After years of being called soft, Mazda decided to add some sass to the Miata with the latest ND model. Designers gave the little roadster narrow headlights with furrowed brows and a gaping grille that looks like the car is shouting, “Get out of my way!” Now, there’s a new front bumper that muzzles the Miata by giving it a tamer, vintage-inspired front end.
Our friends at The Autopian discovered this new bumper from Scud Powerwhich is made from fiber-reinforced plastic, looks a lot like the NB’s bumper. It has a similar shape and grille to the second-generation Miata, softening the ND’s front-end appearance.
The grille is much smaller and rounder, turning it back into a subtle smile rather than a gaping maw. The area around the headlights is also slightly different, with softer furrows and sheet metal under the same sharp headlights. The smaller grille completely reshapes the face.
The bumper costs ¥95,000, or $607 at today’s exchange rate, but you’ll pay a premium to ship it to the United States—and then you have to paint it. It’s unclear how the smaller grille opening affects the car’s cooling capabilities, but that’s a relatively small concern.
The new front end is certainly an interesting way to customize your ND, which Mazda will likely continue to sell for a few more years before the next-generation model arrives. The automaker is already talking about the ND’s successor, which will get a larger 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, but the rest of the car will retain its bite-sized proportions.
The current car measures 154.1 inches long, and the new one will be less than 157.0 inches. That doesn’t leave designers with much sheet metal to sculpt, but if the Miata’s history is any indication, the car can exhibit an assortment of personalities. Maybe the next-gen model will be less angry-looking.
Or, maybe the next Miata will wear a wider smile as it enters its fifth generation as a true enthusiast icon.
