Finally Got The Msp In Houston!!!

OK, we just got the MSP at Clear Lake Mazda. One orange and one black. Got to drive it before anyone at the dealership, hasn't been PDI-ed but oh well who cares. I thought that it had pleanty of power and was fun for the 2 miles I got to drive it =). Hopefully on Monday it will get PDI done to it and I will get to drive it a lil more to see what the steering and suspension can do.

Anyone else in Houston got the MSP yet???

I want to buy one, thought the price was really good, both are sitting at $20,500 sticker.

Good stuff, although if I were to purchase a MSP, or any other new car for that matter, I wouldn't want anyone driving it before I got my hands on it and gave it a proper break-in. I've read some accounts of people test driving a MSP and taking it to redline on every shift, and that's just wrong.

There should be a couple km's on the odo from transport loading/off loading, etc, but nothing else. It's not new if it's been ragged on, and I shouldn't have to pay full price if it has.

Adding my "for what it's worth" also as a mazda technician, part of a proper pdi is a test drive, Just who do you blame when after delivery you notice something is wrong? The first people that get reamed are the service department. I.E. the tech that did the pre-delivery inspection. If there is not at least 5-10 miles on a car at delivery then you have to ask was the car properly checked out prior to delivery. In a perfect world your Idea would be great. And in my career I have never seen or heard of damage resulting from a test drive. Now do you think ALL technicians do what you stated? I think not............. Keep in mind we have to obey traffic laws also. One thing a technician keeps in mind while doing his job is how is the customer going to drive the car. Now that is no excuse to drive one as you stated, however it should be confirmed that the vehicle is going to perform as it is designed to. Just my 02.

Forgive my blanket generalization. You're quite right, I'm sure not ALL techs abuse the car during delivery inspection. It just pisses me off that some do, I guess.

I don't agree with doing the check in the same manner as the tech thinks the customer will drive the car. Just because I'm going to autocross my new car, and beat on it now and then does not mean it should be done in the PDI.

What's the point of the whole break-in period if some guy goes and revs the s*** out of the car before I even get it? I'm not supposed to take it above 4K for the first 1000 kms, but the tech does in the first 10? Seems a like a double standard, to me.

I understand that the customer complains to the service people when he or she discovers a problem with the car. That's the essence of the customer/tech relationship, isn't it?

I dont Know what it is you do for a living, however part of our job is to insure that the customer NEVER has a problem, the "escence" as you put it is the introduction under more friendly terms. about 99% of the techs are not going to "beat the s*** out of it". Have you ever heard the term "walk a mile in my shoes". standing on our side of the counter and seeing complaints on the net are not what we as technicians look forward to. Part of the satisfaction of our job is seeing customers happy, sending referral's to us with there questions, keeping customer happy, and fixing it right the first time should something go wrong. Do a little research on youre part, you will find that test driving the car not abusively but as it was intended has NEVER caused any excessive wear, damage, problems, It does'nt matter what car line, the vehicle should be test driven prior to delivery, caddy test drive for smoothness, excessive noise, msp driven not in a manner in which you say that you would drive it, however as I stated before, it has be checked for potential problems, I with out a doubt expect that if you stood behind the counter listening to customer such as yourself raising hell because something broke you would completely see the other side of the coin. And what about the people that slam the manufacture and or dealer for a failure under which they have no control... I.E.solo2 or any form of racing. In a perfect world you're idea would work. Is it proper for the tech to drive the car and then you take the car out and "beat the s***" brand new. NO. think about what you said. damage can be done by abuse.............

The 'complaints being the "essence" of the customer/tech relationship' part was pretty much a joke, hence the

That said, I completely understand what you are saying. I'm a student and a furniture salesman, so I'm familiar with the desire for satisfied customers.

I do not think that simply test driving the car will cause any problems. That isn't what I wrote, but perhaps that is the meaning you took from it. I was referring to techs or other dealership employees driving the car HARD before a proper break-in. My original post arose from someone's previous post about test driving an MSP and taking it to redline on every shift.

If I autocross my car after a proper break-in period and something breaks, Mazda should be responsible for fixing it. Nothing on a new car should break during an autocross. The only parts autocross should be harder on are the tires and wheel bearings.

But then, I know a lot of people who drive very aggressively on the street, which is just as hard on their car as autocross would be, if not harder because of things like broken pavement, etc.

As for me taking my new car out and beating the s*** out of it, you have once again misconstrued my meaning. I would not drive my car hard until after a proper break-in period, and then some. So why should some tech rag on it before hand?

I have already apologized for my original generalization of dealer techs. Certainly they don't all beat on customer's cars. But, some do. I've had experiences with this in the past. Potential customers doing test drives ALSO beat on cars. All before break-in. What's up with that?

First of all manufacture warranty (i dont care if is a couch or a bulldozer) does not cover damage as a result of use other than what it was intended. IF my new couch breaks because it can't standup under 15,000 lbs of weight, is that warranty? It's called misuse. Why should there be any warranty on any thing that is used for other than what it is designed for? You also stated that the only items loaded under "racing" conditions, are the tires and wheel bearings, what about every thing else? Clutch, transmission, brakes, suspension bushings, ball joints, struts/shocks, squeeks and rattles caused by chassis flex, Is there any reason why these items should be warranty because it used for racing? Manufacture did'nt sell it as a "race" car, couch manufacture did'nt sell me the couch Knowing I was going to use it in the circus for elephants to sit on. Both generalizations are not very real world, nether is warranty beyond what is normal wear and tear. I guess things are done different north of the border, will you warranty that couch? Take it easy eh.

Indeed, there are obviously more parts under stress during an autocross than simply the tires and bearings.

Either way, what do you suppose all that fancy suspension and all the other goodies on the MSP are designed for? Definitely not grocery-getting. This is a car that is meant to be DRIVEN. It was designed with young car enthusiasts in mind, and what do young car enthusiasts do? They race, whether it's illegal street racing, drag racing, autocross, etc.

If I sell a sofa that was designed to function wonderfully as a seat for elephants, I should expect some of my customers to use it as such. A lot of my customers won't, though, so it will probably balance out.

Besides, warranties don't generally cover wear-and-tear items anyway, do they? These are the items that are impacted most by the stress of autocross, in my experience.

I know people who abuse their cars on a daily basis, either from lack of care or skill, slipping their clutches, forcing shifts, dropping the clutch, locking the brakes and flatspotting the tires, never changing the oil, etc.

I'm a lot nicer to my car than these people, even if I autocross. In my experience it's the people who autocross that maintain their cars the best with the most responsibility, while regular schmoes misuse their cars on a daily basis.

Mazda covers the schmoes' warranties, what about the autocrossers like me?

Madza covering "shmoes". Case in point, had customer with a popular roadster towed in, engine had 1 connecting rod hanging out of the block, was it covered? think about this, car still had the slicks on it. heavily modified for racing. receipt from towing company laying inthe pass seat. from? popular road racing track in the state. Had the oil system been modified for proper oil control under high "g" loads? no. engine lost oil pressure hence lack of lubrication at high rpm. my point is even though a vehicle may be set up closer to that of a speed racer than a caddy, due care and resposibility, common sense of the customer is required. most manufactures don't frown on club racing as long as the customer understands there are limitations in the design. and that damage as listed above is NOT warranteed against defect in materials and workmanship. The car above was not sold as a racecar. There are many stories that I have on this issue. It all goes to one simple rule of personal responsability. I have done solo2 in the past, its a-lot of fun however not in something under warranty, If you will read most warranty disclosers for cars/parts, racing voids warranty. eh Look for a club racing version of the miata soon, No creature comforts. What will the warranty be? who will be able to buy one? we'll see.

That example is the worst of the worst: a racer who modified the car AND someone who doesn't practice responsible car maintenance.

What about a person who competes in an unmodified, properly maintained car?

My current car is a Saturn, and when I autocrossed under warranty with the knowledge of my dealer, warranty work was done when required. The GM warranty also stated that racing voids the warranty, but my dealer was good enough to realize that my car was being more than properly maintained.

It sounds like your popular roadster customer was doing some road racing, or at least lapping on a road course. That type of use is much harder on a car than autocross, and I don't think that they can be equally classified as "racing."

Anyways, getting back to the topic... maztech, that i know of, there aren't any other Speeds running around Houston. Jeff Haas had the first one for sale in Htown(Black), but i think it's still sitting at the dealership.
I'm going to get mine through Jeff Haas. But, that won't be until March or April, and mine is going to be Orange. I looked hard at the black, it's just that I also want to show the car, and I hate the upkeep on black paint.
Good luck on your new purchase, I know I can't wait for mine!

Al

hi there mazdatech

do you have any insider tech knowledge of the clunk problems associated with the mp3 and whether or not they will persist on the msp as well? what about the tranny problems that a number of people have had?

also, I want to modify my car, if nothing else, then a BOV, and ideally a CAI or bigger IC or something, but I dont want to void my warranty. I would like to talk to my dealer to let them know that I want to conservatively modify the car, but want to do it right, and want them to still service it. Who can I talk to about this when I buy my car? a tech? or is it a waste of time as I will get nowhere. I want like autoxer to have a dealer that will work with me. Im not gonna get a boost controller and crank up the boost, and if i can stick with mazdaspeed warrantied mods then I will. But I want to be able to do things like better breathing in the engine that are simple and dont really affect the internals persay as much as upping the boost even if mazdaspeed doesnt come out with parts like a CAI and/or downpipe and bigger exhaust.

Do you think I can talk to the tech ahead of time and go in and talk to them or give them a call or something when Im going to mod my car, like when im going to install a CAI, and make sure ahead of time that he doesnt forsee that causing any problems......and then have them fix the car under warranty if something breaks? I am just so afraid of going in and having them point to a CAI or whatever and say, whats that doing there, that must be why your engine broke......

Does it hurt the dealership in any way to honor my warranty even if a mod hypothetically damaged the engine? I imagine warrantied repairs are billed to mazda corporate not the dealership......so wouldnt they, possibly in the interest of having a super happy enthusiast customer, be willling to work with me with regards to any mods?

Its always the position of the manufacture to warranty anything broken regardless of how it got broken, hell if it makes you feel better they even give you a new damn car if it breaks after the warranty is up. . I do believe that in my last reply that I also stated most manufacture don't frown on club racing and on and on, I do believe we are talking about to completely different set of issue's, I guess the best way to describe the difference is use and abuse. is use covered?yes, Is abuse covered? Maybe. Getting back to the issue of technician abuse, The first few units got hammered on by MANY techs, salespeople, and will never see a paying customer, Pre production units, Except for the unit at clear lake in houston that Mazdatechntown keeps beating the s*** out of. Racing provides a-lot of the technology that goes into the cars. Even those "noisy" bushings that some people are bitching about, these are the same type of bushings that the same exact people would be installing had the manufacture not had the same source do the modification. So many people crying. The protege5 and mp3 and msp are one hell of a bang for the buck, any one disagree? take it easy eh, Autoxer, I appolagize for sounding like I am defending mazdatechntown, just run across his post you were refering too, not very proffesional of him was it........ There is always that one percent. :wtf:

My friend, have you ever really heard the clunking problem at it's worse? It is a legit and enormous problem. We are not talking about some small squeaky seat that annoys some anal owner ever now and then. I can feel my car clunk through the seats, the shifter, and hear it over the radio. Don't downplay the clunk as something minor. That's %95 of the reason why we aren't getting it fixed ( Mechanics and dealers not taking it serious enough), meanwhile I'm on my 16th month with the problem, and I can't remember how many bushings I've had redone....actually, she's going in Thursday to get done again. And name another car that does it?

And as for Mechanics treating cars nice on test drives....that's bulls***. I wish all mechanics had your attitude so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Just went today to check out the new speed in town, and sure enough, I hear the mechanic talking about his "test Drive" and how he pulled 140kph in no time going from 3rd to fourth and flew passed some Honda........test drive huh...yeah right. Most mechanics are car guys. A new toy comes in, they want to play just like anyone would. Thankfully, that's not my car, and I hope the idiot got it out of his system before mine comes in.

BTW, did I mention Jeff Haas in Houston just got their second Speed in? An orange one. They floored the black one they had, because they didn't want it being abused by techs, salesman, or customers. So it just sits all pretty like in the front lobby.