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Recharge Wrap-up: 61 miles on Autopilot; Mazda CX-9's 32% mpg improvement

A technology analyst at The Motley Fool used Tesla's Autopilot uninterrupted for 61 miles. In order to see how far the Tesla Model S could drive itself without driver intervention, Daniel Sparks set off on the highway from Monument, Colorado, through Colorado Springs and onward toward Pueblo. Only when a truck encroached on his lane did the driver take command of the wheel, rather than waiting to see what the car would do. "With [the] Model S nearly out of Pueblo and onto a long, boring stretch of highway by the time I had to grab the wheel, chances are I could have made it all the way to Colorado City if it wasn't for this interruption," says Sparks. Read the full account at The Motley Fool. The 2016 Mazda CX-9 offers 32 percent better fuel economy than the outgoing model. The front-wheel-drive CX-9, equipped with Mazda's Skyactiv-G 2.5T engine, gets an EPA-estimated 22 mpg city/28 mpg highway/25 mpg combined. The 2016 CX-9 has shed significant weight compared to its predecessor. Its turbocharged engine uses a Dynamic Pressure Turbo system, which improves performance at lower rpm by controlling the degree of exhaust pulsation according to engine speed. The new CX-9 goes on sale this spring. Read more at Green Car Congress. A group of eight US cities have formed the Energy Secure Cities Coalition (ESCC), pledging to switch their fleets over to alternative fuels. Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Orlando, Rochester, Sacramento, San Diego and West Palm Beach will retire their petroleum-powered vehicles in favor of EVs and cars using cleaner fuels like natural gas. The cities expect the change to help improve air quality and save taxpayer money on fuel and maintenance costs. The ESCC hopes to grow to include 25 major cities, removing some 50,000 petroleum-fueled vehicles from service and saving 500,000 barrels of oil per year. Read more in the press release below. Eight Major Cities Unite to form Energy Secure Cities Coalition—Fleets Embracing Alternative Fuels to Improve America's National and Economic Security Coalition's goal is to retire 50,000 petroleum-powered vehicles, saving tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and improving U.S. national and economic security. Washington, D.C.

2018 Mazda Miata adds a cherry on top

For 2018, Mazda is adding a number of new options that should get the attention of prospective Miata buyers, and one of them is shown above. Starting with the new model year, Mazda will offer both the usual black soft top, but also a "Dark Cherry" red top. It looks quite sharp with the silvery-blue color above, and it should be an excellent complement to the Grand Touring model's newest interior option. On the Grand Touring trim, customers can choose the reddish-brown Nappa leather interior that was first applied to the Miata RF Launch Edition. The interior package adds $300 to the top-trim Miata's price tag. There are a few other upgrades sprinkled throughout the Miata lineup. The base-level Sport models will finally get infotainment with a 7-inch screen instead of the little stereo controls mounted to the dash. The midrange Club model now gets heated cloth seats that are upgraded to heated leather units with the Brembo/BBS package, which for $3,770 adds Brembo brakes, BBS wheels, a body kit and the aforementioned seats. Another $700 nets the same package but with Recaro seats that also feature seat heaters. Along with the new features come slight price increases across the board. The base 2018 Sport trim now starts at $26,185, an increase of $395. The Club increases in price by $370 to $30,045, and the Grand Touring has the smallest change of $145 to $31,085. The first 2018 soft-top Miatas will arrive at dealerships this month, and should be available everywhere in January. Related Video: Image Credit: Mazda Mazda Convertible Performance mazda mx5

2020 Mazda CX-3 adds active safety features plus Apple CarPlay, Android Auto

The CX-3, Mazda's smallest crossover offering, shrinks its showroom footprint for 2020, as the brand makes room for the newly introduced CX-30 just above it in the lineup. The 2020 CX-3 is cut back from three trim levels to just one, although that single offering is bolstered with additional standard equipment including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which come to the CX-3 for the first time. Even more significantly, Mazda is adding as standard a batch of active-safety features that includes forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, and automatic high beams—formerly an option package costing $1,100. Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert were already standard and continue. The 2020 CX-3 also gains automatic climate control, a head-up display, rain-sensing wipers and LED exterior lighting. For all that, the 2020 CX-3's prices rise just $250 over the 2019 CX-3 figures. The starting figure for the 2020 Mazda CX-3 Sport is $21,685 with front-wheel drive or $23,085 with all-wheel drive (including $1,045 destination). The other news for the 2020 CX-3 is that the Touring and Grand Touring trims have been dropped. Which means that the features exclusive to those trims, such as leather seating surfaces, a power sunroof, heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and a power driver's seat, are no longer offered. Buyers seeking those niceties perhaps are now expected to step up to the CX-30 — although it's not a big leap, with the CX-30 starting at $22,945.