New here..New to Mazdas..New to the 4cyl world.

[Andrade08]

Hi every one,
Names Matt. I am real green and new to the Mazda crowd and to the high HP 4cyl crowd too. I am 32 and have owned high powered/custom RWD Fords since I was 15. I just sold off my custom street rod 95 SVT Lightning that was a Summer toy so I could have a quick and reliable daily driver.
I will be picking up my new 2008 Cosmic Blue Mazdaspeed3 on this Friday from the dealer so..........here we go.

Over the past month I have driven a 2008 GTI 2 door 6spd manual, an 2003 20th Anniversary Edition GTI, a 2006 WRX STi, a 2008 WRX 5 speed stick, and the new 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 cars.
I did not like the Subaru cars. The STI had horrible blue all over the interior and it was a lot of $$ I thought for an 06. The 08 WRX drove nice but looked to much like my mothers Honda Accord.
I really liked the 2003 20th Anniversary GTi but it had 35,000 miles on it and I wanted a new car. The 2008 GTi was very nice too but I own a 2007 VW Jetta already (wife's daily driver) and VW doesn't do a real good job at changing up the interiors between their models so.......I felt like I was in the Jetta while driving the 08 GTi.
So I drove a new 08 Mazdaspeed3 Sport yesterday and signed the papers. Real nice car. Very comfortable driving position and man it's quick!! I paid $21,900 for it with 28 miles & free oil changes for the 3 years with rental. I will leave her stock until late March early April. Only thing I will buy VERY soon is a winter tire/rim set up from Tire Rack which brings up my first question.
What would happen if I just ran the wheels and tires with no TPMS sensors in the wheels for the winter? They want $250 for sensors which is more than the dang 4 wheels. I am going with the 16" steel wheels they have and some Winterforce tires. I have owned a good few winter tires and the Winterforce tires are real good in the snow.
OK..Thanks........Matt

[Powerslave]

congrats its the best choice, youll enjoy it...and don't forget the :)..lol

[Young Roids]

The light will stay on.

[Haltech]

Enjoy your new ride and remember, there is no method for break in except, " Drive it Like You Stole It! "

BTW. Nice to see another Lightning owner in the crowd!

[nypest]

Congrats and welcome .....


As for the tpms the light in the car will just stay on till the summer set up :)

[Derek88]

Enjoy the new whip!

Do a little research before buying the 16" wheels... They may or may not fit over the brakes.

[schmitty]

Congrats in the new ride. I too drove a ton of cars before I decided on the MS3 and haven been disappointed in the least.

[Andrade08]

Thanks a ton for the warm welcome guys.
Hi Haltech. I am/have been for YEARS (since 98)...fordfreak95 at NLOC.net I just sold my 393ci stroked 95 to a guy in Texas who ownes a few Lightings already and a pretty quick Harley F-150 also. Truck goes on a trailer this Friday for Texas. I will miss the old girl but.....time for a change.
Derek88
I did call tirerack and they said that the 16" steel rims were listed for the Mazdaspeed3 fitment. I am assuming from your post that the MS3 has bigger brakes than the regular Mazda 3? I do 100% need a snow tire set up.

As for the TPMS lite staying on during the winter I can deal with it. Will it go off when the stockers go back on or will I need to clear the codes? I guess I will find out. :)

[Young Roids]

It will go off once the wheels are back on. The 16s that tirerack sells will fit.

[Mocoso]

Welcome and congrats!

[redspeed]

Welcome!

[ZoomVT]

welcome to the forum!

[ZooMIN3]

::steps on podium:: VELCOME!!! MUAHAHAHA!!!! ANOTHER MS3 TO ADD TO THE CULT!!! ::steps off podium::

My bad, had to do it...since nobody did yet..lol

Anyways, congrats on the purchase Matt!! It's already been answered, but still, I want to add my chump change..

The lights will stay on. Will turn off when you put your stockers back on...or if you decide to go with another aftermarket wheel, just have the sensors in your stock wheels installed on the new ones.

Question, does anyone know if the stock sensors will work on ANY wheel? Just curious. thanks in advance...anyone who says to use the "search" can go to hell....lol

-J





waits for it......

[Young Roids]

Question, does anyone know if the stock sensors will work on ANY wheel? Just curious. thanks in advance...anyone who says to use the "search" can go to hell....lol

-J





waits for it......

Some wheels it won't fit. It depends on the rim shape.

[Falconx84]

Some wheels it won't fit. It depends on the rim shape.

my rims are round ;)

to the op - Welcome, and congrats

tpms light will stay on, but if it bugs you just put the stock rims back in the car, lol.

as far as 16s go... if you go to tire rack and put in your car, whatever rim/tire combo is guaranteed to fit

[ZooMIN3]

Some wheels it won't fit. It depends on the rim shape.

I C.... I figured that had to be one of the reasons.... in any case, I probably wouldn't put the TPMS on my aftermarket wheels in the first place.... just my way of doing it though. If the tire/wheel installer wouldn't charge extra to transfer them, I'm all for it, if they do, then the hell with it! lol



LMAO @ Falcon, "wheels are round" (smash)


-J

[Andrade08]

Thanks again guys. I do not care about a TPMS light. Heck, with my truck I used to get a CEL all the time because of the 1 3/4" long tube headers cooling off the O2 sensors and I lived with it.
I am picking up the car tomorrow after work now. I already did the deal and signed everything so I will just get out early. I paid $21,905 for an 08 Cosmic Blue sport MS3 (has 7 miles on it LOL) with free oil/filter changes, tire rotations etc... I got the whole 3 year dealer maintenance package thrown in for the $0.00 so I was happy.

[Young Roids]

Is that out the door price? And with that low of mileage you could do the hard breakin program.

[Andrade08]

$21,905 car
$1533.35 taxes
$60.00 for registration
$23,498.35 total out the door.
Just driving it from the dealer to my parents and then home I put 77 miles on the car tonight. My daily comute to work and back home is 58.6 miles. I will have 200 miles on this car by Saturday AM.

[Young Roids]

$21,905 car
$1533.35 taxes
$60.00 for registration
$23,498.35 total out the door.
Just driving it from the dealer to my parents and then home I put 77 miles on the car tonight. My daily comute to work and back home is 58.6 miles. I will have 200 miles on this car by Saturday AM.

not a bad price. YOu should have floored it in 3rd through the rev range about ten times after it was warmed up.

[Captain KRM P5]

welcome to the forums

[Andrade08]

not a bad price. YOu should have floored it in 3rd through the rev range about ten times after it was warmed up.

Well, I wasn't really in a safe place to floor it. I did get on it though. In all 6 gears but never went over 70mph. I will nail it sooner or later but I am older now at 32 and have been in some bad wrecks (none of which I was driving but...) and those have made me gun shy with any othe cars around.

I really like the car though. And I just ordered a TWN shifter package. LOL! What else. :)

[Andrade08]

And thanks for the welcome!!