levels

With trim level choices, you get three: the entry-level MX-5 Sport, the leather-lined MX-5 Grand Touring, or the more performance focused MX-5 Club.

The most interesting of the triplets, to me anyway (and unsurprisingly) is the MX-5 Club. It’s the spiritual successor to the all-conquering, “light makes right” R-Packages of 1994/95. The 2017 Club is highlighted by red stitching on the seats, steering wheel, and shifter. There’s a limited-slip differential and a shock tower brace in models equipped with the six-speed SKYACTIV-MT manual transmission (which is the one you want).

There is also a front aerodynamic body extension and spoiler, and a Bilstein suspension set up. For all you AutoX cone-killers out there, this is the one you want.

If you want more, you can also spec the Club model with a Brembo/BBS Package. This gets you side still extensions, lightweight, forged BBS wheels, and front Brembo brakes with red-painted calipers. The MX-5 Club also comes with a nine-speaker Bose audio system with headrest-mounted speakers, and MAZDA CONNECT, which makes phone, satellite radio, audio, and infotainment controls accessible through the seven-inch touchscreen and commander control knob interface. Sadly this cannot be deleted. Then again, I’m not a big car stereo guy, since my right foot is playing a very enthralling tune, especially in a car like this.

The 2,300-lbs. roadster embodies Mazda’s “Jinba Ittai” philosophy. Translated as “horse and rider,” it reflects the ideology behind all of Mazda’s forthcoming vehicles. The original MX-5 Miata made its world debut on a cold morning at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show. Photo: Mazda North American Operations.

Additional Packaging

The 2017 MX-5 Sport is much more basic, with stuff like black cloth seats, bright-finish 16-inch wheels, and one USB port. However, Bluetooth phone pairing, a six-speaker audio system, leather-wrapped shifter and handbrake, cruise control, power mirrors and windows, and LED headlights are among the list of niceties. The MX-5 Grand Touring is the more comfort oriented of the three, with leather seating surfaces with three-stage heating, automatic climate control, and navigation.

There are a host of other features too for the Grand Touring: automatic headlights, High Beam Control with Adaptive Front-lighting System, auto-dimming rearview mirror, and rain-sensing windshield wipers. There is additional sound damping stuff wadded into the cloth headliner. Nice touch.

An Advanced Keyless Entry doohickey is standard on all models with an automatic; it’s a $130 option on Sport and Club models equipped with a manual transmission. Which brings us to the best and most important feature on Mazda’s Miata: the transmission.

Silky Smooth

I am not one of those neo-luddite nutcases that dislike semi-auto gearboxes. I find them to be fantastic technology that does not detract from the driving experience one iota. Miatas, however, are not available with a semi-auto box. They do have an automatic transmission with stepper paddles, and it’s not all that bad. But c’mon! Their manual gearbox is probably the best out there, and one of the best ever made. Period.

The only thing I’ve driven with better gear selections are Formula Fords and other cars of that ilk. And yeah, I mean the shifter on a Miata is as good as Ferrari gated shifters from the 60s. No joke. The throws are super short, positive, and well oiled, like the bolt on a sniper rifle. Clack-snik-BANG, clack-snik-BANG, clack-snik-BANG, and you’re on the freeway.

By almost any measurement, the 2017 Miatas are seriously, seriously worth considering. The Miata MSRP ranges from $24,915 for the MX-5 Sport with the six-speed manual, to $34,925 for the MX-5 RF Launch Edition with the six-speed automatic. I’d be getting one, by hook or by crook right now, but I still have the R-Package. And I’m not giving that thing up any time soon.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata Soft Top Gallery

Photos & Source: Mazda North American Operations

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Cadillac Sees Record Growth In China, Falls Slightly In U.S.

Cadillac is coming off a record January, reporting a 44 percent increase in sales. Last month, Cadillac moved 29,764 units worldwide, enough to tally their eighth consecutive month of double-digit percentage increases. Around the world, the esteemed luxury arm of General Motors is making a significant impact with consumers.

“We are growing the business significantly and attracting a youthful and affluent demographic, elevating the aspirational character of the brand,” said Johan de Nysschen, Cadillac President. “This is particularly the case in China, where our growth is explosive and sustained.”

The brand’s unprecedented growth in China was characterized by a 116 percent jump in January, a market they consider their largest. In January of 2016, Cadillac recorded 8,337 sales in China, versus 18,011 sales for January of 2017. There was a modest gain for Cadillac in the Middle East, where a 1.4 percent increase in sales occurred this January versus last.

By contrast, in the United States, Cadillac retail sales increased 1.2 percent, although total U.S. sales declined overall (4.1 percent). Last month in the U.S., Cadillac sold 10,298 vehicles, compared with 10,740 in January of 2016. The automaker noted a reduction in sales to commercial fleet customers. A slight dip occurred in Canada as well. In January of 2016, Cadillac moved 811 units versus 657 for January of this year.

Still the news is positive.

“Cadillac begins 2017 with a continuation of the robust global growth of 2016, a year in which we sold more products worldwide than any point in the past three decades,” de Nysschen said.

The XT5 drove sales substantially with 11,880 units sold worldwide in January. The midsize luxury crossover is uniquely positioned in one of industry’s highest customer demand segments. The ATS sedan and coupe were in high demand in January too, rising 63.8 percent. The XTS luxury sedan was another strong offering for Cadillac, recording a 29.3 percent sales increase.

Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan.

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2018 BMW 4 Series: Performance Poetics

The BMW 4 Series hopes to split the difference between the smaller, more agile and sporty 3 Series, and the more roomy, more luxury immersed 5 Series. The 2018 BMW 4 Series arrives with better chassis tuning and a few other tweaks for the new year.

As I wrote this, I was about 9 hours in to this year’s Daytona 24 Hour race. It is, like all modern endurance races, a crazed series of sprints that last from the green to the checker. There is, as you would expect, packs of Porsches and Ferraris and Audis. The current overall leaders were Cadillacs (of all things).

There were, unsurprisingly, BMWs in the GT categories. They came across as amazingly tough cars. The engines especially pull like a locomotive and sound like something out of a Focke-Wulf FW-190.

Practical Applications & Perfect Fits

One of the BMWs was their current art car. Thankfully, this is not the art car that hack Jeff Koons did a while back. This is a new one, and looks like a refrigerator attacked by a four-year-old armed with colorforms. There might have been 4 Series BMWs in the race, but I could not tell. All of them, not just the BMWs, but any other road car-based racer, is chopped full of vents and louvers and NACA ducts; flairs, dive planes, kick ups, flips, and lips.

BMW will, if it’s not already doing it, propagate good (and appropriate) racing bits from any and all of their cars into any, and all, of their other cars as they see fit. The 4 Series included. They’re smart that way, and Germans have a tendency to do stuff like that as a matter of course.

BMW recently introduced the 4 Series, as a car to fit, technologically and performance-wise, between the 3 Series and the 5 Series. With the 4 Series came the news there would be no more M3. There was much consternation. The M3 is an immortal, beloved to fans of Bayerische Motoren Werke. Simply doing away with it was anathema. This is all by way of pointing out how the 4 Series hit the streets with a black mark on its copybook. But then it literally did hit the streets, and all things (or most things) were forgiven. People liked it.

No, it is not quite as small and light and chuckable as the 3 – especially the M3s – but the 3 Series had been getting bigger and more unwieldy anyway. And the new 4s seemed to be quite a lot of fun and a good blend between crazed sports-racer and luxo-cruiser (e.g. the 7 Series).

“The maxim guiding the BMW 4 Series model update was stick to the proven formula but add extra richness to the car’s character. That’s why the exterior design shines the spotlight most brightly on the dynamic and elegant qualities of the BMW 4 Series family,” said Domagoj Dukec, Head of Exterior Design, BMW Automobiles. The 4 Series models pictured here were inspired by the Concept 4 Series Coupe from 2012. Photo: BMW of North America, LLC.

Performance & Precision

The differences from the 2017 to the 2018 model are rather slight, with the exception of the new suspension tuning. BMW says the new chassis consists of a sharper suspension for greater agility, a statement implying the outgoing model was too soft. The new BMW 4 Series, both Coupe and Gran Coupe, come with a stiffer suspension, more advanced damping technology, and improved steering. There is reduced roll, greater stability, and the 4 Series displays noticeable gains in both lateral and longitudinal handling.

Engine-wise, the new BMW 4 Series has two available gasoline choices. The 430i comes with a 248 horsepower mill and the top-of-the-range 440i features a 320 horsepower engine. These are bolted to a standard eight-speed Steptronic Sport Automatic transmission, but a six-speed manual gearbox is available in the 4 Series Coupe.

The other improvements of a “might-be-interesting-technical-meaning” are the new, upgraded front and rear aprons. Now, this could be seen as little more than a styling tweak, but if you’re messing about with the rear for things near the underbody, that means you’re fiddling with underbody airflow, especially if you are upgrading the front apron too. You only need to upgrade it if you’ve come up with a better idea on what the air passing beneath the car should do. And if you’re doing that, then you’ve got to get the air out the back.

Hence the new rear apron.

The BMW M4 Coupe and M4 Convertible are outfitted with a six-cylinder engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology. The engine creates 425 horsepower, although the available Competition Package jumps it to 444. With the latter mated to the M Double-Clutch Transmission, the BMW M4 Coupe hits 62 mph in just 3.8 seconds, while the M4 Convertible gets there in 4.1 seconds. Photo: BMW of North America, LLC.

Color Me Crazy

BMW points out how there are two new exclusive colors for the 2018 4 Series. Exclusive to the 4 Series or all BMWs they don’t specify, but they do tell you what the colors are called: Sunset Orange and Snapper Rocks Blue. Sunset Orange seems easy to comprehend. Snapper Rocks Blue . . . whoo-boy.

I dunno where to start, but I usually end up thinking of a band stuck in the purgatory of the small-market casino circuit with a Glenn Danzig fetish.

The other announcement is there are now four new rims on offer. Not one, not two, not three, but four. Don’t overexert yourself BMW.

Waxing Poetics

It’s worth explaining what the “Gran Coupe” is too. The 4 Series Gran Coupe is a four-door “coupe” (the second after the 6 Series Gran Coupe). The roofline is low and elongated and a rear pair of doors are added. Yes, I know, coupes have two doors, sedans have four. There is no such thing as a four-door coupe. Yes, this is an affront and there will be an accounting for it. Oh yes there will.

What BMW is trying to do, in general, is make a sedan as aesthetically pleasing as a two-door, while giving you the practicality of four doors, like an easily accessible back seat. They say rear seat comfort and space is not negatively impacted. I still remain skeptical, because it looks like there has to be less headroom.

However, the 2018 BMW 4 Series has spoken. In short, better chassis tweaks, reworked underbody airflow, four new wheels, and two new colors.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.