For much of the past decade, if you’ve wanted a new, standard-model Mazda MX-5 in an actual color, you only really had one option. Okay, yes, there’s Deep Crystal Blue, but it lives up to its name in being a blue from the depths. No, if you wanted a shade that couldn’t be confused with greyscale, it was Soul Red or bust. Now though, there’s a new green. Hang on, hang on, don’t get too excited yet.
See, Mazda’s in a bit of an interesting spot right now, because most of its offerings occupy a sort-of value-premium space. Generally, models like the CX-90 and Mazda 3 aim to be a bit nicer than their mainstream equivalents, and that usually results in subtle colors, materials, and finishes. Outside of the bewitching Soul Red Crystal, Mazda’s color lineup is full of muted tones, and this latest hue is no exception.
It’s called Zinc Green Metallic, and while the offer of a green sounds rather promising, Mazda’s gone with an interesting shade. The marque claims this color “takes its inspiration from the color and texture of zinc chromate primer,” but I’m not quite seeing it. Historically, green zinc chromate primer serves up an incredibly ’70s hue. Sort of like if Harvest Gold and Pea Green had a baby. It would look bizarre on an MX-5, but strange is almost always better than dull. This isn’t that.
Instead, it’s essentially a grey with a touch of green. Sort of like how a LaCroix was placed near a fruit at some point in its manufacturing process. This would be a spectacularly tasteful shade on a large crossover, suiting something with gravitas and volume and a somewhat somber image. I can’t wait for it to be offered on other Mazdas, but Zinc Green Metallic feels anticlimactic on an MX-5.
A small roadster is supposed to be joy with licence plates, a four-wheeled expression of lust for life driven with a beaming ear-to-ear smile. It doesn’t do nonchalant; its disposition is simply too giddy for muted expression. It’s the mate that won’t stop snickering, the inside joke that has you cracking up like an absolute nut. The fun that everyone else is too self-serious to have, which means they’re going to miss it all. Sure, you can order a car like this in a neutral tone, but MX-5s have always suited saturated hues.
Just look at how orange the 30th Anniversary MX-5 was. It was like driving a pumpkin, which fits perfectly because Halloween is a time to dress up, and toy roadsters like this make you feel like a racing driver. There’s absolutely nothing understated about it, nothing demure. The 30th Anniversary Edition model may be the size of a shoe, but it refuses to shrink its personality for anyone. I love that.
Flash back a generation, and you were briefly able to get the NC MX-5 in yellow, motion blur sold separately. Between that bright color and the smiley-face grille, it’s hard not to feel a little bit better just looking at this thing. If it was a dog, it would have a very waggly tail.
Okay, but what about a great green? You only need to look across the Mazda showroom to find one, with the CX-50 crossover available in brilliant Cypress Green. Admittedly, this isn’t a Mazda shade as such, but rather a happy appropriation from Toyota that comes from the CX-50 and the Corolla Cross sharing a production facility. The flipside, of course, is being able to buy a Corolla Cross in Soul Red Crystal. Given how Toyota and Mazda share equity stakes, could a fax from Yokohama be sent that goes along the lines of “Love that Cypress Green color, can we borrow it?” happen? If you can special-order BMWs in Porsche colors and Porsches in BMW colors, why not Mazdas in Toyota colors?
Don’t get me wrong, Zinc Green Metallic is an interesting color in isolation, but the MX-5 deserves something more vibrant. Dare I say, bold hues are becoming more and more premium by the day. Mercedes-Benz offers multiple cars in yellow, dentists will go to war with each other for a paint-to-sample Porsche 911 allocation, and BMW’s Individual program remains a hot ticket. Come on, Mazda. You make the happiest car on the market, why not paint it equally vivacious colors?
Top graphic image: Mazda
We live in hell and I blame the Germans for starting the Gray Wars, because it absolutely did not become a thing until it was associated with luxury products…and Ze Germans (Audi and Porsche in particular) were basically ground zero for convincing normies that an absence of color was actually a premium feature.
Fuck this shit. Cars are so devoid of color now that I wind up doing double takes when I see regular ass cars in fun colors. I saw a yellow Nissan Kicks the other day and was like “hey that’s neat”. I SAW A CVT EQUIPPED ECONOBOX AND WAS EXCITED! Meanwhile a primer gray GT3 RS or R8 could pass me and I’d feel nothing.
As a funny aside, since I know car enthusiasts and guitarists overlap a bunch, I recently bought an American series Jackson Soloist, and they’ve made a point to emphasize that the instruments are inspired by sports cars…so much so that they’ve named some of the finishes after them.
Mine is Lambo Orange and it’s fucking sick. It’s a bright orange satin finish with gold metallic flake. One of the other car finishes? Porsche Gray. I shit you not. They sell a high end Super Strat in primer gray and claim it was inspired by German sports cars.
We’re cooked.
I recently bought a green car. As in properly green, not like this.
Thank you for doing your part, amigo. I plan on trying to buy a purple Rivian R2 but have accepted that I may have to compromise with the wife and get forest green.
https://carwow-es-wp-0.imgix.net/ClioTec1.jpg
Properly green. 😛
I’ve already said it but it bears repeating: I am thoroughly jealous of the hatchback and wagon options you all get on the other side of the pond
You’re doing the lord’s work!
Also.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g28686845/2020-lexus-lc-500-inspiration-series/
P.S. no bloody black wheels.
my kids shout with joy “green car!” “yellow car!” etc. Reading this it finally clicked: colors are so damn rare that it’s a big deal to see one.
Luckily, I have convinced my wife cars should be in good colors. Her CX9 was in Soul Red, and her current Pilot is in the Trailsport only Diffused Sky Pearl (Light Blue) That blue was her preferred color choice when shopping, and now she gets compliments on the Pilot’s color all the time. She gives me hell because my Type R is Championship White, but my GR Corolla on order is Supersonic Red.
I just googled your guitar and it is indeed sick! I am jealous, and I don’t play guitar!
Agree completely. And this is my favorite line from anyone today:
“Instead, it’s essentially a grey with a touch of green. Sort of like how a LaCroix was placed near a fruit at some point in its manufacturing process.”
Counterpoint: I drove my MX5 flat out everywhere. I didn’t want it to be noticed, or remembered. The joy was in driving it, not looking at it.
It was green, white, yellow and red when I got it. I never loved it more than when it was satin black with bare carbon panels.
I really wanted a boring silver one so it would vanish into the background, but I lack the painting skills.
MX-5s in any colours are great.
But cars in general need more colours.
I like the color but not on that. I’d much prefer the green on the CX-50.
Looks similar to Hyundai’s Amazon Gray or Ford’s old Guard Metallic greens to me. I like it.
Since when have such muted colors = premium? I pass by Lamborghini dealership everyday on my way to work, and they have the brightest colors of any other brand out there. I don’t care much for Lambos newer than the Countach, but dayum do they make great looking purples and greens.
We can thank the people who said MBs look best in silver. They caught wind of it and now the entire industry thinks muted, neutral colors mean “sophistication”.
Boo. I already own a Cactus-Grey-but-kinda-green Maverick. (The only “green” option in 2022.) I’ve been watching Miatas hoping they bring back a nice green… I guess I would have to settle for a Zinc-Green-but-mostly-grey version. Why do auto designers hate vivd green?
I have a Clio in something called Absolute Green.
https://carwow-es-wp-0.imgix.net/ClioTec1.jpg
1st Gen Miata came in bright yellow too.
And that nice French Racing Blue enamel – before they went with a French Blue Metallic.
There was also the special edition in British Racing Green. And another in a maroon metallic.
But this?
This is so lame.
It’s the least green ever.
“German Military Lost WWII Green”
“Depressed Swamp Creature Green”
“We Parked a Grey Car Next to Some Trees Green”
“I Mashed All My PlayDoh Together And This Is What I Have Left Green”
“German Military Lost WWII Green”
A depressingly accurate description.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldgrau
Holy cow, thats the color.
It looks like a grey car parked next to a forest green wall and we’re picking up the reflection.
Look, my ND2 is machine grey and I love it. I support the availability of cars in bold colors but just driving an MX-5 makes me stand out more than I would prefer.
That said, when I first saw the headline my interest was momentarily piqued. Unfortunately, that shade just…it’s fine. I do question the judgment of whomever decided to pair the color with those wheels and that top.
it looks like what happens when you eat too much birthday cake.
That doesn’t look nearly light enough for the green zinc chromate I’ve seen on old aircraft or for the car it’s on. Didn’t they have a beige metallic last year? WTF. Every year should come with a new, bold color to maintain interest cheaply.
This seems like such an easy win, each year one color change to something bright.
You also had the choice of its stablemate the Fiat 124. That came in a proper blue, a different red and bronze which was more grey with a hint of brown.
I do not know that I would use the yellow NC as a positive. That generation looked best in the bright blue, in my opinion.
I’ve been looking for Corolla Crosses in Soul Red, but I haven’t spotted one yet. Unless I just mistook it for a Mazda. It’s a great paint finish.
It really is. I loved it on my old 6, and even just yesterday a CX-9 in SR caught my eye while it was parked at a gas station and I was driving past. If the sun hits it just right you can’t help but admire it.
You can even recognize it in middling light with the car dirty. The depth and the way it works with the curves is just nuts.
I doubt the typical Corolla Cross buyer will pay the $475 upcharge for Soul Red.
I see them in Soul Red quite frequently, but I also live next to a Toyota plant, so we have an absurd number of Toyotas per Capita here.
You can get a Mazda in a beautiful red color, or something ugly. Take your pick!!
Audi’s Nardo Grey has the “we clearcoated the primer” look and it’s so famous that vinyl wrap sites list it as a color (next to light grey, dark grey, and black) on their drop-down menus for the SEO gainz. It’s just different enough to be edgy while remaining anonymous to anyone not in the know, and as a result has an unshakeable grip on German Car Bros everywhere.
Maybe Mazda is trying to do that.
They need the engine to be further in front and dial in some understeer.
Then maybe.
I suppose it’s better than Audi’s only other color, German Leasing Silver.
Kia has a flat grey basically the exact same tone as Nardo – they call it Ceramic Silver. I think it does have a little flake to it if you get really close up, but I couldn’t tell a difference in person.
A lot of people like it, but it was a hard pass on that one for me before I even bothered doing a test drive.
You want to make this color snap a bit? Get rid of those boring black wheels, they suck the color out of everything. Hate black wheels.
I don’t hate black wheel, but I agree with you. Black wheels work on brightly colored cars, and aren’t working on this one.
Black wheels are the best!
It just happens to be that THOSE specific black wheels aren’t great.
If you want to spend all your time wiping brake dust off wheels, then that’s on you, but if I buy a car with clear-coated aluminum wheels, I will paint them black because I ain’t dealing with brake dust.
Black or that shitty machine face with black. Machine face is a little better because it’s not so dark, but it’s far too common and will always say Pep Boys accessory aisle to me.
black wheels work well on specific colors this is not one of them.
10000%. I hate them. They hide the design of the wheel, they look terrible when tires get dirty and don’t match the wheel black, unpainted floating calipers stick out like sore thumbs behind them… just no no no.
Give me a nice silver wheel, and just keep a rag with you if you’re too lazy to wash your car regularly to get rid of brake dust.
My non-enthusiast friends ask me if the car lost it’s hubcaps. I hate black wheels.
Totally! Black wheels with lots of spokes look just like black steelies.
I added white letters to my OEM black wheel’s tires, looks good with the white GR Corolla. But I have orange BRAID wheels with snow tires as well.
You can put on any wheels you want and that colour will still suck.
It kind of has that same muted quality as some of the greens used by Aston Martin, especially that light shade inspired by some of the ’50s Le Mans cars. That’s a lot lighter than this shade but it’s similar in saturation.
That said, I’d like to apologize on behalf of the Millenial generation, we don’t like our stuff getting stole’d, so we like subtlety. I say “we”, I prefer my life in fun colors but I digress.
The saturation was about the same, but it was more definitively green, like sage, while this is almost too afraid to be green. A more modern version AM used was called “Almond green”, but I don’t know if that was the original shade or not. Either way, it was a great classy color. I think the Miata is a bit small for that subdued shade, but would be a lot nicer than this.
That tracks. The darker you get, the more the shade seems to suck the life out of the color. For example: did you know many of BNSF’s locomotives were orange and green? Not orange and black? Yeah, the dark color on many of the BNSF locomotives is a shade of green. Yes, the time baking in the sun and the fact freight locomotives are rarely washed contributes, but even brand new models look almost black and orange.
I also used to paint my own RC bodies when I had a place to run them, and if I wanted the color to pop, I’d use white or silver. Going to a lighter tone really brought the color out, especially as RC color paints tend to be translucent. I’d then make the final coat black (you paint RC bodies from the inside) to add contrast through windows, vents and fenders.
All of this is a long way of saying darkness sucks the life out of colors, so it makes sense that this green barely looks green.
I used to have RC cars, too. I was the only person around me to use silver for the windows and lights to brighten it up and because it was easy to just peel the “glass” masks and spray the whole inside, backing the main body color to brighten it. I also did a Cobra body in black and black windows on that would not have worked.
My GR86 is Smurf (Neptune) blue. My previous 3 cars were bland colors because choices were so limited, so when I saw a bright option for the ’86, that was my first choice.
I left my windows clear, I used black (literally called backing black) to make the interior black. Made it look realistic. I did use silver if the headlights didn’t have stickers.
I do remember getting a Toyota Tundra SC body from…I can’t remember if it’s a Pro-Line or JConcepts, but anyway: the promo pictures didn’t look like a Tundra. When I painted mine I figured out that they’d kept the grille surround body color. Instead I painted that part Silver and well, wouldja look at that! It actually looks like the truck it’s supposed to be!
I’m an elder Millenial and I’m sure most kids in town know my car from school pickup because it’s one of two this shade (the other is a nice RC-F).
Screw subtlety! You only live once.
I have a bright red FR-S and a bold blue ’71 Bug, I feel it, brother.
Kudos to Mazda to admitting that a new color takes inspiration from primer. There are so many cars out there now that look like clearcoat over primer, but I don’t think they admit that primer was the inspiration.
But I’d buy a MX-5 in actual primer before I’d buy this.
About a month ago I came very close to buying a brand new MX-5 1.5 with 16” forged RAYS wheels.
Everyday I regret not doing it.
I bought mine, in SCR, 3 years ago after thinking about getting one for, drumroll please, 32 years.
God forgive me for the years I’ve wasted.
I am thebprevious owner on an NC, so I already know what I’m missing… 🙁
Being a MX-5 ND owner, I am booing loudly from the back while being dragged away by the Mazda press release security team.
If it was the CX-50 green I’d be thinking about trading in my ND1, even though I really can’t afford to.
I am red-green color deficient, those pictures look black and white and that color to me is just grey!
I am on the edge of having red-green color blindness (enough to fail the standard FAA color vision test but pass an acceptable alternative test) and I can see it if I really look at it, but at first it looks dark gray…
Yes it is hard to describe to people that you saturation matters, like very light reds and greens look grey and really dark red as greens look black and if they are at a distance they loose their color to me.
The gray top and muted photo background doesn’t do the color any favors.
I was thinking that the top color being gray went well with this color, but really emphasizes how that green is mostly gray.
To me it would look better with a lighter shade top, or even something approaching a saddle tan or brown. Car buyers are weird though and often associate non-black fabric or leather options as effeminate or something. Also needs wheels in some shade of sliver, definitely not black.
I don’t know about judgements on interior colors, but I don’t like bland, default black. I think every company should at least have a red option as it goes with most common colors. More colors is even better. I also don’t like black wheels. It makes even less sense with the prevalence of oversized wheels that are primarily for style—what’s the point at all if you can’t really see them? Might as well have smaller wheels and fit tires with taller sidewalls.