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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.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata Launch Edition now available for pre-order

Want to be one of the first to buy the fantastic new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata? Now's your chance. The pre-order books open at 12:00 PM Eastern for the very special Launch Edition, which is limited to just 1,000 units. All of the MX-5 Miata Launch Edition cars come painted in Soul Red with a Sport Tan leather interior, an exclusive combination for this special run. Buyers only need to choose between the six-speed manual transmission (the obvious choice), or a six-speed automatic. Pricing is set at $30,495 if you want the stick-shift, and $31,570 if you prefer the auto. So, want one? Of course you do. Head over to Mazda's pre-order site and place a $500 deposit toward the purchase of your car. Better act fast, though. When Mazda offered its 25th Anniversary MX-5 Miata via pre-order, all 100 of those cars sold out in just ten minutes.

Why Mazda did so well and Volvo so poorly in Consumer Reports survey

The poor performances of Tesla and all three domestic automakers got the headlines in Consumer Reports magazine's latest reliability survey, but there were other results that caught our interest. Tiny Mazda notched the biggest gain among the 29 brands included in this year's list, leap-frogging nine spots to No. 3. Buick, which was in the top 10 last year, fell 11 spots to No. 19, the biggest decline of any brand. And then there's Volvo, a brand often vaunted for its quality and reliability, dropping six spots to dead last. What gives? For starters, all three brands benefited or suffered in large part due to their relatively small portfolio of vehicles. So when raves or complaints rolled in for even one particular model, as was often the case, it weighed heavily on the entire brand. That's especially true when it involves a relatively high-volume, hot-selling model such as the Buick Enclave (more on that in a moment). Mazda fared as well as it did despite the CX-3 losing Consumer Reports' influential "recommended" status due to problems with its climate system, including leaks from the condenser and refrigerant unit that triggered a service bulletin from the automaker in late 2016. Deputy auto editor Jon Linkov said that scratch didn't hurt the overall brand, since the CX-9 crossover and MX-5 Miata both jumped up to replace it on CR's list of newly recommended vehicles, thanks to several back fixes Mazda made to both models. For Buick, the redesigned Enclave SUV earned a "Much Worse Than Average" rating after owners reported problems with the new nine-speed automatic transmission it shares with the Chevrolet Traverse as well as some issues with the climate system. There were issues with rough shifting, plus complaints about the torque converter that necessitated fixes to the computer or outright replacement. "Again, similar stuff that we saw with the Traverse: both first-year vehicles, similar powertrains," LInkov said. He said all-new vehicles or redesigns typically fare poorly in CR's reliability survey due to issues that are hard to suss out before vehicles go into everyday use by consumers. The top-selling Encore and Envision fared well, Linkov said, but were outdone by the Enclave's problematic transmission components. The Enclave was Buick's second best-selling model through September at 35,227 units. Then there is Volvo, about which there is one word to sum up its woes: infotainment.