KeizerSpeed3
Member
Has anyone considered filing a claim against Mazda for falsely advertising the HP of the MS3?
I have an '08.5 MS3 and have always felt that the car didn't have the power in the lower 3 gears that it should have. I knew that there was some torque management stuff going on, but until recently didn't know how much.
From what I could find searching the net, the estimated peak Engine (not wheel) HP in gears 1-3 is:
1st gear: ~170HP
2nd gear: ~225HP
3rd gear: ~238HP
As a result, it's not until 5,500 rpm in 4th gear that we actually see the full 263HP that's advertised. That turns out to be at 85mph.
So, Mazda is advertising a 263HP car that can not achieve that power rating legally on any public road.
If my memory is correct, there was a lawsuit in Ohio for a similar reason that resulted in lawnmowers not being rated by HP any more. The basis of the lawsuit was that the HP ratings on lawnmower engines were the "peak" power ratings of the engines, which typically occurred at 5,500~6,000 rpm. But during operation of the lawnmower, the optimal blade speed was 3,600 rpm. Therefore the manufacturers were misleading the consumers as the peak horsepower was never achieved during the intended operation of the mower. If you check the local hardware store, you'll see that almost all mowers are now advertised by their torque rating.
Anyways, where I'm going with this is that it seems all of us MS3 owners have an opportunity to either return our cars and get our money back for false advertising, or force Mazda to offer an option to remove the power limiting in the first 3 gears.
I see a lot of members have spent thousands of $$ trying to boost the performance of their cars to essentially get around something that is intentionally limiting the power in the first place. The biggest and best single performance boost the MS3 could get would be to take the shackles off of the gears 1-3.
Anyone else agree?
I have an '08.5 MS3 and have always felt that the car didn't have the power in the lower 3 gears that it should have. I knew that there was some torque management stuff going on, but until recently didn't know how much.
From what I could find searching the net, the estimated peak Engine (not wheel) HP in gears 1-3 is:
1st gear: ~170HP
2nd gear: ~225HP
3rd gear: ~238HP
As a result, it's not until 5,500 rpm in 4th gear that we actually see the full 263HP that's advertised. That turns out to be at 85mph.
So, Mazda is advertising a 263HP car that can not achieve that power rating legally on any public road.
If my memory is correct, there was a lawsuit in Ohio for a similar reason that resulted in lawnmowers not being rated by HP any more. The basis of the lawsuit was that the HP ratings on lawnmower engines were the "peak" power ratings of the engines, which typically occurred at 5,500~6,000 rpm. But during operation of the lawnmower, the optimal blade speed was 3,600 rpm. Therefore the manufacturers were misleading the consumers as the peak horsepower was never achieved during the intended operation of the mower. If you check the local hardware store, you'll see that almost all mowers are now advertised by their torque rating.
Anyways, where I'm going with this is that it seems all of us MS3 owners have an opportunity to either return our cars and get our money back for false advertising, or force Mazda to offer an option to remove the power limiting in the first 3 gears.
I see a lot of members have spent thousands of $$ trying to boost the performance of their cars to essentially get around something that is intentionally limiting the power in the first place. The biggest and best single performance boost the MS3 could get would be to take the shackles off of the gears 1-3.
Anyone else agree?
