Hello all! I am a proud new owner of a 2008 Mazdaspeed3 GT, in velocity red. I have been a reader of these forums for over two years, and vowed to become involved when I purchased a Mazdaspeed3.
The good:
For the LI / NY area, the car is very clean, only a few nicks and dings, but nothing major. It shows no evidence of modifications (good in my opinion). I got it at a great price and am already in love with the vehicle. The power increase over my Protege5 is downright addicting, and I am loving driving my first manual transmission.
The bad (ok not so bad):
CEL came on <50 miles out of the dealer. I took it over to Pep Boys and it was a P0401 code, which after doing a little research does not seem to be a huge deal. The code was cleared and hasn't come back on in 600 miles. If it comes back I will consider cleaning out the carbon build up.
The ugly:
One of the small cosmetic flaws was a small crack in the passenger side view mirror outer plastic cover. It didn't look so bad to me, but at some point today on my commute home, the outer plastic cover flew off. I didn't see it happen, and didn't notice it was missing until I returned back home after going to the grocery store. I retraced my "steps" back to the grocery store and home again, and I could not find it smashed or on the side of the road. My commute was all highway and there is little to no chance of me finding it. Although this is a very minor problem I am super bummed.
So my options as I see them:
1.) Pray that someone on these forums did some sort of carbon fiber replacement and has a velocity red side view mirror laying around, and wants to make a little bit of cash for it.
2.) Pay for a primered OEM mirror assembly (~ $125) and have it professionally painted.
3.) Find a junkyard velocity red ms3 (unlikely).
I would really appreciate any other ideas I may have overlooked- I am really frustrated since I literally purchased this wonderful car 1 week ago.
I would really prefer not to pay for a whole new mirror assembly, pay extra to have it painted and spend a few hours replacing it when the whole mirror is functional with the exception of the missing plastic. Additionally I do not want to waste my time looking at junkyards since this is a limited production vehicle.
Thanks for the help!
The good:
For the LI / NY area, the car is very clean, only a few nicks and dings, but nothing major. It shows no evidence of modifications (good in my opinion). I got it at a great price and am already in love with the vehicle. The power increase over my Protege5 is downright addicting, and I am loving driving my first manual transmission.
The bad (ok not so bad):
CEL came on <50 miles out of the dealer. I took it over to Pep Boys and it was a P0401 code, which after doing a little research does not seem to be a huge deal. The code was cleared and hasn't come back on in 600 miles. If it comes back I will consider cleaning out the carbon build up.
The ugly:
One of the small cosmetic flaws was a small crack in the passenger side view mirror outer plastic cover. It didn't look so bad to me, but at some point today on my commute home, the outer plastic cover flew off. I didn't see it happen, and didn't notice it was missing until I returned back home after going to the grocery store. I retraced my "steps" back to the grocery store and home again, and I could not find it smashed or on the side of the road. My commute was all highway and there is little to no chance of me finding it. Although this is a very minor problem I am super bummed.
So my options as I see them:
1.) Pray that someone on these forums did some sort of carbon fiber replacement and has a velocity red side view mirror laying around, and wants to make a little bit of cash for it.
2.) Pay for a primered OEM mirror assembly (~ $125) and have it professionally painted.
3.) Find a junkyard velocity red ms3 (unlikely).
I would really appreciate any other ideas I may have overlooked- I am really frustrated since I literally purchased this wonderful car 1 week ago.
I would really prefer not to pay for a whole new mirror assembly, pay extra to have it painted and spend a few hours replacing it when the whole mirror is functional with the exception of the missing plastic. Additionally I do not want to waste my time looking at junkyards since this is a limited production vehicle.
Thanks for the help!
