ok guys i dont know

rsj

Member
im thinking about buying a mazdaspeed BUTTTTTT i have heard some bad things.....hesitation......clunking???? and i was just wondering.......hwat i should do

i dont really want to go to my dealership every day and tell them my car isent working properly........

so i ask the question.......21k or below what would you buy?
the msp is the perfect car for me........if it worked correctly....

any advice? :confused:
 
(hi)
welcome to the site


If you don't get the car for $18.5K or less walk away!
$21K is WRX territory and although less manuvable then the MSP its a more reliable option.

The hesitation is soon to be fixed although there are no release dates. The clunk has been being battled for over 2 years now and there is no end in site. You will get it and it will degrade the cars handling ability.

Other then that there are no overly common issues. There are 2 members that seem to have a list of problems longer then my arm though.

To be honest, I would not feel 100% on getting a MSP unless you know your dealers service department is outstanding.
 
I think I'm one of the members 1st is talking about. I've gone to the dealership with literally a collge ruled piece of paper *full* with things wrong with my car. I even had to write in the margins to fit it on on the front.

However, I will say that most problems were minor and I'm extremely picky with this car seeing as how it's my first new car.

Here is a list of the problems I've had for your buying information:

The one big thing that pissed me off is that my clutch went out around the 10,500 mile mark. I had to have the dealership pick up the car on a flat bed because it wouldn't move at all. This is my first stick and I did tear into it more than a few times. However, after talking to some of the guys at the local car meets and a guy at a local performance shop, there should be no way I can burn up a clutch that fast unless I have the clutch floored constantly with the gas. Prior to this happening, I did tell the dealership that the clutch seemed to act funny and "hang" a few times. For instance, when accelerating normally at a light, I'd push the gas down and the RPMs would climb but the car would not go anywhere. I'd let off the gas, reapply the clutch, do it again, and it'd work fine. When it was towed in, however, it seems the dealership just happned to "forget" that I had mentioned that and blamed the clutch problem on abuse and racing. Only "evidence" they had was that my front tires were worn down quite a bit, but in my defense, I told them that the car had been driven for around 12k miles without a rotation on some pretty tough road surfaces. After a long phone call with the service manager, they finally replaced the clutch after a long-winded "racing is bad" speech.

Driver's side CV axle went out at around 14k.

Brakes grind at low speed, even when going straight. (Dealership said it's a characteristic of the car.)

Pulls left pretty hard during braking most of the time but occasionally pulls right. (Dealership said it's a characteristic of the car.)

Notchy shifter. Often VERY difficult to get into first from neutral, if not impossible for a while. (Dealership said it's a characteristic of the car. I had the dealership switch the tranny fluid to GM Syncromesh when they replaced the CV axle. That did help it out quite a bit.)

Falls on it's ass and doesn't get back up when it heats up or gets hot tempature-wise. (Hesitation issue which is supposed to be fixed with the new ECU flash.)

Plastic pipes breaking while driving causing car to surge, sputter, buckle, and then finally stall. (Namely the intercooler pipe which connects to the BPV. This has happened twice now.)

A/C compressor making hissing noise when A/C is engaged. (New "cool" dealership ordered a new compressor for me with out any problems. The new one still makes the noise, though. The other MSPs around here do not have this noise and I cannot replicate it at any specific time so the dealership cannot diagnose problem properly.)

Coolant actually boiling over and out of the resevoir when the car was turned off. (This has happened four times now. It seems as though there's something pushing all of the coolant out of the radiator and forcing it back into the resevoir. Coolant actually boils out through the lid of the resevoir and onto engine bay leaving a white residue. Not sure how this stuff affects paint, but if it discolors it, I'll be pissed. Neither dealership knows what the cause of this would be.)

Battery has died four times and car would not start unless jumped. (The last time it happened was in Colorado and it would not jump, so I had to go buy a DieHard Gold series battery to replace it. This did solve the dimming headlight problem, though.)

Squeaky clutch. (When idle or off, if the clutch is depressed, there's a squeaky sound from under the car. Dealership fixed this but now the pedal itself squeaks when fully depressed. Annoying, but I guess I can deal with it.)

Clutch pedal has bent to the left. (This is a recent addition. I'm not sure why, but in relation to my other pedals, the clutch pedal is now angled to the left a bit. Example (clutch, brake, throttle): / | | )

Radio's plastic surround piece squeaking. (Dealership fixed this at the expense of scratching this piece and the headunit face all to hell. Dealership replaced the piece after my bitching over two days.)

Blown subwoofer. (Fixed once but they just swapped the entire trunk setup w ith a newer 2003.5 model. Same rack but the amp looks different. After replacing, there's now a rattle from the amp rack hitting the top of the trunk.)

Amp overheating and popping fuses with stock sub, even with NF level of -05. (Sub was replaced at above time but I'm running two JL 10W0s now, so I'm not using the stock sub at all. Problem solved.)

During playback, the Kenwood HU comes to the halfway closed position and stops. Resetting it is the only fix. (Dealership still does not have this in stock, even after telling me it was in.)

HU randomly does not remember previous settings sometimes. This mainly applies to the audio setup menu where you select bass, mid, treble frequency and stuff. I've practically memorized the menu's of it from setting it up so many times.

Antenna connector on rear window has come off of the glass and is just hanging there. (Fixed with some gooey gunk stuff found at a local car audio place.)

Black window trim on rear passenger door is bubbling. (May be just a weird flaw, but it's there. I've been told the black trim is just tape and can be easily replaced, but dealership wants to send my car to the body shop for a day. I'm not too keen about sending my car out while I'm not around, so that may not happen for a while.)

Cigarette lighter coming out of the socket. (Dealership fixed this but the voltage reading coming from the cigarette ligher is about 2 volts lower than that voltage from the constant power wire at ignition harness. Weird.)

Alarm left parking lights on after car was off & armed. (This has happened twice and is becoming a popular problem with this car. I'm waiting for this third unit to do it.)

Squeaky driver seat. (Still does it at times, not enough to go to the dealership though.)

Squeaky seatbelt. (Again, not enough to warrant a trip to the dealer.)

Airbox duct elbow keeps falling off and will not stay connected to the airbox. (It has since fallen off somewhere and I no longer have it. You'd think Mazda could mold all of the plastic together or something.)

Glovebox plastic slightly discolored above handle. (Oddly enough, it's a bit whiter above the handle. Can't really do much there.)

White mold appeared inside of headlight lens over directional (amber) lens. (Very annoying and will not come off. I've even opened up my headlights and tried cleaning it off but nothing will take it off. I'm tempted to put my corner lenses back in, clean up the sealant and take it back to have them replace it.)

Cargo net clips in trunk have broken off completely. (I've since given my cargo net to my neighbor for his car.)

Thin ass paint. My hood has more chips than I'd ever like to see in a 4 month old new car.

Tires wear out WAY too fast and do not provide decent grip in rain. (I guess this is just how high-performance tires are. Maybe less time between rotations would help this.)

Hard water deposits from the docks which have still not come off. (I still cannot get these off. I'm thinking they've pretty much baked themselves onto the glass. You can't notice it that much anymore unless the window is wet and you look really closely.)

Weather stripping around left sidemarker became warped and was letting water behind the light. (Not really a big deal but it may cause the light to short out. That may not be a threat though, I'm not too sure.)

Center console/armrest now squeaks at the "latch". Can't really do much there, I don't think.

Finally got the clunk. I looked at the sway bar when washing the car and sure enough, the bushing had cracked. (New dealership ordered without any problem.)

The following are not really dealership problems but they're worth mentioning..

This car gets VERY hot. Even if I let the car sit idle for a few minutes, the hood gets to the point where you cannot put your hand on it too long. That cannot be good for the life expectancy of this car.

There's no stock boost gauge. Expect to pay around ~100 USD for an accurate, durable gauge.

Mazda is VERY slow at releasing any Mazdaspeed line products. There's a rumor that a new IC will be available soon, however, it still stays in the stock position, so I'm not holding my breath. The main problem with the stock IC as-is is the placement. It just doesn't get the airflow it should, so why invest more money only to suffer from the same problem?

Also along the "slowness" lines.. Mazda has released 2 ECU flashes for the more popular Mazda 6 car which was more recently released than the MSP. One flash was to fix the CEL from randomly coming on. Yet we have a car that runs WAAAAAY too rich and it falls on it's ass because of it and we're just now hearing about a possible flash with an unknown public release date.

I think that's it for now.. I'll definately have to find my list I got back from the dealership. It has a few more things on it but I cannot remember it all. :D

Take these things with a grain of salt. This may just be the oddball of the bunch, as not too many other people have had these issues other than the hesitation, clunk, and alarm brain.

Good luck and be sure to check out the SRT-4. The members here talk a lot of s*** about them but I'd definately get one now if I didn't already have 17,800 miles on my MSP. However, I have NEVER received so many compliments on any car I've ever had than I have this one. I wish you the best.
 
21K is not WRX territory out here....I wish...even still I like my MSP probably more than a WRX..everyone and their mom has a WRX. I haven't had many problems w/ it...just the annoying dealer always bitching about minor mods..but hopefully I'll find a 'cool' dealer. My clunk hasnt come back since the new bushings, and the hesitation isnt too bad, it goes away for the most part when you turn up the boost a little..and the ecu flash coming out will probably get rid of it all together..

All in all, its a really good car in every aspect...
 
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yeah..more for the options I'd want w/ it...they're a little overpriced I think..
 
Hey T3ase....the thing about braking where they said this is characteristic of the car sounds like bull. Are you sure your rotors aren't warped???
 
t3ase said:
Look fine to me... :confused: Would this be an obvious warp?

Warped rotors shouldn't be making the grinding noise. If our rotors where warped, you would feeling a pulsing sensation when applying the brakes. I have a slight pull to the left when braking, but no grinding. I think it is just a characteristic of the pads themselves.

No flame t3ase, but it sounds like most of your mechanical problems are self-inflicted. I'd bet you drive your car like it was a racecar most of the time. Problem is, these are not race-prepped cars. They are just regular Protege's with a turbo and a better suspension setup.

I can't see how the water spots would be Mazda's fault, why did you even list them in your gripes? While your body/trim gripes are valid, all the miles you've racked up and you don't expect to get chips in the paint? Why?

17k miles in four months, and you admit you've "torn into it" a few times (I'd bet more then a few) ;) and it's your fist manual transmission car? Now I can see why things are breaking. And why your clutch pedel is bent! LOL!!
 
t3ase. It could have been that you got a lemon. But in all honesty, I think that your "gripes" have been cause from the fact that you've amassed 17k miles in 4 months. That's a lot of driving dude. If you think about it, your car is about the same as a car that has been driven normally for about a year.

But anyhow, some of the things are things that I don't want to know about when considering buying this car. It really puts a damper on my hopes. Who know about next year though.

Just my 2 cents.
 
tease man.

i just think ur to ******* hard on ur car... It's not a tank yanno ;)
ive never had half the problems u have, and btw the resivior thing is a happening on all protege's just about, some have it some don't, but i have friends with p5's that do it, and when it dries its not white its green if its white thats just water spots from rain ;). The reason everyone's sub is going out is becuz there blairin the sterio at 27-28 and its causing the voice coil to disconnect, if you go in the trunk pop off the screen and push up on the sub it starts to work. I agree this shouldn't be happenign but come on think about its... its a 8" sub lol.. its not gonna hold up like a 10 - 12.

55 dolars max for a good boostguage not 100, maybe 100 with the pillar lol. somethign else wrong with ur car cuz my hood never gets so hot u cant touch it, it does however on the fenders sometimes but not the hood. and your pretty dayum picky considering ur rough on ur car... i mean geeuz.. a squeak out of the armrest? give me a break only time ur gonna hear its when you open it. LOL.. cars have bumps and rattles all of them do, and you can expect more with how your talking about running you car, stuff jars loose. You can honostly sit there and say that you haven't caused most of the problems urself..

I dont mean to pick on you but geezus, u could go out and buy a ferrari and if your picky enuf ur gonna find every lil bitty thing that goes wrong with the car. You seem like that type of guy thats riding down the road, hears a noise and has to stop pull over and check it out, when more than likely it wasn't even your car that made the noise ;)..

live the car up drive it till the wheels fall off and forget all the small bulls*** and squeaks, turn ur dayum sterio up and you wont hear it.

sorry to like go off on ya but you been bitching from day one, u've had ur car less time that me and u have over 17 thousand miles on it, and ur like a nervious wreck everytime u hop on the forum.. ur gonna have a heart attack man.. RELAX... if the car is giving u that much hell take it back and tell them u cant take the s*** no more.. and get something different. but hell 17 thousand and u've had ur car less than me u must be driving the hell out of it.. so get its use and then trade in for something else.
 
Stormtrooper77 said:
t3ase. It could have been that you got a lemon. But in all honesty, I think that your "gripes" have been cause from the fact that you've amassed 17k miles in 4 months. That's a lot of driving dude. If you think about it, your car is about the same as a car that has been driven normally for about a year.

But anyhow, some of the things are things that I don't want to know about when considering buying this car. It really puts a damper on my hopes. Who know about next year though.

Just my 2 cents.

your right dude, and with how he admits to driving as hard as he does. and the fact that its his first stick car has alot to do with it, i know i my first stick car i gave it hell for about 4 months and kaput.. its trashed, i mean it still runs but not like it did.. 1. becuz i couldn't drive worth a dayum 2. so many miles in a short period of time. seriously tease did you even go through the proper breakin?

btw there will not be a next years mazdaspeed protege, supposidly the word on the street is it'll be either a rotory miata or turbocharged miata, but its definatelly gonna be a msmx5.
 
You guys have to understand. Tease has more problems with his MSP than the country of Korea has with starvation.
 
RSJ - Welcome to the board.

To try and gain back some of the dignity our car took when T3ase said his peice. I LOVE my car and it kicks ass. For the money and what you get with the car there is no other car that comes close. No other company offers so much for the price. Every time I think of another possible better choice, I always come up with yea but this car has a RADIO that KICKS ASS and sounds great.
 
Kenetix said:
You guys have to understand. Tease has more problems with his MSP than the country of Korea has with starvation.

but he doens't realize he's causing most of the problems himself, and the other bullshits and rattles are not problems every car has them.
 
Ryan said:
...btw there will not be a next years mazdaspeed protege, supposidly the word on the street is it'll be either a rotory miata or turbocharged miata, but its definatelly gonna be a msmx5.

Well, I guess I could be SOL. Is there any validity to this or is it just rumors right now?
 
rumor mill, there still be protege's that haven't sold, but there isn't supposed to be a release of 04 msp protege, it supposed to be a diff mazdaspeed car, and from what i understand the miata is it, but i dont know what they'll do i always though they'd supercharge the miata but guy at dealership says turbocharge adn another guy at dealership has his money on a rotory....
 
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