False Horsepower Rating

[Saskatchewan17]

I'm tellin' you man, punch it from a roll and wave buh-bye to those civics, gtis, evos, stis, 350zs and the like.

 

[Nismothecat]

Sorry, guys.
I've been away on business this week and just got back into town.

Several people have questioned whether or not it was serious or not..... the answer is 50/50 yes and no.

I knew that in general more would disagree than agree, but on the other hand it still pisses me off that a car manufacturer doesn't have to provide full disclosure.
As I said when I bought the car, I knew there was some power limiting in 1st and 2nd gears, but honestly, I thought it would still deliver over 200 hp in each gear.
A buddy at work has a an '07 Golf GTI with a 6-speed Manual, and I gotta say that up to 60 it feels like it pulls just as hard as my Speed3. I thought the MS3 should have been able to leave his ass in the dust.

Again, the point is that Mazda sold a lot of these cars by prominently advertising the 63HP advantage it had over the Civic SI and GTI. In most real world driving, the power advantage just isn't there.

How could you not agree that it should have been documented somewhere in the Mazda literature exactly what we were buying?

What if you bought a High Def TV and found that it ran in normal resolution from 8:00AM to Noon every day, because the manufacturer decided you just don't need that much High Def?

to be honest with a fwd car i dont think you will get much faster to 60 than an MS3. there is so much wheelspin in the first 2 gears that with all 263 hp you would probably be slower.

 

[MikeHTally]

The motor delivers 263 hp +/- at 5,500 rpm. No one makes that claim as wheel horsepower. A top-fuel dragster makes more ponies at the crank than it puts on the ground.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Again, the point is that Mazda sold a lot of these cars by prominently advertising the 63HP advantage it had over the Civic SI and GTI. In most real world driving, the power advantage just isn't there.

I don't know how you drive, but in every day driving I DEFINITELY feel the power this car can deliver. At times I've felt like it's too much, but that's only when my wife is in the car, or other people and I don't want to scare them. 0-60 is pretty unimportant to me because any "racing" that I do involves downshifting on the freeway and shutting up the civic or scion that keeps trying to show me up. But as far as 0-60, speed 3's ARE quicker than the SI and GTI. I guess I can see your point about being misled because of the power restrictions, but honestly, it is definitely for the better and Mazda has never tried to hide the fact that they've programmed the ECU that way. Like others have said, find a straight road and floor it in 2nd gear and I don't see how you could feel disappointed.

 

[gonerogue]

...
As I said when I bought the car, I knew there was some power limiting in 1st and 2nd gears, but honestly, I thought it would still deliver over 200 hp in each gear.
A buddy at work has a an '07 Golf GTI with a 6-speed Manual, and I gotta say that up to 60 it feels like it pulls just as hard as my Speed3. I thought the MS3 should have been able to leave his ass in the dust.

Again, the point is that Mazda sold a lot of these cars by prominently advertising the 63HP advantage it had over the Civic SI and GTI. In most real world driving, the power advantage just isn't there....

You're talking out of your ass. Your butt dyno is not reflective of real world tests and analysis. First gear gets to about 25 MPH before you have to shift, second gear is still 20-25 more HP than the GTI and as far as I know, 3rd gear does not have boost limited. The 0-60 on a stock manual GTI is probably a second or more slower than the MS3. Does he have mods on his GTI?

You're right if you don't feel the power advantage in most real world driving because you should be shifting at around 3k at that point, which is about where the boost is really taking off, but you should understand that caveat if you have this car. If you do a lot of highway merging, then you should feel the power advantage in the MS3 over just about any other car in its class.

I just thought about this, but...if you don't feel the TORQUE difference between the MS3 and a Civic SI, something is either wrong with you or with your car.

 

[KeizerSpeed3]

Guys, I still don't understand why the majority of posts either:
A) Attack me personally, or
B) Defend that Mazda shouldn't have to disclose the actual HP in each gear, or
C) That whatever power the car makes is "plenty".

A) How and why does attacking me personally make you feel better about yourself?

B) When we paid for the car, believe me, they made sure we accounted for every dollar we handed over. If we either tried to withhold some of the payment, or information about our financial situation, Mazda would not be defending you.

C) If the factory power is so tremendous, then why does Mazda itself (not to mention COBB, AEM, etc..) offer so many power upgrade parts that most guys on this board have purchased. If you put some RX-8 18x8 wheels on the front with some drag radials and want to go to the local dragstrip, there should be a way to defeat the power limiter, as that setup will easily handle the extra power. If you don't believe you can personally handle the extra power in the lower gears, that's fine, but why tell someone else that they can't?? What are you, a Democrat?

 

[oaklandopen]

Guys, I still don't understand why the majority of posts either:
A) Attack me personally, or
B) Defend that Mazda shouldn't have to disclose the actual HP in each gear, or
C) That whatever power the car makes is "plenty".

A) you're on a public forum that is full of ppl who will either help you or put you down (the ones that put you down tend to reply and type faster)

B) does your big mac EVER look like this one when you buy one from mcdonalds?



C) 263hp IS plenty for a FWD car. it's up to the driver to learn how to optimize the power to get the numbers they want (0-60, 1/4 mile, around autoX)

 

[gonerogue]

Guys, I still don't understand why the majority of posts either:
A) Attack me personally, or
B) Defend that Mazda shouldn't have to disclose the actual HP in each gear, or
C) That whatever power the car makes is "plenty".

A) How and why does attacking me personally make you feel better about yourself?

B) When we paid for the car, believe me, they made sure we accounted for every dollar we handed over. If we either tried to withhold some of the payment, or information about our financial situation, Mazda would not be defending you.

C) If the factory power is so tremendous, then why does Mazda itself (not to mention COBB, AEM, etc..) offer so many power upgrade parts that most guys on this board have purchased. If you put some RX-8 18x8 wheels on the front with some drag radials and want to go to the local dragstrip, there should be a way to defeat the power limiter, as that setup will easily handle the extra power. If you don't believe you can personally handle the extra power in the lower gears, that's fine, but why tell someone else that they can't?? What are you, a Democrat?

A) How and why does attacking me personally make you feel better about yourself?

What are you, a Democrat?

Just thought I'd point out some irony.

You are not being attacked personally. Your idea to start a class action lawsuit is being attacked as frivolous and baseless. I said that you were talking out of your ass as a lead in to the butt dyno anecdote you provided. Do I know why Mazda limited boost in 1st and 2nd? No, you'd have to ask a Mazda engineer for that. However, I could hazard a guess that it's due to safety and comfortable driving.

If you're looking to drag race and take full advantage of all boost, run different tires, stress parts, etc., then you should go the whole 9 yards and void your warranty by fiddling with the ECU as you see fit. You are more than welcome to do that, no one is stopping you, but you will not receive support from Mazda for going that route.

The fact that you say you can't feel a difference between a MS3, Civic SI, and GTI in normal driving is borderline laughable. To me, that statement alone reduces the weight of your statements. I hope a mod locks this thread.

 

[GoFast]

done