At the prestigious 26th Annual JCOTY awards, the little Roadster managed to beat the competition and claim the overall win and Car Of The Year award for the 2005-06 year. This was the first time Mazda had won the award since 1982 so a celebration was in order.
So here it is, the JCOTY edition released in early 2006. The car's full title is "Japan Car Of The Year Award Commemorative Edition". There were two versions produced, one based on the RS 6-speed manual, the other on the VS 6-speed automatic. Since this edition was exclusive to Japan they only exist with 2.0 engines. There was no option for a coupe model as this edition predates them.
It looks like Mazda put the leftover 3G Ltd interiors to good use in this edition. There were two colour options available both with heated seats, Brilliant Black with a red leather interior (that looks very much like the 3G Ltd interior) and Copper Red with a black leather interior. Now if the red and black combination looks familiar, that will be because it was previously seen on the NA S-Limited and NB RS-II models. I think it works really well, the Copper Red car looks a little plain in comparison.
Other equipment includes the BOSE 6-CD changer stereo with 7 speakers, advanced keyless entry, front fog lights, and an exclusive commemorative sticker next to the side repeater but only on the passenger side wing. You can read more on JCOTY here. Now let's take a look through the brochure:
