Help - MP3 Advice, I'm a Noob...

[julius77]

I just got my 94 Accord stolen. My price range is $10,000. Is MP3 the way to go? I love the look of the cars, and I don't want to go with a HONDA. Whats everyones opinion on there MP3? I'm suppose to go take a look at a car this weekend, it has 53,000 miles and its selling for around $9500-$10,000. Thanks boys -

[Protege2K]

If you aren't concerned with straight-line performance then the car is an excellent bang for the buck. You could probably pay about $8500 for one with that amount of mileage on it now.

[julius77]

If you aren't concerned with straight-line performance then the car is an excellent bang for the buck. You could probably pay about $8500 for one with that amount of mileage on it now.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. The more user feedback the better!
In that price range I k the MP3 i a safe bet. The look so sweet...

[Protege2K]

Is the one you are going to look at blue or yellow?

[MP3Architect]

mp3's are GREAT cars to drive. i just sold mine last month, but i miss her everyday. upgraded to a mazdaspeed though so i get the same great handling only with more speed. heres an email i had sent to a guy that almost bought mine, but another guy got it before he was able to.
there are only a few problems with pretty much all mp3's...................most
minor. the endlinks to the swaybar is the first problem. they will go bad probably once a year or every other year. once they do they make a very loud clunk noise everytime you hit a bump. sounds as if something is loose in the trunk. not really a big deal, more of just an annoyance. this problem is known by all mp3 owners as "the klunk". replacement bushings only cost $36 from dealer though so its sort of just a maintnance thing. The next delima is the air conditioning control unit. goes out on every mp3. its the electric unit that controls the a/c (the knobs). that one went out on me too (as well as almost every protege of that year) and i think the replacement was $85. The only major thing is the transmission. I haven't heard of anyone breaking thiers (unless they were WAY overpowering the tranny beyond what it was designed to do(example: 350hp). however it does tend to grind from time to time in 3rd gear. it would try to do it on me about once a month. but after i got the hang of it i could feel whenever it was about to grind and would baby it and prevent it from grinding. but ive never heard of any major problems resultingfrom it. as far as reliability.........i haven't known too many mp3's with more miles than me but i knew of some proteges hitting almost 200,000 miles without any major problems.just normal wear things. so the engines are pretty reliable. now there are plentyof people who break them. but those people are turboing the car and turning up theboost to a point beyond what the stock internals can go. these cars can only safelygo around 250hp before you'll need to upgrade the pistons, etc. as far as handling,the only car ive EVER driven in my life that was close was a new corvette a few months ago. over the past 2 years i have driven my mp3 or my mazdaspeed (same suspension)every day. now that my mp3 is gone and my mazdaspeed is in for repairs (i wreckedit) i am left with a stratus as a rental. its total night and day with the differenceof driving. i actually feel sort of unsafe taking turns in the stratus because forthe last 2 years ive had total control in almost every turn. theres really no comparison.and the suspenion isn't just for racing. its saved me from plenty of would have been accidents by being able to swerve much better than any other car on the road.the handling is trully top notch. if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

[julius77]

I am looking at a Blue MP3. I already called on the Vin number to see the production number. Lucky number #11

[4thundr]

MP3Architect=

I couldn't agree with you more about the handling of this car. I have had mine for a few months now and love the way it feels in cornering. I know that it isn't the fastest thing from stoplight to stoplight but, that isn't as important to me as a car that I can "control". I am looking to purchase a rear strut bar and the lower front and rear bars in order to strenghten the rigidity of it in cornering. (thumb)

[jaredbzoom]

you like it+you have the money+a great car=BUY IT!!!

Yea man go for it, i love to drive my MP3, and dont know were I'd be without it......I have 76,000 mile on mine and the only problems that Ive had is when i first got the car from Mazda the damn driver side power wimdow wouldn't go down, second the strange sespension noises, ( witch is common for MP3's ).....other then that i LOVE IT!!!!

[1somamp3]

This should seal the deal....A few years back, Road and Track listed us as the 8th best heandling car on the planet....eat your heart out (thumb)

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=31&article_id=221&page_number=9

[Mr. 4500 RPM]

you know it was an article about an mp3 that made me want to get the p5....autoweek = awesome!

[jaredbzoom]

Road and Track>>>> I remember when the issue came out,,,thats were i seen a MP3 go up againest (sp) high end exotics.....now that says something .......even if it was 8th.....Thats awsome!!

[RyanJayG]

MP3's rock, no doubt about it.

[StuttersC]

I agree with these guys...

Even when this car has pissed me off to no end, I still smile when I got a section of smooth curves...

[jaredbzoom]

Check out the Wings West MP3,,,,makes you wanna....(omg)

[derrick1623]

i like mine, nuff said. lol

[winty87]

its orgasmic

[julius77]

I'm driving two hours in the morning to pick up my MP3! I'm stoked!

[winty87]

get ready for your foot to want to kill itself. The lack of cruise control sucks at first.

[MP3Architect]

cruise control is for dorks. whenever im driving other cars i totally forget they have it. im so used to it. but hey...........driving these cars are so much fun!

[winty87]

God sometimes not having cruise pisses me off, when i get in those ruts when there is NOBODY in front of me and i can just cruise i want to let my foot rest. But its cool now, my foot is fully conditioned to the exercise (thumb)

[MP3Architect]

when there is NOBODY in front of me
i always end up speeding up until there is someone in front of me.

[winty87]

haha yeah. i've been doing that too. Especially on the slow curves on highways i bust out Trips on that and have to slow down. Thats another reason why i need cruise. I always end up haulin ass till i get up to somebody

Oh yeah MP3's do like 120 and they take about 5 miles to hit it. They'll go faster but you need ALOT of space and a place where there isn't any cops

[MP3Architect]

Oh yeah MP3's do like 120 and they take about 5 miles to hit it. They'll go faster but you need ALOT of space and a place where there isn't any cops
almost hit the 140 mark a few occasions. i was super tired and didn't realize i was going over 100mph let alone almost 140. its cuz a lot of times when i come home at 3am theres not a soul on the roadways. so i have no one else to use to judge how fast im going. ooopps. was fun though!

[jaredbzoom]

Top speed on a Mp3 is pretty decent,,,,in a barber shop i seen in the back of some car mag. that had almost every kinda of cars top speed,,out of all the cars, trucks,,vans..the Mp3's top speed was high then a lot more cars then you think.....

i was chasing down a acura with 3 people in the car @ 120 with still more pedal to go!!

[nate0123]

mp3 has no ABS either - if that's a concern to you (it is to me)

anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy the car

congrats

[AznXstazy]

mp3 has no ABS either - if that's a concern to you (it is to me)

anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy the car

congrats

but we have 4 disk brakes =)

[nate0123]

but we have 4 disk brakes =)as do I (thumb)

[jaredbzoom]

<<one other note>> i think that the MP3 is 5 lug and normal proteges are four>>?? Is this correct??

[RyanJayG]

MP3, MSP, P5, and ES models are 5 lug

only LX and DX are 4 lug

[Captain KRM P5]

only LX and DX are 4 lug

arguably better for autocross, plus some mild weight savings

[Pastime-Gamer]

I love my car and hope you love yours. Now that winter is coming I got some winter tires and now have to re-learn how to drive. LOL I was used to proformance tires.