First Look: 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Mazda will officially unveil the 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata at the Chicago auto show next week, but the car is already on display at the Washington D.C. auto show, which is going on right now in the nation’s capital.

The front end gets some tweaks from the previous version, but other changes are almost indecipherable. In the brownish-orange color above, with the chrome-encircled grille, the Miata now has more of a real face than almost any car we’ve seen since Herbie the Love Bug. We’ll have more info on improved gas mileage and new suspension options next week, but for now check out more images below.

Comments

its looks like a smiling stay puff marshmellow man from ghostbusters. Nothing against miata, i like the car. It drives good, handles great. But it looks like stay puff smiling.

I see stay puff too now. Good call.

No sir, I don't like it.

:D <--- Mazda Miata

No Miata badge? I thought that was coming back.

I love the Mazda products out there, but the Miata is in desperate need of a redesign. The GM competition looks so much better.

I personally think that the new design for the 2009 Miata looks quite attractive. Considering the times that we are currently living in, seeing what could be perceived as a smile on the front of the car can be thought of as being a good rather than a negative thing.

I've been watching miata redesigns for some time and there has been an apparent tug of war within Mazda between the "miatas should look like miatas" camp who desire for a rounded, coke bottle shape with oval lights and an oval grille -- akin to the first second and third major redesigns. Then there is the "miatas should look like mazdas" camp from which there has come speculation for years that the miata would look more like the Mazda3, Protege5, or RX-8. I've had dealers insist that the front end would be a mini RX-8 and even that the miata would get a rotary!

It looks like for once the mazda corporate look culture has won this minor redesign and the miata is gaining the current corporate smile. I'm already hearing a lot of grumbling from miata diehards, and I suspect that the redesign will neither satisfy them, nor increase the market reach of the miata to bring in new buyers more than repeat buyers.

It's a shame, until now the miata was distinct within Mazda. I hope this doesn't become the slippery slope that leads to the mini RX-8 we don't need.

http://www.minijetplane.com

Better than the current model which doesn't do much for me. I still think the 1999-2005 design is the best.

The front on the current design and the 2009 is still too rounded.

I have the right to change my opinion when I see one in the "flesh."