July 24 2015 Washington Post car chat

Good Morning Warren and friends,

It’s been a busy week again. We drove three cars this week: the 2016 Mazda Miata, the 2016 Mazda CX-3, and the 2015 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe Manual.

What a surprise it was to find out that Mazda’s head designer, Derek Jenkins, was no longer with Mazda as of last Friday. Jenkins had been working with Mazda since 2009. Right before the launch of his latest design, the Mazda CX-3, he quit.

I put some video and pictures up of the long-awaited Mazda Miata MX-5, including a video from the event, on Facebook. Gorgeous car, fun to drive, here is my review.

I also drove the 2015 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe Manual in Italian Racing Red metallic at home this week. Stretch loved this two-door coupe, but Stretch loves anything Ian Callum designs. It’s part of the reason I keep an eye on the designers. If you’re a car enthusiast, you know who designed your car. If sales are going up is it partly because you like the design of that car?

The only change I would make is I would buy the convertible S-Type that starts at $92,000. Look, if you’re going to buy this type of car, buy the car you want. A coupe is a great driving car; top-down is priceless.

Let’s chat about cars