It feels like cars have bigger grilles than ever. In the past 15 years or so, it seems like there’s been an explosion in the size of decorative bumper inlets across the board, whether we’re talking about domestic brands like Lincoln, Japanese carmakers like Lexus, or the biggest offender of all, BMW, with its gigantic 7 Series and M3/M4 grilles.
These bigger grille designs have staying power, obviously. Or else they would’ve been phased out of production years ago. But not everyone is a fan. Some aftermarket parts makers have gone as far as to create new bumpers for BMW M cars with smaller grilles, giving buyers the option to rock a more traditional, less garish fascia.
That movement has now gone beyond BMWs. There’s an aftermarket parts manufacturer in Japan offering a new grille for the current-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata—which has a comically big smiley-face grille—that makes it look a lot tamer and sleek. It also reminds me a lot of my old NB-generation Miata.
Scud Power’s Bumper Looks Like an Older Miata Bumper
The manufacturer in question is called Scud Power, a brand I hadn’t heard of before today, when I discovered this design being discussed on the /r/Miata Subreddit. In addition to this bumper, they make a carbon air intake, a rear wing, and some aftermarket exhaust pieces for the ND. They also sell parts for every other generation of Miata, in addition to parts for other fun, small roadsters like the Suzuki Cappucino, the Daihatsu Copen, and the Honda S660.
This bumper, which seems to have been around for at least a few years, eschews the ND’s standard grille face—the upper half of which is just solid black plastic—for an elongated nose that slopes down further, with a solid, body-color leading edge that can be traced from one end of the bumper to the other. There’s an opening under that nose that, going by side-by-side photos, looks to be in a similar size and shape to the original opening on the lower portion of the original grille.
There are also two channels on either end that look to be channels directing air towards the wheel wells, though it’s tough to tell from the photos available, and there’s no mention of the holes on the company’s website. What’s clear is that the daytime running light strips are gone, which might irk some people (I’m personally okay with that).
There are obvious connections to the NB Miata’s grille, which features a similar nose, lower opening, and side areas. I find this sort of strange; usually when you see a grille design from one generation of a car grafted onto another, it’s the newer grille grafted onto the older car, not the other way around. And honestly, I really like it.
Okay I’m Sold, And I Need One Now
Scud Power’s bumper seems like an interesting way to stand out at your next Miata club meetup, but getting one might take a while, and it won’t be cheap. It’s listed for 95,000 yen on the company’s website, which translates to $612 at the time of this writing. That’s roughly what an OEM bumper for an ND costs on eBay. The issue is getting the bumper stateside.
There’s a company called MyJapanDirect that’ll ship the bumper right to your door, but the list price is over $1,000 more than Scud’s website—$1,680 in total. I punched in my ZIP code to see what the shipping cost would be, and it added another $370 to the price—I’d be looking at over two grand just to get my hands on this bumper.
It’s worth noting this piece doesn’t come painted, so you’d have to pay to get that done, too. The site mentions this bumper is “Special Order,” which means they likely don’t have them sitting around in a warehouse, and they’re made only when there’s a paying customer at the other end of the deal. Makes sense, seeing as how Scud Power is likely a very small brand.
Still, for the ND owner who truly wants to stand out, it might be worth it.
Top graphic images: Scud Power; Mazda
So, not all that worth it.
I mean, sure, if you get in a front wreck, maybe order this instead of a regular one.