The Grand Touring Premium Package ($1600) adds Xenon HID headlights, dynamic stability control with traction control, limited-slip rear differential, Smart Key keyless ignition and anti-theft alarm.

Mazda will also sell a limited-edition MX-5 for 2006; hey, this is a Miata, remember? Called the 3rd Generation Limited ($26,700), production will be capped at 3500 world wide, of which 750 are destined for the U.S. market. They're essentially Grand Touring models but painted Velocity Red and with red or black leather interior; bright-finish, 17-inch wheels; bright trim on various exterior and interior fixtures; and a special, numbered badge on the dash.

Accessories include a detachable hardtop, a six-disc CD-changer/MP3 player and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Safety equipment standard across the line comprises dual, two-stage frontal airbags; new-for-2006, seat-mounted, side airbags designed to protect the chest and head; and anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution. The passenger-side frontal airbag has an on/off switch, and that seat is fitted with child safety seat anchors, or LATCH.

Walkaround

There's not a single body panel or fixture on the 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata that's the same as on the 2005 model. But just as with the second-generation Miata (1999-2005), the third generation is still unmistakably a Miata. This is even more telling when you factor in that the car is larger in every measure, from what's beneath the hood to the interior to the shadow it casts on the road.

Starting at the front, the central air intake is both enlarged and mildly reshaped and augmented by a smaller opening beneath. This moves more cooling air through the radiator and around the larger engine and combines with a more pronounced air dam across the bottom of the lower opening to give the Miata's face a stronger chin. So what if it brings to mind a largemouth bass when viewed straight on. It does what it's supposed to do. Compound, projector-beam headlights return but in housings that are marginally smaller, more oval than teardrop in shape, more deeply recessed and nearer to the car's centerline, all tending to emphasize the Miata's diminutive size. A taller, rounder hood wears a mini-bulge in the center, simultaneously suggestive of a scoop and of a similar bulge on the RX-8.

Differences between the new Miata and its previous generations show up more in the side view. Sharply sculpted wheel flares appear directly adapted from the RX-8 in a form the company calls Mazda design DNA. It clearly moves the new Miata away from the more cuddly look of its predecessors. The flares also spread wide enough to cover the new Miata's wider track. (Track is the distance between the left and right wheels). The new MX-5's track is three inches wider in front, two inches wider in the rear when compared with the 2005 model.

The windshield gives up a few degrees of rake, leading to a flatter, more classic top. The top, with a glass rear window, collapses into a well behind the seats cleanly and completely, in a way requiring no cover. That's good, because there are plenty of times when you'd like to drop the top but don't want to take time to snap on a cover.

Rollbar-like hoops rise out of the body behind the seats; Mazda doesn't list them as safety features, calling them seat back bars, but they're certainly more than merely surfaces to which decorative trim can be affixed. A mesh windblocker fits between the hoops. Small quarter windows, like yesteryear's windwings, fill the acute angle where the doors meet the A-pillars. The '05's concave side body panels have filled in on the '06, tumbling in a nearly sheer drop from the beltline to the rocker panels. Door handles are finger-friendly full rounds, instead of the previous model's top-hinged pull-ups. The hardtop (late availability) boasts a wraparound rear window, substantially reducing the convertible's rear quarter blind spots.

Taillights are evolutions of the previous generation's, retaining the basic elliptical outline but following the headlights' lead and sliding around the fenders toward the car's middle. The center brake light has been moved from the trailing edge of the trunk lid forward, right behind where the top folds into the body and where the hardtop will seat. The rear license plate housing is, like so much about the new Miata's contours, rounder and more crisply molded into the surrounding sheet metal than on the '05. A horizontal, black panel beneath the rear bumper echoes the front end's air dam, only this one is braced by twin exhaust tips, a spiffy step up from the '05's single tip.

Interior Features

The all-new 2006 Miata is bigger than before, which results in a marginally roomier cabin. It's still not accommodating for full-figured or especially tall sports car lovers. Most notably, and although the official yardstick records the legroom added by the longer wheelbase and overall length at less than a half-inch, the rearward seat travel is extended by about an inch. And the car's expanded girth yields an additional 1.4 inches in hip room. Otherwise, the 0.7-inch higher roofline boosts headroom by less than half an inch, and even without the spare tire, the trunk's 5.3 cubic feet capacity is but 0.2 cubic feet larger than the '05's, leading to the conclusion the spare tire was left out more to save weight than to add space for golf clubs.