2001 Mazda Miata Base Convertible 2-door 1.8l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mazda Heroes contest's 50 winners announced, will receive free Miatas

The Mazda Heroes program is finally announcing its winners. If you recall our original story back in October this year, Mazda said it was giving away 50 MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary Special Edition models. Each car is destined for individuals who “tirelessly dedicated themselves to their communities throughout 2020” through “selfless acts, creative thinking and contributions to community.” The battle against Covid-19 has been long, and itÂ’s not over, but Mazda is trying to bring a little convertible happiness into an otherwise bleak year. One of the winners, Jason Erdreich, is featured in the video at the top of this post. He used his skills as a shop teacher and access to 3-D printers to print thousands of pieces of PPE for medical workers who were in dire need of it. He also appears to own an NA Miata, so heÂ’s no stranger to MazdaÂ’s roadster. Mazda Heroes winners: Miata View 4 Photos Five other winners were announced today: Triana Davis, Christie Purviance, Jennifer Williams, Leandro De Arauja Pessoa and Michael Star Thompson. Davis is a teacher who went above and beyond to keep her kids engaged and inspired during at-home school. She personally delivered custom work packets to studentÂ’s doors and crafted a huge number of items like medals and commemorative T-shirts. Purviance is an ICU nurse in Texas. SheÂ’s worked 15-hour shifts through the pandemic. Her coworkers say she goes beyond the normal standard of care, treating her patients like family throughout her grueling days on the frontlines. Williams is a school teacher in West Virginia. Throughout the pandemic she has put together and personally delivered packets of schoolwork and school supplies to her students to reduce the amount of travel parents must do for their kids. She's even adjusted her curriculum to teach students about cooking and other home-related necessities. On top of that, Williams has tried to keep children's spirits up by delivering special treats and prizes to doorsteps. Araujo Pessoa lost his job after the lockdown hit in March, but he ended up using all his extra time to become the leader of a food pantry run by a local church in Lansing, MI. He has devoted his time and much of his unemployment checks to the food pantry to keep it stocked with all the items necessary. Thompson lives in Georgetown, Kentucky. He volunteers often at a local homeless shelter where he runs a Bible study and cleans bathrooms.

IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards get tougher: Here are the latest winners

Automakers love to trumpet the accolades from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, but the agency keeps making its best grades harder to achieve. For 2020, it is raising the bar again, requiring a better score in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test, wider availability of top-performing headlights, and automatic emergency braking systems that effectively avoid collisions with pedestrians, in addition to its previous benchmarks. Why the 2020 criteria is harder: To be named either a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+, the required performance in the passenger-side small-overlap crash test has been raised from Acceptable to Good, meaning that the model must achieve Good ratings in all crash tests. The Nissan Rogue, for example, scored an Acceptable in the passenger-side small overlap crash, and so it loses its Top Safety Pick rating for 2020. To achieve either of the top ratings, a vehicle's automatic emergency braking system must effectively avoid hitting pedestrians as well as other vehicles. (The automatic emergency braking system can be optional, but then the award applies to the model only when so equipped.) Any vehicle whose automatic emergency braking system does not include pedestrian detection would lose its TSP or TSP+ rating for 2020, the Ram 1500 being one example. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the model can have no variant with headlights that achieve less than an Acceptable rating (most new cars have different headlights — often LEDs — that are exclusive to upper trim levels).

Mazda Miata RF gets price bump for 2019

Over the past couple of months, Mazda has been releasing information about updates for the 2019 model year of the MX-5 Miata. We got details about the car's 2.0-liter I4 making 181 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque. The car also gets a telescoping steering wheel, new door stops, updated cupholders and seat levers, standard rear-view camera and 17-inch wheels. Later, we learned the new Miata would also be a smidge more efficient. Now, Mazda has announced pricing for the 2019 Miata RF. Going on sale in August, the 2019 Miata MX-5 RF starts at $33,240 (including $895 in destination fees) for the Club trim level with a six-speed manual transmission. That's a price increase of $435. That doesn't seem so bad when you consider the extra 26 horsepower and higher redline. The Club 6MT can also be optioned with Brembo brakes and BBS wheels for an extra $3,770, or the Brembo/BBS/Recaro package for $4,670. The MX-5 Club with six-speed automatic comes with paddle shifters and sport mode for $33,840, but isn't available with the Brembo/BBS packages. The i-ActiveSense package, which includes features like Smart City Brake Support and lane-departure warning is a $450 option for the Club 6AT. MSRP for the Grand Touring trim starts at $34,230 with a six-speed manual transmission, which is $585 more than the outgoing model. The new GT-S package for the Grand Touring 6MT adds $750, and comes with a front shock tower brace, limited-slip rear differential, Bilstein dampers and a hand-painted black roof. The Grand Touring with six-speed automatic goes for $35,305. Auburn Nappa leather adds another $300. In terms of exterior colors, there are three premium options to choose from, each with its own added price. The gorgeous Soul Red Crystal tacks on another $595 to the price of the Miata RF. Machine Gray Metallic adds $300, while Snowflake White Pearl Mica costs $200. Pricing for the soft-top version of the 2019 Miata hasn't been announced yet. Related Video: