How can this physically be the same car?

[Mazdafreak67]

The car on the left is a showroom stock Titanium Grey Mazda 3S sedan.
The only visible differences with the car on the right are lowering springs, some black paint and painted calipers. Yes, those are the factory 17" wheels on both cars.
It has to be an optical illusion, because it appears that the car on the right is longer and the wheels are at least 1" larger, if not more.

 

[mikelebz]

looks the same to me, but when I tried I saw where you were coming from. the wheels look larger because there in no wheel gap and the black of the tire blends in more, making the line of wheel/tire less defined. also in terms of length, it's a trick with the colors. the eye makes connections when processing. the black wheels are on opposite sides of the car. the eye takes in the whole length of the car while precessing, while on the stock, it is much less of a contrast...the height/width ratio/lack of wheel gap might also impact the perception.

This is what makes sense to me. I am no genious nor do I have any degrees dealing with this type of stuff.

 

[JCell]

correct, low cars always look longer. and black wheels blend with the tire and make it look bigger

 

[Mazdafreak67]

I just find it amazing how little things like lowering the ride height an inch or two can make the car look 6 inches or more longer.
And how darkening the wheels not only makes them appear larger, but seems to add depth as the brake rotors and calipers become much more prominent.

 

[JCell]

well, the caliper is painted silver in the second pic, as opposed to gray in the first

 

[MZ3SPORTRUE]

The car on the left is a showroom stock Titanium Grey Mazda 3S sedan.
The only visible differences with the car on the right are lowering springs, some black paint and painted calipers. Yes, those are the factory 17" wheels on both cars.
It has to be an optical illusion, because it appears that the car on the right is longer and the wheels are at least 1" larger, if not more.

hey thats my car! (thumb) lol, i need to update that pic and my sig pic tho, i made a couple changes (notice the pic down below)!!

 

[NaturalMystic]

It's an illusion caused primarily by the focal length that the car was shot at. If you have a digital camera try this...Take a picture of a car as close as you can get to it with the lens zoomed out as wide as possible while still allowing the full car to be in frame.
Next walk back enough to allow yourself to take a similar full shot of the car (same angle, height, etc) but with the lens zoomed in as much as possible. The further away you are the more accurate the image will be. The closer you are you almost start to get a very mild "Fisheye" effect (for lack of a better term). I can't remember the technical optical speak to properly describe this but hopefully you get the idea.
Looking at the two pictures I'd bet the one on the left was taken much closer to the vehicle than the one on the right. If the EXIF data was available I'm sure it would confirm this.

 

[Mazdafreak67]

Yes, It's clearly an illusion.
My car is the one on the right with the Eibach Sportline springs which give it nearly 2 full inches of drop. I did my best to take the photo from nearly the exact same angle and perspective as the photo on the left.

However, since the Mazda3 is almost exactly 3 times longer than it is wide, lowering it 2 inches gives the effect of appearing 6 inches longer, as our eyes seem to automatically use the ground as the lower reference.
It's pretty freaking amazing how little changes can appear to make a huge impact in appearance.

 

[ichris2493]

The car looks really hot. Any chance you can post a picture of the back?