It is a gorgeous color. I parked next to this ND not long ago and took a picture just because of how good it looked.
It is a gorgeous color. I parked next to this ND not long ago and took a picture just because of how good it looked.
Keith Tanner said:In reply to 93EXCivic :
Not a blue on this level. Lexus does, though. Mazda oddly don't use their best blue on very many vehicles. I suspect it might be related to the factory being used.
The 30AE Miata sold out immediately, and the only thing that makes it interesting is a set of wheels and a whole lot of safety orange paint. If you don't offer colors, of course they don't sell.
Mazda offered a lot of colors in the earlier 2000s and they didn't sell that well. Dodge has a ton of color options in the Challenger but how often do you see one in the Hellraisen purple or Go Mango or Gold Rush?
The said truth is it cost money to offer colors and if they don't sell which everything points to it doesn't, it isn't something manufacturers are going to do. Maybe it could sell on sports cars but then you lose economy of scale.
I wonder how much of that is the self-fulfilling prophecy of dealerships only ordering "safe" colors. Turkey Flats Ford only orders the Taurus in steel blue or grey or silver because that's what the sales manager's mother likes, so Ford only sells steel blue or grey or silver Tauri.
I do see Challengers in the bright colors. And Jeeps! Jeep will put anything on the Wrangler and people will buy it. Saw one yesterday that was a wicked acid green. Why can't we get fun cars in the same color as a cosplay military utility vehicle?
This forum is great. All of you are great. Mazda is great. But you are all also correct, dealers and demand drive the color choices today.
Soul Red is a good color; it just isn't spectacular to ME. It's also an SUV color.... I really wish Mazda and other makes offered more colors. A lack of color choices is one of the big reasons I do not have an ND Miata. I'm sure it's a spectacular car. I know I could afford one if I wanted to. The most appealing NDs to me are the convertibles with different color tops.
I liked the orange 30th anniversary card okay, but I'd need to see one in person to be certain.
If Mazda wants my money, more colors would go a long way to help. It's a sports car after all. My Boxster S is speed yellow and color is one of the reasons I own it. My Subaru is blue but it was bought for rallycross. My MR2 and Crammit are both red but they were north because the price was incredible on each.
Yes, I'd rock an orange 30th anny Miata if I could find a deal on one in a few years. I'd also buy one of the rare color NBs if an opportunity popped up. Soul red though is about as exciting to me as a swagger wagon.
Mazda makes great cars..... all in the same array of SUV colors.
Congrats! Great car, and great color. I test drove one of these last year when I was car shopping and I loved it. The thing vaporized tires in short order and it was nice inside and out. And yes, I wish Mazda (and other manufacturers) got funky with the colors.
Keith Tanner said:I wonder how much of that is the self-fulfilling prophecy of dealerships only ordering "safe" colors. Turkey Flats Ford only orders the Taurus in steel blue or grey or silver because that's what the sales manager's mother likes, so Ford only sells steel blue or grey or silver Tauri.
I do see Challengers in the bright colors. And Jeeps! Jeep will put anything on the Wrangler and people will buy it. Saw one yesterday that was a wicked acid green. Why can't we get fun cars in the same color as a cosplay military utility vehicle?
I know a guy that ordered what I think was one of the first yellow Testarossas in the U.S. from the dealer in Chicago back in '88. Even a Ferrari dealer made him put extra money down on it in case it showed up and he didn't like it.
spacecadet (Forum Supporter) said:I loved my 2016 Mazda 6 sport (base) with the 17" wheels.. highly recommend that.
I have that same car and totally agree. We got ours as a lease with zero options and were so surprised with how capable it was that we bought it at the end of the term. A turbo would be nice if they offered it in 2016, but prefer the cloth seats (base only) and with 17" wheels it feels lighter on its feet.
We just put nice tires on it (Conti DWS currently) and enjoy the sleeper vibe. Ours is dark grey but I've always admired it in red and with the newer grill. Nice find!
We got back from our long-ass road trip a few days ago and I must say this car is a far better ride than the base model 2007 Milan it replaced (big surprise, right?). It was really nice getting to our destinations and not having my ears feel like they're full of cotton and not being tired.
I really like the heads up display so far. It shows speed, cruise settings, speed limit and stop signs, and even driving directions when using the built in nav (including which lane to be in). Pretty cool stuff. It shows when cars come into radar range and I wonder how well that works when it's super foggy. The detection range is further than you can see when the fog is thick so I can see that being really nice in those conditions.
My wife is really enjoying the power over her old car. Passing and merging is far less dramatic now that she only has to worry about going too fast, instead of being a rolling chicane.
The big thing we had to learn about was the radar cruise control. We found ourselves hitting the follow distance limit when passing semi trucks and having the car slow down at a very inopportune time. Basically, we had the follow distance set to max and we'd initiate our lane change a hair too late so the car would think we were coming up on slower traffic and automatically slow down, then accelerate again once we moved into the passing lane. This was an easy thing to work with: we adjusted the follow distance to a less generous amount and imitated our lane changes earlier. No big deal once we figured out what was happening. I also noticed the cruise would slow me down on some sweepers on I-5. The car was perfectly stable going 70 on the 55 mph corners, but the cruise would slow me down to 60ish. I'm not sure if it was seeing the concrete lane divider or if there's some trickery with the steering angle and speed or something. More research is needed here. I just give the throttle a little nudge in the meantime.
My only complaint with the cruise is an admittedly very silly one: it's so smooth that I find myself following people going 5-10 under without immediately realizing how slow they're going.
Oh and to throw more fuel on the color "fight": I saw some kind of Acura SUV in a gorgeous blue on our road trip. Mazda should take notes.
Keith Tanner said:Bill Cardell, the guy who started FM, had a yellow R1 new. Played with it for a while but I don't think he ever really missed it after he sold it. I think the 95 M edition Miata replaced it when I think about the chronology. Nice color, though - I think Mazda used it on the coupe Miata show car in 96.
The coupe Miata had some orange/red in it, whereas CYM is more of a pure yellow.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
As one who ran dealerships for 15 years, your theory on color availability being on the dealers is quite accurate. I am a "car guy" and in my years as a dealership GM and Director I had the freedom to order as I saw fit so long as the inventory moved. When new or hot colors came out, I always took a shot.
More often then not, weird or special colors sat on the lot while we sold a ton of white, black and silver cars. My opinion on why that happened? The vast majority of the car-buying public are simply seeking an appliance that they deem to perform "well enough" while also being comfortable "enough" and sort of fitting into their budget.
They don't want their car to stand out at work or at their apartment building. They simply want to trust it.
A direct correlation is the sharply declining availability of manual transmissions in new cars. While I live and breathe cars, I recently talked to a VW dealer about ordering a new Golf R. The only transmission I'll consider? The DSG.
Because while I aggressively use and enjoy my cars, I also enjoy them being useful and versatile and to fill that roll they need to be pleasant in heavy traffic. Here in the Northeast at rush hour I'm not willing to give my left leg a clutch workout.
My overall point? The general public buys with compromise in their hearts. They would love screaming yellow on Saturday night but they don't want their pastor or boss seeing it at all the other times.
A dealer that keeps a silver vehicle on the lot can literally get 75% of those interested in that model and trim to compromise and accept silver (or white, or black).
Bright or odd colors? The dealer can maybe get 10% of buyers to consider it. If you're stocking $5MM of your own inventory in your dealership which is there to make a profit, would you stock a bunch of bright colors? I say you wouldn't.
The only notable exception is truly high-end cars where buyers are looking for "look at me" rides.
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