Big Eldorado
Member
- :
- Protege es 2002
Its been 5 years of Mazdaspeed3 ownership. Its been 5 years of mostly pleasing experiences with my MS3. Although with any machine there will be small issues to overcome.
I start his thread because I've seen a bunch of post in the recent while on a few forums of ppl wary of high km Mazdaspeed products.
The car now has 165'000 kms on it. I picked it up used with 35'000 kms and got to tinkering. Its been a slow process, due to lack of funding and also and obsessive need to know as much as possible before making another change to my daily driver. Last thing I need is a paper weight.
Mod List;
Corksport HPFP, full SRI, D/P, Racepipe (stock catback), Rear motor mount
Torq motorsports PCV fix for smoking turbo
Koni yellows with H/R springs and whiteline sway bars.
Enkie rims with some kind of mich' tires I forget which model cuz I don't care
Hypertech tune
To Do;
FMIC
Maybe COBB A/P tune and new corksport turbo?? I dunno seems kinda expensive for a grocery getter. Maybe if I blow the K04
Other small fun things, maybe tranny mounts or short throw shifter. Something to keep me busy on a Saturday afternoon
I state all this and then can also state this car has been fantastic to me. Its always turned on, always gotten me to work.
Sure there has been some issue. The suspension damn near fell out of the car. And it was awful to begin with. It rode like a hay wagon and didn't give you much positive feel in terms of what the damn car was about to do in a corner. Enter the new suspension setup. Still rides like a hay wagon but wow can it do things I didn't think were possible. Drive it properly and it will drift in some corners for you.
And there were other things such as the smoking turbo. It took a considerable amount of time and effort to solve this. In the end it was a 30$ part http://damnfastdd.com/Products/Show/Mazda+DIZI+2.3+Turbo+PCV+Fix
You should always expect you're going to have issues once you start changing the original design of a machine. No matter what machine that might be.
Some take it very well. I'd say the Mazdaspeed products, when proper supporting mods are installed, turn out to be very reliable and fast machines. Keeping in mind you must treat this thing like its a turbo'd car because it is.
With each mod the car felt better. Faster, more fuel efficient in some cases. Or in the case of the D/P and R/P (both cats deleted) it felt like the car went through puberty. All of a sudden its voice got deeper. Not louder, just deeper. Let the other kids on the playground know this one isn't to be ****** with. And the power out of that mod was hilariously good. Felt like I did an engine swap or something.
I can say this car is definitely a great one as long as you treat it with respect. Hopefully it will continue to serve me well, I'd love to put another 150'000 kms on it with the stock K04 just to prove all the nay-say'ers wrong (who don't actually own a MS3)
I figure another 5 years and an AWD 2017 Mazdaspeed3 will be for sale used at a dealership somewhere. Then who knows, retire the 2007 1st gen to sunny days and a Big Turbo setup?
(nana)(nana)
I start his thread because I've seen a bunch of post in the recent while on a few forums of ppl wary of high km Mazdaspeed products.
The car now has 165'000 kms on it. I picked it up used with 35'000 kms and got to tinkering. Its been a slow process, due to lack of funding and also and obsessive need to know as much as possible before making another change to my daily driver. Last thing I need is a paper weight.
Mod List;
Corksport HPFP, full SRI, D/P, Racepipe (stock catback), Rear motor mount
Torq motorsports PCV fix for smoking turbo
Koni yellows with H/R springs and whiteline sway bars.
Enkie rims with some kind of mich' tires I forget which model cuz I don't care
Hypertech tune
To Do;
FMIC
Maybe COBB A/P tune and new corksport turbo?? I dunno seems kinda expensive for a grocery getter. Maybe if I blow the K04
Other small fun things, maybe tranny mounts or short throw shifter. Something to keep me busy on a Saturday afternoon
I state all this and then can also state this car has been fantastic to me. Its always turned on, always gotten me to work.
Sure there has been some issue. The suspension damn near fell out of the car. And it was awful to begin with. It rode like a hay wagon and didn't give you much positive feel in terms of what the damn car was about to do in a corner. Enter the new suspension setup. Still rides like a hay wagon but wow can it do things I didn't think were possible. Drive it properly and it will drift in some corners for you.
And there were other things such as the smoking turbo. It took a considerable amount of time and effort to solve this. In the end it was a 30$ part http://damnfastdd.com/Products/Show/Mazda+DIZI+2.3+Turbo+PCV+Fix
You should always expect you're going to have issues once you start changing the original design of a machine. No matter what machine that might be.
Some take it very well. I'd say the Mazdaspeed products, when proper supporting mods are installed, turn out to be very reliable and fast machines. Keeping in mind you must treat this thing like its a turbo'd car because it is.
With each mod the car felt better. Faster, more fuel efficient in some cases. Or in the case of the D/P and R/P (both cats deleted) it felt like the car went through puberty. All of a sudden its voice got deeper. Not louder, just deeper. Let the other kids on the playground know this one isn't to be ****** with. And the power out of that mod was hilariously good. Felt like I did an engine swap or something.
I can say this car is definitely a great one as long as you treat it with respect. Hopefully it will continue to serve me well, I'd love to put another 150'000 kms on it with the stock K04 just to prove all the nay-say'ers wrong (who don't actually own a MS3)
I figure another 5 years and an AWD 2017 Mazdaspeed3 will be for sale used at a dealership somewhere. Then who knows, retire the 2007 1st gen to sunny days and a Big Turbo setup?
(nana)(nana)
