Exterior

For 2009, designers ditched the previous design for what Mazda calls a "Japanese aesthetic" in the current car. The vehicle sports a long hood with pronounced front fender flares that flow through the headlamps and mold with the front bumper.

Exterior features include:

* Standard body-colored grille, front and rear bumpers, door handles and moldings
* 16-inch steel wheels with full covers * Optional 17-inch alloy wheels * Optional 18-inch alloy wheels * Optional LED taillamps * Single (four-cylinder models) or dual exhaust outlets (V-6 models)

    See also:

    Highway Driving
    On the highway is where you'll notice you're driving a small, light car, and that's not always a great thing. Right off, there was fair amount of road noise, and passengers noticed a lot of wind n ...

    SRS Air Bag Deployment Criteria
    This chart indicates the applicable SRS equipment that will deploy depending on the type of collision. (The illustrations are the representative cases of collisions.) X: The SRS air bag equipme ...

    Uniform Tire Quality Grading System (UTQGS)
    This information relates to the tire grading system developed by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for grading tires by tread wear, traction, and temperature performance. ...