Mazdaspeeds In Progress

[JasonH]

Found these over in this thread (http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11915) and figured if I missed them maybe some of you had too. Originally posted by Toadman, I hope he doesn't mind.

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic01.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic02.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic03.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic04.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic05.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic06.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic07.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic08.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic09.JPG

[JasonH]

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic10.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic11.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic12.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic13.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic14.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic15.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic16.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic17.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic18.JPG

http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic19.JPG

[MMMatHeart]

Thanks for transferring these across. Does he say where this is happening, or where he is from?

[JasonH]

Originally posted by MMMatHeart
Does he say where this is happening, or where he is from?
No and no. He's made a total of four or five posts over there, and one of the earliest ones was an announcement of the Mazdaspeed from back in March. Toadman is as much a mystery as the location of the photographs (I'm guessing they're both in North America somewhere.)

I forgot to mention some observations:
The gas pedal has been changed from the pre-production cars.
The exhaust manifold heat shield looks awesome, as does the muffler.
Notice the orange stitching on the seats.
Notice the lack of any stereo which has yet to be installed.

My dealer is finally letting me put a deposit on one today. I've been on "the list" for months but I'll be the first with a deposit. They're speculating they could have one in stock in the next two weeks or so.

[ZoomZoomH]

Originally posted by JasonH

Notice the orange stitching on the seats.


and the on the leather-wrapped steering wheel too! :D

I think Toadman from the other forum is a 'lurker' from within, if you know what i mean :eek:

[njaremka]

<drool>

[BigBlue]

Originally posted by ZoomZoomH


and the on the leather-wrapped steering wheel too! :D

I think Toadman from the other forum is a 'lurker' from within, if you know what i mean :eek:

Well he'd pretty much have to be to get such detailed spy-shots that are obviously taken while the cars are being completed. Very impressive regardless.

[Jay]

Wow I never saw these pictures before. Toadman is one lucky guy.

[Mac Daddy]

I think this is the best bang for the buck. I just came from my Mazda dealer, and I guess I will keep my P5. I cannot justify the extra $3,000-$4,000 dealer mark-up. At that price, the Subaru is also a contender. Congratulations to those who get this baby :(

[Limited Edition]

excellent pictures!.

this site is great!

thank you:)

[MSpeed]

very nice pics indeed... maybe we will have that meet afterall :D

[Toadman]

My ears were burning so I felt compelled to register over here. :)
Hi guys! Nice reconning of me JasonH :D. I got those pics from someone else so I'm not a Mazda insider. Do me a favor... can you host them on your own site rather than hot-linking them? My bandwidth limit is getting really chewed up. Anyways, that facility is in Michigan and these babies will be at dealers by the end of the month very latest I hear. :)

[derrick1623]

hey toadman...this VERY SITE has an image upload feature under your "user cp" control panel...check it out, you can host them here.

[Toadman]

Thanks. :) Check out Superstreet October issue for write-up/pics. It was in September 2nd issue of Autoweek of course. And also last month's Sport Compact Car with the 350Z on the cover.

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Toadman
My ears were burning so I felt compelled to register over here. :)
Hi guys! Nice reconning of me JasonH :D. I got those pics from someone else so I'm not a Mazda insider. Do me a favor... can you host them on your own site rather than hot-linking them? My bandwidth limit is getting really chewed up. Anyways, that facility is in Michigan and these babies will be at dealers by the end of the month very latest I hear. :)

awesome! glad your with us now. :-)

[promp3]

wtf I thought they were getting better brakes?? and the exhaust is diffrent :eek: don't like the new int... as much, I think I'll get thost peddles though. but over all I'll stick wit ma mp3 and get a after market turbo :) I dont think I could live with that color and I like the mp3 wheels better ;) looks good though way to go mazda!

[JasonH]

Those are better brakes. They're the bigger ones from the European Proteges.

[JasonH]

Toadman, I uploaded the pics to my account here. Thanks for posting them and letting me use them.

[Toadman]

Thanks. :)

[Lath]

You sure the head unit isn't installed yet? I think that's how it looks when the car is off and the faceplate is flipped.

[JasonH]

It looks slightly different. The main difference is when the stereo is installed there's a lip around it, with the blanking plate it's all uniform.

Here's a pic with the stereo:
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/01.jpg

And without:
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/JasonH/pic07.jpg

[Lath]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me. Should have noticed that. :o

[NYCZMP3]

hw listen that is jus twha it will look like when all you get ya MS-P..."without a radio"....lmao...that is what it will look like until u turn the key...the radio IS installed int the car at this point...i guess we can say that kenwood fooled all u giuys....HAHAHa

[Dexter]

Originally posted by NYCZMP3
hw listen that is jus twha it will look like when all you get ya MS-P..."without a radio"....lmao...that is what it will look like until u turn the key...the radio IS installed int the car at this point...i guess we can say that kenwood fooled all u giuys....HAHAHa

uh....english?

its not in the car, there is no border around where a face-plate could rotate out. theres just a giant block of plastic now for some reason.

kenwood fooled us all :rolleyes:

[big_ben]

Theres nothing there yet because the radios are being installed in the US, not in Japan.

[Boosted]

Is it me or is the turbo NOT installed on the motor pictured in all but the last pic of the turbo manifold cover (with Mazdaspeed stamped on it)??

In all but the last pic, i don't see any piping related to the turbo, and no mazdaspeed manifold cover?

[big_ben]

The turbo is installed in the US also.

[Prophet]

The radio is there. I read that the stereo that is installed is the Flip Face MP3 Exelon stereo. You see that black plastic, looks the same as my wife's stereo when the face is flipped!

-Jeremy-

[slug420]

http://pix.crutchfield.com/products/2002/113/x113MP919-f.jpeg

now how is it that you kids think that silver face can flip around and leave NO cracks on the sides or top? The first picture above clearly has the head unit installed and is showing the back of the face because it has flipped around, now if you will look at the second picture above it is entirely different.

clearly a useless argument as nothing is to be gained or lost but I do have a question regardnig the stereo. The head unit is commonly reffered to in Mazda documentation as a Kenwood Excelon MP919, but there is no such animal, the MP919 is not an excelon head unit. Excelong head units from this model year have a 5 instead of a 1, so the comparable unit for the 919 would be the kenwood X959, which is about a hundred dollars more expensive. All the pictures of the prototype car show it with the non excelon MP919 unit.......is that false advertising or something? a bone of contention? Even though it doesnt matter to us persnoally, you think any dealer would care if we complained about having a 100 dollar less head unit in the car than we were anticipating?

[JasonH]

Very astute observation, slug420. Here's the way I see it:

Although the stereo is listed as a "Excelon KDC-MP919" on Mazda's website as well as in Car & Driver (and probably other magazines) I think it could end up being a different head unit. The official Mazda information released to dealers last week says the following:Audio:
450 watt AM/FM/CD/MP3 Kenwood audio system with liquid gel 3-D screen, glass antenna, wireless remote control and self-hiding/removable faceplate
7-speaker system features four mid-base[sic] speakers, two tweeters, and one 250-watt subwoofer. The subwoofer and accompanying amplifier are located in the rear package tray.


The above info makes no mention of Excelon or not, nor any model number. So it might be the KDC-MP919.

From my research, it looks like the Excelon KDC-X859 is virtually identical to the KDC-MP919, except is is an Excelon model and has a couple of small extras (like RDS.) It also keeps the same rotary volume knob.

http://pix.crutchfield.com/products/2002/113/h113KDCX859-f.jpeg

So, what's the answer? Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[jroof]

Here's the answer from Mazda's website:
"For a state-of-the-art MP3 audio system, Mazda again turned to Kenwood Car Audio, the company responsible for the first-ever OEM MP3 system in last year's Mazda MP3. The MAZDASPEED Protegé features a new in-dash CD/ MP3 receiver - the Kenwood Excelon KDC-MP919.

[JasonH]

Originally posted by jroof
Here's the answer from Mazda's website:
"For a state-of-the-art MP3 audio system, Mazda again turned to Kenwood Car Audio, the company responsible for the first-ever OEM MP3 system in last year's Mazda MP3. The MAZDASPEED Protegé features a new in-dash CD/ MP3 receiver - the Kenwood Excelon KDC-MP919.
The only problem is the "Kenwood Excelon KDC-MP919" doesn't exist. If it is a KDC-MP919, then that's not an Excelon unit. And if it is an Excelon unit, it's a different model than the KDC-MP919.

[MSpeed]

well they said that it is "NEW" so maybe its a model thats not out yet

[slug420]

if i wasnt such a jackass i would have told my dealer to make note of the exact model head unit when he went to mazdaspeed school and drove the car yesterday......

[JasonH]

Originally posted by slug420
if i wasnt such a jackass i would have told my dealer to make note of the exact model head unit when he went to mazdaspeed school and drove the car yesterday......
Did you get any new info at all from him? I'll be getting the dirt tomorrow...

[slug420]

nah, no info

I didnt call him today and either today was his day off (I think it was) or he just decided not to call me with the dirt afterall. Ill look forward to hearing what your dealer has to say too

[big_ben]

if i wasnt such a jackass i would have told my dealer to make note of the exact model head unit when he went to mazdaspeed school and drove the car yesterday......
I got invited to the one here in Texas but I can't go. It's being held at NASA I think. They were going to give us passes for NASA and all. Linuxracer is going though.

[LinuxRacr]

Originally posted by big_ben

I got invited to the one here in Texas but I can't go. It's being held at NASA I think. They were going to give us passes for NASA and all. Linuxracr is going though.

Probably not now. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I talked to the shop, and my car probably won't be ready until Monday!(argh) This will keep me from bringing my car! My block is there, but they say they have to honor other's rides who where brought in while my car was just sitting there waiting on parts. This phuckin sucks!!!:mad:

[sleeper_]

dang, that's lame. You should immediately have a higher priority since it's an "open workorder" so to speak and your part has finally arrived. It's like putting you in a waiting room and let other people behind you in line get all their stuff done and then finally getting back to service you..:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[LinuxRacr]

Oh, I forgot to mention that part of the reason that I am still waiting is the fact that they recived the wrong main bearing for the crank shaft. That's right, they figured since everything else was gonna be new, they would go ahead and replace those. The weren't able to find out that they were the wrong ones until the block go back to the shop, and they tried to fit them. They are waiting for the correct ones. They do good work, so I trust what they do. They just have a way of teaching you a lot of patience. Looks like Friday or Monday for my ride to be back.