Mazda heats the Miata's seats, and puts a cherry on top

The beautiful thing about having a small car with a relatively spartan interior is that minor updates can seem huge, and this is precisely what is betting on with the 2018 updates to its beloved MX-5 Miata.

The kind and benevolent folks in Hiroshima are seeking to improve the Miata's driving experience by adding heated Recaro seats to its Club-model MX-5s with the Brembo/BBS/Recaro package as well as heated standard seats to its Club models with the Brembo/BBS package. As anyone who's driven the Miata top-down (as it's meant to be) in the winter knows, that's a good thing.

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Also on the slate of changes for 2018 is a new soft-top color option. Previously, you could have any color soft-top you wanted on your MX-5 just as long as it was black, but now owners will be able to opt for a cherry red soft top, which looks positively smashing on a gray car. Mazda decided to bring the cherry red top to the US after the response to a UK-market special edition proved overwhelmingly positive.

The top isn't the only thing getting more color options. There will be a new auburn Nappa leather interior option, and the exterior palette will be getting additional hues as well, including soul red crystal and machine gray metallic, both of which will be available at a premium.

The base trim level isn't getting left out in the cold either, so fret not all you budget-minded consumers. The Sport trim will, for the first time, benefit from the addition of standard Mazda Connect infotainment which is easy to use and relatively responsive, though it still doesn't support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto .

We already loved the MX-5, now we are probably going to love it even more since our butts will be toasty as we blast top-down through the freezing weather of fall and winter. The 2018 Mazda MX-5 Miata goes on sale in the US in January 2018.