I drove the MSP!

The MSP kicks butt for the price range.
I drove it at the MNOA facility in Irvine CA.
Over the radio, the ride and drive director told us to take a quick left, right at 30mph.
I hit it at 45 with three other guys in the car and pulled off a scary slideways drift transition through both turns. Thought I might hit the curb for a moment but looked smooth to the other guys who didn't know that I soiled the silk panties I'd borrowed from my wife.
Just skidding about the panties!
I get three of these to sell this year and three more next year.
The MSP handles better than my WRX did stock and had a lot less turbo lag than a stock WRX.

Why is it that everyone who test this car had to have other people in the car? I think it would be much better to go out rip it up by my self....., guess I'm just greedy like that.
Anyway great to hear that you liked the car, another point for the MSP.........

what is the power difference from your stock wrx, to the mazdapseeds power

lots of detaillsss?

MSP vs WRX

The power difference...
WRX has serious turbo lag 'til you get to about 4000 rpm stock or about 3600 now that I have a Stromung exaust then, serious powerband!
MSP, now don't forget that I had three other full grown guys in the car but, the car pulls strong from the start without a major clutch dump from a few thousand rpms and made steady, tourqey power 'till just before redline where it kind of flatenned out a bit.
Handling differences...
Stock WRX has a bit of understeer in power on sweepers and SERIOUS lift throttle oversteer which is fun but was mostly cured by better tires and wheels.
MSP, perhaps glued to the ground by all the ballast but, had the most pleasant neutral drift when pushed too hard and moderate understeer in full throttle sweepers. Turn in was scary fast and there was a string of 4 cars doing pretend tire warming slaloms on all the boring in town straightaways.
All of us raved for the rest of the day including the flight back to Phoenix. My service manager who was in the back seat during most of the scary stuff swore that they must have "custom tuned" some special toe in or something to make them handle so well.
Let me know if that answers your question or not.

thanx for the info, sicne you got to drive it does it feel powerful like your wrx, or weaker? did you have any problems with the shifting? and does the turbo feel like it gives it real good power?

How many clicks were on the car?
How does it sound altogether, exhaust, engine, stereo?
What's the color like in person?
How are the brakes? Touchy?
Throttle response?

Thanks.

lots of qeustions..some answers..

Power- less overall than WRX
Shifting- tighter than WRX (before the Kartboy shifter mod.)
Turbo power- MSP has less power but its more consistant, less peaky, less laggy.
Miles on car- a few hundred but not fully broken in I'd bet.
Sound- quietly rumbly at idle with a nice mellow gerbert as you romp through the rpms.
Stereo- 10 times better than the piece of crap in the WRX! Maybe a hundred times better. This car has a real stereo with range and bump. It was designed to inspire the young tuner crowd while the ICE in the WRX might as well be a boombox velcroed to the dash. Six disc is no big deal if it sounds like crap. I listen to it in town but out on the road, I turn it off and listen to the music of the boxer and the wheezer. If you open up the intake and exhaust on the WRX it makes the most lovely sounds when stomped through the gears.
I'm sure the MSP would sound great opened up a bit but it would sound different from the boxer, maybe not better or worse just different.
Throttle response- better by far at lower RPMs than the WRX, worse by a good margin at higher RPMs but don't forget the three other dudes I had for ballast!
I've never crammed that many pounds of pork into my go cart and hammered.
Hope that helps...
Brakes- not touchy at all. Strong with great modulation. Again, I tried them with a full load of guys and they were strong. Maybe they would have been touchier without all the people.
Color- impossible to do justice with words, just the a photo can't do justice!
This paint is deep like a show car old fashioned layer upon layer laquer job!
Black- almost color changing as you view it from different angles. Black with silver sheen sort of metal flecks. Like a black girl with silver shimmer makeup.. well, not really but that's an image that poped into my head.
Orange- goes from orange with silver flakes to orange with a yellow shimmer to orange with gold shimmer and back and forth all day.
One thing I know for sure, when the car hits my showroom floor (if they aren't sold before they get there) NOBODY will be able to say that I exagerated about the paint quality (or anything else.)

Great review, man, thanks for the details. Only one step left, Mazda...give me my damn car!

I (will) have two...

I have two unspoken for if you want to put a hold on one.
You know the delay excuse rumors as well as I do probably!
Also, I'm trying to be fair about the price unlike most of my colleagues...

wrex!

Thanks for the great info. You've given me more info I'm interested in than what I've managed to gather from all my readings on the web and mags writeups.

So that orange looks much better in person I gather?! You wouldn't by chance seen a Mazda Titanium grey too did you on another car? =]

One more question I have for you if you don't mind.

When you lift off the throttle, does the engine rev down in response immediately or is there a slight lag because of the turbo? I tried the Golf 1.8T GTI and found it extremely annoying with it's lag in reving down which really screws up your ability to do quick upshifts. You would end up having to wait a little bit between upshifts to do it smoothly.

Thanks again.

I tried the Golf 1.8T GTI and found it extremely annoying with it's lag in reving down which really screws up your ability to do quick upshifts

Click to expand...

that's a VW thing. welcome to the wonderful world of Drive-by-wire. most cars dont do that because they use cable throttles, the 1.8t VW's use a signal from the gas pedal, sent to the ECU, then the ECU opens/closes the throttle body. that's what's causing the lag your feeling.

it sucks. every time i get into a drive-by-cable car i feel all retarded and end up coming off the throttle incorrectly because i'm used to my drive-by-wire.

oh well, soon enough i'll have an MSP and wont have that problem =D

Not a VW guy but,

I drive a cable throttle car but I think the best solution to your upshift problem would be the "blip."
Quickly mash the throttle and release a split second before the upshift and the synchros should all love each other and slip right in.

Wrex man the way you discribed the MSP gave me chills. That was some great detail. You need to write for porn mags or something cause that was some great stuff.

if i was closer to phoenix, i'd definitely get my car from you wrex. most of the dealers on the eastern seaboard are wanting to price these outrageously.
so is there any word yet when they'll be shipping? my dealer here already has the invoices for the new 6 that won't be here till december, and they were indicating that it might be that long before we see the car.

ahaha thats funny pa mp3

iain.......up here in CT they are only charging msrp not too close, but closer than AZ

iain said:

if i was closer to phoenix, i'd definitely get my car from you wrex. most of the dealers on the eastern seaboard are wanting to price these outrageously.
so is there any word yet when they'll be shipping? my dealer here already has the invoices for the new 6 that won't be here till december, and they were indicating that it might be that long before we see the car.

Click to expand...

wrex,
now that I've found this post/thread, I know who you are. thanks for the PM, hope this clarifies things. Did you say how much you'll be selling your MSP's for? MSRP is $20,500. I'm hoping that as a Fleet Manager you'll not incur dealer included costs. I've heard as much as 3K over MSRP.

Excellent posts you posted. Glad you also described the black mica MSP - that's the one I want. any idea when you'll get delivery?

ours are not suppose to be any over msrp price

interior

Did you happen to notice if it had adjustable shoulder belts? I don't want to throw this thing around and have it cut the circulation off in my neck! :'( How is the interior in general?