MSM ads!

Black Majik MSP

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2003.5 Titanium Gray MSP #1699
I got my issue of Motor Trend the other day & this full page ad was on one of the first few pages:

http://www.milispeed.com/steele/Mazda/MSM.jpg

Then today I got my Road & Track, which had the same ad in the same location. They also had a First Drive article on it (with the 1st pics of Titanium I've seen!):

http://www.milispeed.com/steele/Mazda/RnT_MSM.jpg

It says they have more pics on their site, but I checked & found none. I did find out that they are giving one away.

RT_300x250_mazda.jpg


This is the link for the contest info:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/zoom/

Now for my rant...
Maybe I'm the only one, but I find the recent wave of Mazda 3 ads (these things are literally EVERYWHERE) & now these MSM ads to be very upsetting. The MSP was Mazda's first Mazdaspeed car in the US & we hardly got any kind of advertising at all & most of the stuff we did get was only when the 03s came out. I'm sure those would have sold out just fine, but then Mazda decided to introduce the 2003.5, which more than tripled the total # of MSPs. IMO, they should have accompanied this move with advertising similar to the 3 & MSM stuff I've described. I have no idea why, but they failed to do so & as a result, Mazda dealers across the US were stuck with MSPs sitting on the lot, which lead some of the dealerships to slash the prices in a desperate attempt to sell them. While this may have been beneficial to some who were lucky to get a great deal, the end result was that most major tuners decided against producing parts for the MSP because of its limited production status & the double talk coming from Mazda itself: compare the attitude of the MSM Road & Track ad with the attitude you find at a typical Mazda dealership (after you bought the car & you drive it hard or mod it) or MazdaUSA (regarding Mazdaspeed's pseudo-role as an aftermarket tuning division like Mopar). MazdaUSA even features a modded P5 on their site (http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=perTunerProfile10), but I doubt you'd receive the same admiration if you took a similarly modded car (especially an MSP, which was supposedly designed to appeal to people just like that) to a dealer. To top it all off, I look at the MSM & I get the feeling that Mazda put a lot of effort into making this a great car whereas the MSP owners got the shaft (to a degree). Don't get me wrong, I still love my MSP, but the MSM's MSRP is only $4500 more than the 03.5 & it seems to me like they get a whole lot more car for the $$.
 
eh, who knows what the real reasons were ? maybe they advertise the 3s like crazy 'cause they're really desperate for sales as a new car, whereas the protege was voted to be the best value car for the past 9 years or something. and the MSM got a lot of ads because it carries that legendary miata name and spirit. it was voted top 10best in car and driver when it was introduced, and again in 1998 when it was redesigned. or maybe the advertising manager got replaced and was told to just start getting out the word as much as possible for the new products. the MSM has a lot of things that the MSP doesn't, and vice versa. the MSP was based on an economy car, while the MSM is based on a sports car. i guess mazda went the other way w/ the MSP in terms of applying performance (seeking callaway to do the job) was because mazda didn't do enough development on the FS motor. they don't have a turbo FS in japan, do they ? but for years, there were many variants of the BP series motor, with turbo. so mazda did the in-house tuning instead of going outside. i saw a few ads for the MSP back in '03. yeah...kinda stupid how there wasn't enough word spread around about teh MSP
 
yeah the in-house development for the MSM definitely made it so affordable (turbo versions of the BP motor has been available in other markets already, so the initial R&D has already been done)

i must resist temptation! RX-8 or bust!!!!1!
 
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i think he means he's taking delivery soon.

as for the intercooler, it's small and out in the front, but at least it doesn't have plastic endtanks and is placed where it should be ! i'm pretty sure the denso intercooler is a lil' better than the stoc MSP one
 
I just got Car and Driver in the mail today and there is a 3 page article on the MSM. Also titanium! Probably the same car since most of the magazines are by the same publisher.

0-60 - 6.7 secs
1/4 mile - 15.2 secs

Not too shabby! :D
 
Black Majik MSP said:
WTF does that mean? :confused:
ok, I'm a couple hours early , but here ya go...

Want to see some cool pictures of what I got to do today? Mazdaspeeds EVERYWHERE!

http://www.digitex.net/ecarter/MSM/Mazdaspeed.html

Don't mind that pesky rotary in the middle there...

Yeah, if I had any doubts about wanting one, those are gone!

good thing I ordered mine back in November.. Whew....

Shoudl have mine by the end of the month, today I just got to go play...

-Eric
 
rx7gslse said:
Don't mind that pesky rotary in the middle there...
Pesky...(rofl2)

Shoudl have mine by the end of the month, today I just got to go play...

-Eric

Lucky dawg....when you get it, you wanna get together and tear up Central Texas?? :D
 
he got the invite because he already pre-ordered his MSM.

yeah that looks like a bit of body roll there ;)
 
People might argue and say im smoking the pipe but I saw a titanium msm in its buck-tooth glory running around town. Me likes alot.
 
jflo said:
eh, who knows what the real reasons were ? maybe they advertise the 3s like crazy 'cause they're really desperate for sales as a new car, whereas the protege was voted to be the best value car for the past 9 years or something. (snip)....
The Mazda3 is selling quite well actually. Mazda is not deperate there.
 
yeah, the Launch manager for the MS Mx5 worked with the Mazda3 as well.. He siad they're selling them quicker than they had ever expected.

here's a little writeup I pu together on the day and how I got to be out there..
http://www.digitex.net/ecarter/MSM/MSM.html

That picture you posted there with all teh body roll was done trying to kick the tail around for good photos. It'll lean if you make it. It's still a factory car, not on coil overs or anything ;)
 
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