I hate mine because of the hesitation. It's cool looking and has a lot of nice features, but that doesn't make up for it running like an old car that needs a tune up. I had the Flash done and it still does the same crap! I thought the slogan was "zoom zoom zoom", but it's more like "zoo-oo-ooo-oom, zoo-oo-oom." Seems like Mazda needs to get their sh_t together from seeing the results of the MSP and the RX-8.
Quality Of your MSP?
- Thread starter stree_wario
- Start date
There are a few known issues with the car that get brought up here quite often. I traded a 2001 Miata for this car and have not regretted for a second. The Miata has its fair share of issues as well.
I'd say VW and Mazda are neck and neck for poor dealer service. My wife has a '99 Jetta III which I've worked on mainly to avoid the dealer.
I test drove a new VW special edition Rabbit/Golf and was impressed with it overall but it was way too 'bling-bling' for me. Driving the regular GTI 1.8T was not fun... lots of turbo lag, poor handling, heavy feeling... just didn't like it.
I also drove a Mazda6s which was a really nice car but, was kind of big and overly practical. I test drove the MSP as sort of a laugh... The rear spoiler really turned me off but, I liked the rest of it. I've driven a few Protege's as rentals and was always surprised at the high level of quality and ride comfort.
The MSP not only had the high quality but, had a balanced, responsive driving quality that was intoxicating. I absolutely love driving this car. I like it better than my past 2 Miata's. It suits me and my driving style perfectly.
I'm getting the clunk and the hesitation fixed Tuesday. If that fixes it, I will have no complaints about the car. However, finding a good dealer can be the big issue. But, that's true for many/most car manufacturers.
I'd say VW and Mazda are neck and neck for poor dealer service. My wife has a '99 Jetta III which I've worked on mainly to avoid the dealer.
I test drove a new VW special edition Rabbit/Golf and was impressed with it overall but it was way too 'bling-bling' for me. Driving the regular GTI 1.8T was not fun... lots of turbo lag, poor handling, heavy feeling... just didn't like it.
I also drove a Mazda6s which was a really nice car but, was kind of big and overly practical. I test drove the MSP as sort of a laugh... The rear spoiler really turned me off but, I liked the rest of it. I've driven a few Protege's as rentals and was always surprised at the high level of quality and ride comfort.
The MSP not only had the high quality but, had a balanced, responsive driving quality that was intoxicating. I absolutely love driving this car. I like it better than my past 2 Miata's. It suits me and my driving style perfectly.
I'm getting the clunk and the hesitation fixed Tuesday. If that fixes it, I will have no complaints about the car. However, finding a good dealer can be the big issue. But, that's true for many/most car manufacturers.
Not Impressed, but hey....
Its a nice car, decent for the price. But quite disappointing also.
In the few short months that we have had it, the rear lip had to be put back on after starting to slip off due to the cheapo double-sided sticky crap that they used to attach it. They could have used something a little more stable.
The rotors are already rusting (the silver painted parts), where the ones on our other car that we painted ourselves (silver - looks the same as the MSP) have lasted 2+ years with no peeling or rusting.
Also, we have had the "flash" upgrade and although it got rid of most of the hesitation that we experienced in the beginning - it still hesitates. And we don't really notice more power at any point. But I guess if you had hesitation before and none after its going to feel more powerful.
The "snap your head back in the seat" that I expected in the test drive was totally not there, but I like that in 5th you can still feel it pull. Hopefully after some modification the levels of torque will be more noticeable. Sorry, but I want to feel it in the butt-dyno.
And my only interior complaint is that there is no clock unless the radio/cd is off. (unless one of you guys have figured out something I haven't)
Don't get me wrong, its a nice car and I like it. But, for being a brand new car, I sure have my complaints. We could have spend 5000 on a fixer-upper and spent the other 15K making it.... well you get the picture. Still nice to have all the "new car" ammenities, nothing like that new car smell
Its a nice car, decent for the price. But quite disappointing also.
In the few short months that we have had it, the rear lip had to be put back on after starting to slip off due to the cheapo double-sided sticky crap that they used to attach it. They could have used something a little more stable.
The rotors are already rusting (the silver painted parts), where the ones on our other car that we painted ourselves (silver - looks the same as the MSP) have lasted 2+ years with no peeling or rusting.
Also, we have had the "flash" upgrade and although it got rid of most of the hesitation that we experienced in the beginning - it still hesitates. And we don't really notice more power at any point. But I guess if you had hesitation before and none after its going to feel more powerful.
The "snap your head back in the seat" that I expected in the test drive was totally not there, but I like that in 5th you can still feel it pull. Hopefully after some modification the levels of torque will be more noticeable. Sorry, but I want to feel it in the butt-dyno.
And my only interior complaint is that there is no clock unless the radio/cd is off. (unless one of you guys have figured out something I haven't)
Don't get me wrong, its a nice car and I like it. But, for being a brand new car, I sure have my complaints. We could have spend 5000 on a fixer-upper and spent the other 15K making it.... well you get the picture. Still nice to have all the "new car" ammenities, nothing like that new car smell
Yes, check out the radio manual, because you can set it so that there is a clock. Or, if you're lazy, I can just tell you how to do it (If i remember correctly)
If you push and hold down the Menu button (4/8 or 3/6 button, i forget) for one sec, it'll bring up the menu you just scroll to the part where it says change display using the AM or FM button to change between menu items. When it comes to the change display option, hold down the >> button for one sec, and it'll allow you to change the settings so that you can have the clock showing. It also has this cool option where you can have it show the CD title tracks and everything, and you can change the overall display so that theres this car racing scene going on. read the manual and play around with it a bit.
If you push and hold down the Menu button (4/8 or 3/6 button, i forget) for one sec, it'll bring up the menu you just scroll to the part where it says change display using the AM or FM button to change between menu items. When it comes to the change display option, hold down the >> button for one sec, and it'll allow you to change the settings so that you can have the clock showing. It also has this cool option where you can have it show the CD title tracks and everything, and you can change the overall display so that theres this car racing scene going on. read the manual and play around with it a bit.
- :
- 2003.5 Titanium Mazdaspeed
stree_wario said:
It's not a Porsche so it's obviously a car of compromises. If you look around here and see the volume of posts per day talking about it, it should be obvious that Mazda has picked a really good set of compromises.
If you want to win drag races then you aren't looking in the right place (stock anyway)... think SRT-4.
Put a Titanium next to a silver SRT-4 (done this with a guy I know) though and see which one the average person is more interested in. Everyone who sees mine thinks it costs way more than it does.... I just plain looks good.
Try to find a better stock stereo.
And leaving the best for last: Take one for a drive and blow your mind with how fast you can take a right hand turn merge at a stop light or how fast you go without even thinking down your favourite back road.
i'm pretty happy with it...but i'm still missing the RWD of my miata... for some reason tho, the MSP doesn't feel as fast as the miata did...maybe it's 'cause it's too comfortable while the miata was kinda loud inside and very light. pushing the miata to the redline is way different from the protege. in the miata, you feel like you're going really fast and there's a surge feeling when passing about 5000 RPM...in the protege it feels almost laggy and i keep wondering how fast i'm going even though i'm flooring the damn thing
for some reason tho, the MSP doesn't feel as fast as the miata did...maybe it's 'cause it's too comfortable while the miata was kinda loud inside and very light. pushing the miata to the redline is way different from the protege. in the miata, you feel like you're going really fast and there's a surge feeling when passing about 5000 RPM...in the protege it feels almost laggy and i keep wondering how fast i'm going even though i'm flooring the damn thingDexter said:to fix the clock problem just install a carputer
Install a what....?
I played with the radio and the manual for a while when we first got it. I'll have to look again and try to fix it.
I read back and I was pretty harsh about the car, I didn't even mention suspension, which is great. And the stock stereo is best Ive seen so far. Like it was said before, I think it looks better than the WRX, SRT-4 and the SE-R V if you even want to go there.
And with the Miata thing, the miata is much smaller and lighter. Prob a lot to do with the more sluggish feel of the MSP. Just a guess.
Are they going to come out with the MSP 2004, 05? 06? or is this strictly Limited E.?
stree_wario
Member
and the Mazdaspeed 6
