1990 Mazda Miata Base Convertible 2-door 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1991 Ford Festiva with 317K miles

Most cars that make it to astoundingly high mileage figures tend to fall into one of two categories: engineering masterpieces that ended up being hard to kill (and got a lifetime of at least the most important maintenance items) or machines that inspired unquestioning love from owners willing to keep opening their wallets for decades to keep them on the road. Today's Junkyard Gem falls into neither of those groups; it's a penny-pinching Ford Festiva, one of the cheapest cars available in its time … and yet it cracked the magical 300,000-mile mark before getting discarded. So, a total of 317,207.3 miles over its nearly 30 years on the road. We just saw a discarded 1989 Honda Civic with a mere 308,895 miles on the clock, and this Festiva comes close to topping this 1993 Honda Civic DX. The highest-mileage junkyard car I've ever found (keep in mind that most cars before the middle 1980s had 5-digit odometers, and most cars this century have unreadable-in-the-boneyard electronic odometers) is this 1987 Mercedes-Benz 190E with an amazing 601,173 miles. This Mercedes-Benz 300D came close, with 535,971 miles. Detroit went to six-digit odometers late in the game, but this 1986 Olds Calais reached 363,033 miles, and this Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor reached the 412,013-mile figure thanks to a second career as a taxi. A Festiva surpassing the 300k mark, though, is not something I ever expected to see. These cars were sold as cheap, no-frills transportation, period. The MSRP on a base-level Festiva started at $6,620 in 1991, or about $12,610 in 2020 bucks. Not many cars could squeeze under that price at that time; the Subaru Justy could be purchased for $5,995, the Hyundai Excel 3-door hatch cost $6,275, and the Yugo GV (yes, it could still be obtained new as late as 1991) had a hilarious $4,435 price tag. Even the lowly Geo Metro, Pontiac LeMans, and Toyota Tercel EZ cost more than this Festiva. Still, this car came with snazzy pinstripes, now faded to near-invisibility by the Colorado sun. You can see the cover plate in the spot where the air-conditioning button would have gone, had the original buyer of this car been willing to squander precious dollars on such frivolity. Five-speed manual transmission, naturally. You could get an automatic in the Festiva, but anyone willing to spend that kind of money on extras would have been able to afford a much nicer Tercel EZ.

R&T chases down a burglar in the million-mile Miata

Is the answer always Mazda Miata? We discussed this in passing on the Autoblog Podcast earlier this week, and most assuredly the answer is "no." For example, the little MX-5 would be a terrible people carrier, and it'd be useless off road. You can't really tow anything of substance with it, either. Still, if push came to shove, it's satisfying to know that the diminutive roadster could eke out a career as a chase vehicle for the police.
That fact was proven when Road & Track editor Chris Cantle did something that he himself recognizes as "stupid." Upon returning home, Cantle discovered a "twenty-something" actively burgling his home. The resulting story is easily one of the more entertaining episodes to come out of the 1990 MX-5's service to the team at R&T and, we're guessing, will be one of the highlights of the Million-Mile Miata challenge.
Be sure to head over to Road & Track for a full retelling of the chase from Cantle, as well as a follow-up on the saga.

'Gran Turismo Sport' Super Bundle comes with a real Mazda Miata

"Gran Turismo Sport" is now on sale (stay tuned for a full review in the near future), and as with most video games now, there are basic versions and those that come with a few extras. For instance, in the United States there's a Limited Edition version that includes the full game, plus a metal box, several Group B rally cars and a couple of prototype cars unlocked, as well as 1,000,000 credits available at the start. It's a pretty meager special edition compared with the "Gran Turismo Sport" Super Bundle on offer in Taiwan, though. The Super Bundle lives up to its name primarily because it comes with a real, drivable Mazda MX-5 Miata. It comes in Soul Red and features custom Gran Turismo vinyl graphics. On top of that, the bundle comes with a Bravia 4K HDR OLED TV, a Playstation 4 Pro, Playstation VR, a year of Playstation Plus (the online multiplayer service), a Thrustmaster T-GT steering wheel controller, and an Apiga AP1 racing seat for playing the game. Oh, and of course it comes with a copy of the game. Funny enough, this isn't the first time a car has been offered as part of a video game bundle. When " Grid 2" launched a few years ago, the developer, Codemasters, partnered with BAC to sell a Mono edition. This special edition of the game came with a real life BAC Mono with "Grid 2" livery. There's no such thing as a free lunch, or a free car for that matter. At current exchange rates, the " Gran Turismo Sport" Super Bundle costs just shy of $46,300. Now that's a much more affordable proposition than the " Grid 2" BAC Mono package, which rang in at about $189,000, though the Miata is a much more affordable car with less performance. Americans shouldn't be disappointed the " Gran Turismo Sport" Super Bundle isn't available here, though. This is because the Super Bundle can be re-created here for much less money. Every item in the bundle plus a Miata Sport with a manual transmission and the Soul Red paint would come to a little under $32,000, a savings of over $14,000. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.