1991 Mazda Rx-7 Convertible 2-door 1.3l on 2040-cars

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Honda may recall up to 1M vehicles for airbag issue, following Toyota's lead

It seems Toyota won't be the only one recalling the faulty Takata airbag inflators for long. Honda insiders in Japan claim that the company is getting close to announcing its own worldwide campaign that would begin before the end of June.
Unnamed sources close to Honda in Japan tell Automotive News that the company is pursuing an internal investigation into possibly affected models and is working with Takata to gather more information. They claim that it could involve even more than the 1.14 million cars worldwide that the automaker covered under the first recall for the problem in April 2013, including 561,000 vehicles in the US.
Toyota jumpstarted this process last week when it recalled over 2 million cars worldwide, including 844,277 in the US. Soon after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary evaluation into the issue following six reported incidents, and started assembling data about potentially affected models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Chrysler. NHTSA also began investigating Takata itself.

Miata buyers prefer a manual gearbox, says Mazda

Earlier, we wrote about Toyota's underwhelming 2018 manual transmission sales figures. To recap – as Toyota's representatives told CarBuzz – the automatic Corolla outsold its manual equivalent to a ratio of 100 to 1, and just one in three Toyota 86 buyers picked a manual version of the rear-drive coupe. What about the other famous rear-wheel-drive offering from Japan, Mazda's MX-5 Miata? A case can be made that an 86 buyer cross-shops the Miata, and vice-versa, but what kind of split do Mazda's sales figures reflect in comparison? We reached out to Mazda for some sales data, and PR program manager Tim Olson told us 76 percent of Miata soft-top buyers go for the classic stick-shift option, leaving just 24 percent of buyers preferring the automatic. Both transmission options for the Miata are six-speed. The figures are based on year-to-date sales data for the 181-hp 2019 Miata, from July 2018 through April 2019. Interestingly, the more coupe or targa-like, retractable hardtop RF variant takes a step towards the 86 when it comes to transmission choices. While RF buyers still preferred the manual, the split was far closer to half and half: 52% went for the manual, and 48% chose the automatic. Perhaps this reflects the RF's more grand tourer-like image, and it might also be indicative of the RF's higher pricing. If you're going to spend nearly $34,000 for a Miata, another $600 for an autobox doesn't necessarily mean that much – choosing the auto on the base, Sport trim level soft top roadster is a $1,350 bump instead. While the $26,650 base Sport isn't exactly spartan, on a roadster it's fine to have less cushiness. With the higher-specced Club trim level, the auto's price tag shrinks to the aforementioned $600, as it is on the RF Club. There's no base Sport for the RF, as the cheapest RF is the $33,865 Club. But still, the manual shifter's snick-snack feel is one of the Miata's classic traits that has been with it since its inception 30 years ago. Sources say fewer than 5% of the original first generation Miatas were made with an automatic gearbox, but it's obvious trends and tastes are changing – although to be fair, automatics are getting much better as well.

The 2020 Mazda CX-30 will start at $22,945 with 2.5L power

We saw the CX-30 debut in Geneva earlier this year, and now Mazda has made its U.S. specification and pricing official. To get right down to it, the new crossover that splits the small end of the company’s crossover lineup will start at $22,945. We also have some solid information about spec and trim levels for our market, with some notable differences to how it can be equipped in Europe in particular. For one, like the latest Mazda3, it can only be equipped with a 186 horsepower 2.5-liter engine (naturally-aspirated, to be clear). Europeans can get a range of engines, and our neighbors in Canada and Mexico can get a 2.0-liter gas engine. A six-speed automatic is similarly our only transmission choice. All trims are available with front- or all-wheel drive. No word on whether the (somewhat underwhelming) Skyactiv-D diesel or (rather incredible) Skyactiv-X compression-ignition engines will be available. The materials Mazda provided us ahead of the CX-30Â’s U.S. debut focus heavily on the vehicleÂ’s standard equipment, including the now standard Mazda Connected Services — offering a variety of remote functionality and monitoring via the MyMazda app. Nothing you wouldnÂ’t expect from this sort of connectivity feature, including remote start and lock/unlock, as well as a WiFi hotspot (via Verizon, which is the parent company of Autoblog) and emergency assistance calls. Note that itÂ’s a three-year free trial; after that it becomes a subscription service, with a price weÂ’ll share with you once we learn it. There are four trims for the CX-30. The base model has some decent standard equipment: an 8.8-inch infotainment display, automatic headlights and the standard i-Activsense safety suite including driver inattention alert, radar cruiser control, lane departure warning with lane keeping assist, emergency braking assist and automatic high beams. Notably, blind spot monitoring is not available in the base model; buyers will have to step up to the next trim, Select, to get that safety feature. WeÂ’re disappointed that itÂ’s not standard across the board. So too with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, also only available on Select and above. The Select trim is $24,945, and provides those features mentioned above as well as leatherette seats, keyless entry and 18-inch wheels. The Preferred trim ($27,245) provides upgraded audio, heated front seats, a power driver seat, a black gloss grille and a SiriusXM trial.