wtf is going on here! (M/T mp3 test)

[promp3]

Ok, I was fliping through an old copy of motor trend the one when they were selicting the car of the year, I don't have the mag at this time but they had like 50 cars up for car of the year and the Ford thunder bird won. Anyway they had bolth the mp3 and p5, and the numbers from the p5 sayed it had a faster slolom speed and shorter braking!, Was I tricked or is the M/T staff made up of 80 yr old wemen that cant drive? Whats going on here!? If anyone has this mag can you post the numbers or I can just wait a couple days to get my copy back. I'm hoping this is just a type o or a deal with mazda to not expose the true performance of the mp3. unless i am mestackin the p5 wieghs more than the mp3 the mp3's tires alone should out perform a mp5 stock 16'' donuts

[blue_hotty]

Wow, that's really weird. There must be a special set of circumstances with that test or something. What month is it from?

[Jay]

It's January 2002 issue.
Breaking, 60-0 mph, ft
MP3 132
P5 124
600-ft slalom, mph
MP3 64.8
P5 65

[Sir Nuke]

you can also find the information in the back of the July or August issue....there is a chart that has all the stats for the last 250 cars/trucks/vans/race cars.....that they have tested.

[BondoBob]

A couple of things: Motor Trend tends to be weak in performance testing, for instance, refusing to run top speed tests (instead they list the "estimated" top speed). They have (in the past - I don't read it that often anymore) tended to bend over for the car company that buys the most ad space. The CAR OF THE YEAR tends to be the car with the biggest ad budget.

Of course, the real variable here could be the car. The press MP3 they received from Mazda may have been down on power (shouldn't happen, but...) or very new and tight.

[promp3]

The fact that it may have been new wouldn't affect that handling, maybe the braking but not so much that the p5 out performs it!

[BondoBob]

Agreed. There are a lot of variables in a handling test to be considered. Not sure how they factor track temps and the like. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Turbo Matty P]

anyone get those 0-60 numbers? 1/4mile #'s???

[Geo212]

In Road&Track Nov. 2001(te hot cars under $25,000) issue the MP3 did 0-60 in 8.4sec, 1/4 mile in 16.5@83.8mph, 60-0 in 155ft, slalom in 68.5mph, and pulled .84g's on the skidpad. The shorter braking time could be that the P5 has ABS while the MP3 didn't.

[Turbo Matty P]

ABS is great for braking...saved my front end many a time. I've done all the searches I can. Anyone know what the P5 runs stock??

[Newf]

that article is bullshit, it has been brought up before. We've seen as high as 70+ mph for the slalom. Personally, I think it's a typo that they just never fixed.

[SomaMP3]

Well, i owned a p5 for 6 months before the MP3, and i can tell you that you can't even compare the handling difference. That article must be bogus