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
I’m just here to note that Lexus grills are far more visually offensive than even the worst BMW grilles. That’s at least partially because they project aggressiveness that’s nowhere to be found when driving them.
Count me among the folk who think that the ND looks good the way it is. The Scud Power bumper looks ok, but for whatever reason, I have never been fond of any aftermarket bumpers, body kits, etc. This is much more tasteful than a lot of them, but it’s still not my jam, especially not for the amount of cash you’d have to spend to get one.
I really like the ND, so I don’t think it needs this “upgrade,” but I do think it looks pretty good. I’d have to see it in person and check how much it clashes with the rear, to be sure, though.
As an ND owner. No.
It was trying to mimic the NB grille/opening, but all I can see when I look at it is some half-hearted attempt to look like a Tesla.
That’s a no for me, dog
Huge improvement.
Just needs a badge on the hood where it belongs
Not bad, but I don’t think the front of the Miata needs fixing. There’s also something about this bumper cover that gives off a Tesla Model 3 vibe.
Seeing them together, this looks much better.
“What’s clear is that the daytime running light strips are gone, which might irk some people (I’m personally okay with that).”
From October 2023 the DLRs are integrated into the headlights, so not an issue with newer NDs.
p.s. Yes, I’m a regular at The Heckblende, you can tell Jason drinks are on me if he wants to drop by.
ND looks better in reality because no one uses thier knees to view cars.
But for some reason they like photographing them down there.
I didn’t think I would like it, but I was wrong. What an improvement. It makes the car look more expensive.
You can get the same effect but cheaper if you just leave the original in the oven for an extra half hour.
So much worse.
That looks so much better. Though IMHO, the best looking ND “Miata” wears Fiat badges.
I think Mazda is one of the worst and original offenders in the giant silly grill/face department – remember the second gen Mazda3 with the leering clown face?
I very much agree about the Fiat.
Having a 500 Abarth for 7 years, if that Abarth Fiata had the same exhaust I would have bought one.
I think it does, doesn’t it? Same engine, and both are straight piped, no?
I don’t think it had the exhaust, that I remembered. From Wikipedia:
“The Abarth 124 Spider features many changes from its counterpart at Fiat. On the exterior, these include Abarth badging, an optional black racing stripe hand painted on the hood and decklid, and 17 inch aluminium wheels. The interior features heated black leather and microfiber sport seats with the option of leather and Alcantara suede Recaro seats.
It also features a leather wrapped sport steering wheel and gear knob, as well as red accent stitching”
Think they would mentioned an exhaust change.
Nope, same engine but the Spider has mufflers, though IIRC the Abarth had *slightly* louder ones. From the factory anyway. Mine (a Lusso, not an Abarth) didn’t after about the first week I owned it. I put a very nice stainless steel aftermarket set of pipes on it 😉 Sounded just like the 500 Abarth after that. I am not normally a fan of obnoxious exhausts, but that engine is an exception. Also, 2012 500 Abarths did have a muffler and are somewhat quieter than 2013 and up. Though many people just remove it anyway.
I still miss my ’13 500 Abarth, and it’s been a decade since I sold it on. Such a great car! Dummy me fell for the siren song of European Delivery again and bought an M235i. That while a ball in Europe for a month, proved rather boring in the US. I loved my 124 Spider, but I just didn’t fit in it comfortably so it had to go.
A genuinely good aftermarket bumper cover design is a rare thing. I like it.
I was expecting it to be most expensive, frankly. A factory Golf R/Clubsport rear wing paint matched and imported from Germany is currently over $1900. Good thing my FIL is German and is well versed in import export things and I picked one up for $700. Convincing the Germans to drop the VAT was a PITA though.
It really needs the badge (or a NACA duct or something) as that pic without the badge looks terrible. Since the hood-bumper cover cut lines were obviously designed around something, having nothing there stands out in a bad way. Other than that, I think I like it, but then that might be down to the purposely low angle photos.
Massive improvement. Those over-sized grilles are adding unnecessary drag. The Miata ND has a 0.41 Cd value for the hardtop. That’s MORE than the NA at 0.38. I wouldn’t be surprised if this change to a smaller grille cut Cd by 0.01-0.02 by itself. The NB had the lowest Cd of Miata models at 0.36, and the NC a 0.38.
This car could be so much more, if it had, say the bare minimum slipperiness of a Corvette C5(0.28 Cd). That low of a drag coupled with its low frontal area would have made for a terrifically efficient setup. That would have made the NA Miata a 50+ mpg highway car that could do like 130+ mph top end on its stock 110 bhp 4-cylinder. But that’s not really the limit of what can be done.
I like to imagine a Miata “Breadvan”, using the front of the “Miata Italia” kit, with a custom kammback rear end, rear wheel skirts, full underbody with diffuser, with loving wind tunnel attention getting somewhere around a 0.20 Cd. It could look sexier than a Lotus Europa with more Ferrari 250GTO and Jaguar D-Type style curves, and be more aerodynamically slippery from the measure of CdA than any mass produced car sold ever. Tune an ND’s engine to about 300 horsepower and put it in this platform, and it would be able to play with supercars with 2x as much power on the straights, while being terrifically streetable as a daily, nevermind efficient and cheap to run. The breadvan layout could even allow it to double as a hatchback for carrying things.
This car could be so much more, if it had, say the bare minimum slipperiness of a Corvette C5(0.28 Cd). That low of a drag coupled with its low frontal area would have made for a terrifically efficient setup. That would have made the NA Miata a 50+ mpg highway car that could do like 130+ mph top end on its stock 110 bhp 4-cylinder.
This is pure fantasy. If it was that easy to *double* the gas mileage of a car with some moderate aerodynamic tweaks, they would have done it. In fact, according to your claims, the Corvette should be getting 40+ mpg highway with its Cd whereas real world results are 28-30 mpg.
According to a professional aerodynamicist:
“For a full-size truck, a change in drag coefficient of 0.01 is approximately equal to an improvement in fuel economy of 0.1 mpg on the combined city/highway driving cycle,” says GM’s Schenkel. “The same drag coefficient reduction can improve a car’s fuel economy by approximately 0.2 mpg.”
source: https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/improving-aerodynamics-to-boost-fuel-economy.html
The article is from several years ago, so if we assume that a typical car was getting 20mpg at the time, your proposed aero improvement from 0.38 to 0.28 would increase mileage by about 2.0 mpg, or 10%.
I wasn’t referring to EPA fuel economy figures with that comment as the aerodynamacist was, but steady-state cruising on the highway. There’s a big difference.
The Corvette gets 30 mpg at 70 mph, with a big, thirsty V8. A Miata NA can also get 30 mpg at this speed with the top up. The Miata NA’s CdA value is about 24% higher than that of the Corvette, getting the same fuel economy as the Corvette. Considering aerodynamic drag is the dominant force at this speed, this gives us a rough idea of how much more efficient the Miata’s engine is at its operating point at this speed vs the Corvette’s engine at its operating point at this speed.
Consider that the Miata’s frontal area(1.72 m^2) is smaller than that of the Corvette(1.88 m^2). If it were to have the Corvette’s 0.28 Cd value, the Miata’s CdA value would be roughly 91% that of the Corvette, while having 600 lbs less weight, and a more thermally-efficient engine at that operating point. So 30 mpg * 1.24(more efficient engine) * 1.10(lower frontal area) = 41 mpg.
So maybe not 50 mpg yet, but still a massive improvement. However, with the lower drag, this would necessitate taller gearing to reach the new max theoretical top speed, which would allow the engine to operate more efficiently on the highway, when you consider that at 70 mph the Miata NA in top gear is turning about 3,800 rpm. Looking at the BSFC curve for the NA’s engine, get those RPMs down to around 3,200 to cruise at 70 mph, it might gain 10% more to its thermal efficiency over the baseline, bringing that 41 mpg to 45 mpg. Close enough.
And it isn’t exactly pure fantasy when you go over to ecomodder.org and see that someone has gotten that 50 mpg in a Miata with aeromods and gearing changes, plus application of hypermiling techniques.
It’s all about the snout, for the last twenty years or so. I personally feel like the Germans started it, mostly because of the Audi trout mouth, but I could certainly be wrong.
It’s made from fiberglass, which means that it’s pretty non-functional as a bumper.
If we’re being pedantic, and of course we are, the correct term is “bumper cover”. The actual bumper is the metal and foam cross bar behind the cover. But colloquially and casually, it’s fine to call the cover the bumper.
Well fiberglass is pretty non-functional as a bumper cover. I can imagine that one could make a pretty functional bumper out of fiberglass actually, but the cover is suposed to flex and fiberglass doesn’t flex like that. Fiberglass makes great springs though.
The OEM looks better, particularly when you look at this from multiple angles. This has a bit of catfish/bottom feeder vibes.
The Adro M3/4 bumper has the same issue where they make grill smaller but end up making the nose of the car look too long.
This was my thought as well. The main problem is that the nose is too long. The NA/B/C and D all had very symmetrical overhangs front and rear. I don’t see aside shot here, but it looks like the front overhang will be significantly more than the rear.
Suck that in so that the bumper above the grille is nice and rounded like the NA/B/C and they may be on to something.
You want a big grille?
Genesis G-series.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-Genesis-G80-3.5T-Sport-Prestige.jpg
Holy balls.
At least the G80’s grill looks nice (my opinion).
From a distance it looks good but the hood to bumper seam kills the look.
Do not want. I like the look of the current crop of Miatas, and I don’t think that the grille is oversized at all. And now you have a car with an NB blobby front end along with an ND non-blobby rear end. The just don’t go together.
This is why I want to learn to make fiberglass parts and make my own hood for the 3. It’s $550 to buy the one I want, but shipping to get it here is over a grand. Unless I make MANY bad mistakes, I should be be able to make the necessary molds and the hood itself for less than the purchase price of the hood.
Plus it means I’ll be familiar with the process and if I want to make other parts for my car, or a body kit for any kei car I might import, I’ll already be on the right track. That being said, I’m not sure a bumper is the first major part I’d wanna do. I’ll probably make several random small things as practice before I actually attempt the hood.
I highly recommend that you try, but also treat it as a learning experience instead of expecting an aftermarket quality looking part. It’s both incredibly easy to make a functional piece, and infuriatingly hard and time consuming to make a nice piece. Also, easy composites in the UK is far cheaper to order from once you cross about 100 in materials than any US based company like total boat
I’m not expecting perfection. With enough practice I can get close enough to aftermarket, but at the end of the day I’ll just be a guy in a garage handmaking parts, so they’ll never be perfect. “I made that” is more important to me than aftermarket quality.
Thanks for the Easy Composites tip though, will need to look into that. Lots of boating suppliers in Florida have been mentioned in my research, but hadn’t seen that yet. Will take a look.
I don’t think there’s any better way to describe my personality, other than hating not knowing how something is made. If you’re like me, you’ll probably both love and hate the process, appreciate just how much manufacturing at scale brings to the table even more, and start to easily spot shortcuts or shoddy work. You’re very unlikely to impress anybody with what you made based on appearance, only when you challenge them to break it, and somehow this 1/4 lb piece supports a 300Lb person. You have to do stuff like this for the love of doing stuff like this.
If you care more about learning how to do something and hopefully end up with a cool part at the end, I think fiberglass should be right after getting a welder(s) as far as cool things to learn that unlock your creative superpowers. Now that I’m just past the Dunning-Krueger first peak of confidence vs skill I know not to start some things on my own that used to look easy, but only save it for really odd or important things as in the end fiberglass / carbon fiber is very annoying and time consuming to do properly.
Yup, that sounds very much like me.
Fiberglass parts is like the next step. I don’t own a welder (yet), but I know how to weld and enjoy it. About ten years ago, maybe a bit longer, memory is fuzzy, my dad wanted to lengthen his 5’x7′ trailer and put tandem axles under it. He found a set for sale a few hours away for like $200. They LOOKED like Dexters to me, and a coworker who worked there verified they were. Ended up being a 14000 pound set of Torflex. A group of us wound up building a 24-foot trailer on top of those because they were far too big for his existing trailer. I’ll never forget them asking if I was sure about where to cut and bend the rails for the tongue, and after bending the first one thought it was too much. Cut and bent the second one and… perfect. I cut the battery/toolbox panels out with a torch and learned how to weld on those.
I want to reupholster the seats in both mine and my better half’s cars, I just need a week or two off work when one can just be parked and done. Would also love to do a custom interior on whatever kei car(s) I import. None of it will ever be perfect, but I pride myself on stitching (and it has been complimented often). Most people are usually so impressed you bothered to learn to do the thing and did it that they overlook the imperfections.
Speaking as a guy working in manufacturing, it really took me by surprise how much of what’s out there (including and maybe especially really high quality product)s are from “just a guy in a garage (or small shop) handmaking parts.”
Sure, most of the successful ones have lots of practice and experience, but in these low-volume spaces the tools are surprisingly low-tech.
So, not all that worth it.
I mean, sure, if you get in a front wreck, maybe order this instead of a regular one.
It’s not a huge improvement over the current bumper cover, especially since the running lights get deleted. It certainly does look nice, but is it really worth the total expense once you have it painted to match your car?
Also, if someone backs into the front of your parked car (as I have had the unpleasant experience thanks to a hit-and-run driver), then you have to decide if you want to order another custom bumper cover from Japan and wait for it to arrive stateside before you can fix your car.
Or fix it if it’s not too bad. It’s fiberglass, so not that difficult (though, neither is the common polypropylene).