Just an observation about the 2003.5

[Newf]

Anyone that's been around here for a while will remember the announcement of the 2003.5 Speeds. And everyone complaining about the changes to the spoilers, and lip.

The lip was "hideous", the spoiler was aweful etc etc

So, here we are, months later, and it seems that noone in a 2003.5 has taken off their lip or spoiler, yet there are many P5's, ES's, even a few mp3's that have gotten the front lip, and taken out their fogs, and some sedans even going to the 2003.5 style wing.

What up wit dat?

[AutoBox]

i like the 03 spoiler better but the 03.5 rims and front lip are what sold me, plus the dark titanum of course :)

[PhreakV]

I love my fogs and they are never coming off!!! :D

[PaulMP3]

i think the 03/mp3 body kit is much nicer. IMO.... The wheels... well i use to like the dark wheels better, but i feel the light ones look real nice on the spicy orange MSP's... If the blue or titainium came in the 03 style i think the would look better ... Either way, they are both good looking cars.

[Newf]

am I wrong though? Has anyone taken the front 2003.5 lip off, and put in fogs, or changed the spoiler?

Because I can't find anyone

[CarlM2]

The spoiler is the only thing I don't like on my car and I haven't replaced it yet. I don't have the money.

I really wouldn't want the 03.5 spoiler... To illustrate: I had my choice of a 1 month old 03.7 with .2 miles on it, a 03.5 with 3 miles on it, and and an 03 with 227 miles on it. I liked the colors of all of them. I would have much rather had the lower mileage but, the spoiler was even worse than the one I already didn't like. So, the '03 with 227 questionable miles was my choice.

I love my fogs, had to have them. I like black better than dark silver. There was a metallic white 03.7 still on the delivery truck I would've considered except the spoiler. So, I think when people that don't like it get the cash to replace it, it will happen.

[InsidiousMSP]

What I think is funny is the oval 03.5 muffler tip. :p

[Swerny]

There was a metallic white 03.7 still on the delivery truck [/B][/QUOTE]

That would be silver I presume, not white ?
Anyways, for a totally biased opinion, I like the 2003 spoiler, tip, shifter, pedals and stitching better than the 2003.5.
I think i like the 2003.5/7 wheels, needles, lip better. Now if you could get the fogs with the lip that would be perfect.

If i could choose any combo....
Titanium, with the stuff i like listed above.

[freekwonder]

trust me, when the 3.5s came out i didnt like them. then i saw them and person and actually like the whole package better. espcially the darker wheels with the Titanium Grey, which Newf i think you will agree with me is the BEST color. :D

[Autox MSP]

03.5 looks so damn ricey. 03 looks so much better. How a ugly lip and wing could ruin a perfectly nice looking car. The rear wing and the lower lip just doen't flow with the lines of the car like they do in the 03.

Also the 03 kits are held on by screws and brackets while the 03.5 ones are stuck on with tape, so they have an issue of them falling off.

[PaulMP3]

someone with a laser blue should do a swap with a MP3 owner... that would be cool :D

The wing bothers me more than the foglights... I saw the pic of the mp3 with the 03.5 lip and it looked good, i just dont like how the wing is so big, and how it attaches to the trunk.. I though my wing was to big when i got my mp3....now i like it though.

[M=SP^2]

I deffinitly prefer the 03.5 wing to the 03, it just looks cleaner to me. Deffinitly wish I had the fogs and sparco goodies on the interior, but in the end it feels like an even trade in terms of styling with the 03. If we could only combine the positive aspects of both releases it would be an even hotter looking car. Someone needs to put the fogs on a blue 03.7.

[funnylittlman]

One thing I notice about the 03 black mica vs all the other speeds is the fact that the c pillars ( I believe that's what they are called) where the door holds the window and that little frame are painted black mica.

Every other one is just abs black :D

[Jason94Cobra]

I personally think the 03 wing looks like a Japanese temple or something from a kung fu movie...

I had the choice of all 6 colors, and could have paid $500 less for the 03's, but I liked the newer one enough to pay the extra $$$.

[mspeedpro]

i still stand firm that 03s have a better overall styling but i think itd just b/c of the rear spoiler :( the lip DOES look pretty nice and if i had those wheels i prob wouldnt have gone with 18z... but ya, orange is still the best msp and HOPEFULLY it holds its value a little better than the rest ::fingers crossed::

[KyRaceFan]

I like the 03 wing better... but i love black, and wanted the fogs. :)
I also wish i had the 03.5 wheels.

[Zray]

The 03 wing looks great on the Rust color MSP, the 03.5 wing looks great on the Titanium MSP. Between the 2, I think the 03.5 wing is just a little more refined, and fits better design-wise with the rest of the car. That's totally my own opinion of course, I'm sure plenty others will disagree =) Either way you slice it, it's a hella lotta car for the money :D

[FuriousMojo]

I'm definitely biased towards the 03 but I just love it! The look is fricken SWEET! I do like the 03.5 though and I do not doubt that the owners must like them to not have modded them yet.

[CustomMSP]

I read on here that if you take the front spoiler off on the 03.5, you'll get the same bumper of the 03?? If so, I kinda like the 03 style front bumper more. Plus I'll have to get a "splitter" for the front bumper. Get some fogs in that bad boy and I'm good to go.

[vodapas77]

I was aghast the first time I saw a 03.5 I was like wtf is Mazda doing. But they grow on you quite quickly. While I am biased towards the 03 and am glad I got the one I did, I could definitely deal with a 03.7 in Blue. The only thing I would have to change in a hurry is the shifter and pedals.

Off topic, did Mazda ever give a reason they changed out the interior bits and put Mazda Speed all over them or do we just assume it was an ego thing?

[MikeBlueP5]

someone mentioned a white 03.7, but i have never seen one till i saw this pic. Where did it come from???? If they DID come out with a white one, sorry but my 5 and all the shit on it would be sitting at the stealership, in the used car section. I love white, and a turbo'd speed is even better.

EDIT-forgot to add pic
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/MikeBlueP5/WHITE%20MSP/whitespeed.bmp

[girth]

I don't know Newf, I think it's more of a thing where people don't necessarily like the wing or lip (or whatever) but at the same time don't DISlike it enough to bother changing it. I don't like my '03 wing but I don't dislike it enough to remove it.

All in all I like everything on the 03 except I wish it had the 3.5's front lip and needles. The needles aren't a big deal since I can paint those up myself. What I don't get is why everyone likes the 3.5 wheels so much -- I've seen them and to me they look just like my 03 wheels do when they're dirty. So my advice to the 03s that want 3.5 wheels, just don't clean your wheels very often.:p

[girth]

Mike, that's a photochopped pic.

[YuYuRena]

love at first sight for me with the titanium so i'm a little bias. I like the 03 look overall, but too close to MP3, so only 03.5 and 03.7 are truely unique as a separate model, sorry guys, but same wing, fog.

Another thing, don't really dig sparco stuff, this is mazdaspeed, I like how the whole package is mazdaspeed, instead of mazdaspeed this and that, until u get inside and see your pedals and shift knob is sparco.

granted the wing looks a little bit akward from directly behind the car, but if you look at it from front quarter view, it looks nice. I really love how it looks out of my rear view mirror too. :cool:

[bsgts]

what is the 3.7 model? is it the same as the 3.5 just different colors

[CustomMSP]

I haven't heard of a 03.7 model either...

[PaulMP3]

i think blue, and silver are considered 03.7

[CustomMSP]

thank God they didnt come out with 03.82 models...hehe than we'd have a big ego fest out this forum :)

[Jason94Cobra]

Originally posted by vodapas77
The only thing I would have to change in a hurry is the shifter and pedals.



It was my opinion when looking at both the 03 and 03.4574576 (whatever I bought) is that that the Sparco pieces looked cheap to me...

I like my Mazdaspeed pedals and knob... dare I say better than the Cobra's stuff.

[jflo]

the 03.5 front lip actually goes w/ the rocker panels...if u look from the side, u can see how the front lip goes with that big front piece of the side skirt and then narrows down to match the rear lip...the 03 wing to me looks like it came off a spec-v almost and kinda like a custom chop wing. the pedals/knobs/stitching is all the same to me...either mazda rebadged them or just made nice ones to go w/ the car. i like both, but when i saw that mazda updated the 03 to 03.5 i picked the titanium over the spicy orange. hehe...the dealer actually had both of them in the show room and it was like whoa...crazy

[Newf]

Well most know my story by now. Some probably remember the troubles I had picking which one to get since I liked both styles so much. Basing it on pics, I didn't think I could wait for the titanium, and even thought it was boring in pics.

Then I ordered the orange one...saw it in person, and was like....ummm, not me. Tried to like it, really did.Just could not. When i seen the titanium in person it was love at first sight, same as the 1st time I seen the blue mp3. So I was sold

Front lip. To me, the 2003 windsplitter is junk. The one on my mp3 was almost white after 16 months because the paint peeled off. I also didn't like the side profile of the mp3, since the front bumper was higher then the side skirts. Now with the 2003.5 lip, the front lip is level with the side skirts, and even makes the car look lower and more aggressive imho. I was dead set on getting fogs for in there, but after thinking about it....I don't think it'll be worth it to tear up the front lip doing it. Never know, maybe one day I will.

As for the rear spoiler.....yup, defintely different. Then again, I thought the same when I seen my mp3 first time. Both are definitely unique. Both have their good points, and bad. At least now my trunk is lighter :)

As for the sparco stuff: Not a big deal. I don't care what name is on it, but do like how the mazdaspeed all matches. I did NOT like the sparco shifter in the 2003 as it was too small. probaly more due to the size of your hands whether or not you like this.

In the end we all drive great looking cars. I don't think one is more rice then another, I hate that statement. Look at our spoiler for gods sakes....either one can be called rice :)

[NoVaMSP]

3.5 imo seem cheaper to make
cheaper wing , no fogs,cheaper fabric seats, no sparco brands

but the wheels are nice

[Newf]

the sparco stuff is overhyped to me. It's just a name, and both are good shifters. Mine hasn't aged at all, no scratches no fading, perfect. The peddles...same story.

AS for the seats, that mesh stuff on the 2003's....I'm wondering just how long that will last. They guy that owns the orange one here in town, wih only 22k kms on it, you can tell the seats are wearing already. Same goes for peddles and shifter.

AS for cheaper to make....not sure on that.


Front lip cost about the same as getting the fogs, actually when I priced them, the fogs were cheaper at least the parts were.

The Wheels on the 2003.5 have got to be more pricey. The finish has got to cost more to make.

The rear bumper is different, as is the pipe, but whether they cost an more or less....I'd say it's neglible (sp?) same goes for the spoiler.

The 2003.5 clutch is different and stronger.....more $$$????? No idea.

The seats in the 2003's probably cost a little more, but that's just a guess.

The sparco/Mazdaspeed stuff. Well, unless Mazda had to pay Sparco something for using the name, I'd say their not much different in price either.

All in all, I'd say it evens out. so that statement of one being more $$$ then another is just a silly guess.

[mspeedpro]

the windsplitter that is "junk" has saved my balls atleast 10 times... ive scraped hard core and the splitter does not even look scratched... GOOD WORK ON SPLITTER MAZDA

[Swerny]

Originally posted by CustomMSP
thank God they didnt come out with 03.82 models...hehe than we'd have a big ego fest out this forum :)



2003: Black Mica, Spicy Orange
2003.5: Titanium, Yellow
2003.7 Silver, Blue

[Newf]

LOL

And yes, the windsplitter does protect from scrapes perfectly. I just wish the paint was better on it.

[CruzinAltitude]

my .02 cents. I love the lip, which is why Im trying to buy one. I will be putting fog lights in, I wont give up as easily as you Newf!!

[Newf]

well be all means, keep me up to date! PM me your progress, very interested in seeing this.

[03MSP]

I love the '03.5 spolier, the darker wheel finish looks better too.

[BinaryRotary]

Just for info, the 2003 MSP wheels cost about 200 dollars more a piece than the 2003.5 according to dealer invoice.

[CustomMSP]

They did a crap job of painting those wheels, because I have some bubbles on my 03.5 rims.

[Black Majik MSP]

Originally posted by Autox MSP
03.5 looks so damn ricey. 03 looks so much better. How a ugly lip and wing could ruin a perfectly nice looking car. The rear wing and the lower lip just doen't flow with the lines of the car like they do in the 03.

I'm glad you're selling your car because we don't need people making stupid ass comments like this. :rolleyes:

[Pmpkinhead]

I have had the best of both worlds and I love the fact that everything is loved AND hated. There is a pretty good spread of colors and styling. Now its my turn: I want 03 wheels and I will be putting in fogs (and not removing the 3.5 lip or "life ring" as I once heard it called). My 03 seats were fraying near my lower back with only 7000 miles at the total out. I like both front ends and both back ends. I like both interiors. Since everybody knew my Pumpkin first, they all say they like it better. I do miss 1244!!! Newf, I can't feel any difference in the clutch at all. Great Thread Newf!
XXXX (mspyellow

[Newf]

Funny, my MP3 wheels I did have troubles with pitting and such. I ended up getting two replaced. the 2003.5 wheels have been flawless so far. I did learn with the mp3 wheels what NOT to wash them with, and how to take care of them better which is helping for sure. But the finish on the 2003.5 is a lot better quality then the mp3's ones without a doubt. As for 200 bucks cheaper, i guess it depends on what dealer your talking too.

Oh, and I've driven the 2003 orange one here a few times, and my clutch defintely requires more strength to push in to the floor. Just a little stiffer. Maybe your clutch on the 2003 was gone :)