Are you sure your car wasn't sitting in my driveway this weekend?

I woke up Sunday morning and there was a car just like yours (same paper plates too), parked in my driveway. I took a quick walk-around, I must admit I liked what I saw.

I still haven't asked my brother who the car belonged to (he was probably made designated driver and brought it home). Might have to take it for a test drive next time around...

 

Dude, you have to test drive.. I think it's the best bang for the buck car under $30K.

It has more cargo volume than my 3G TL..

 

http://www.leftlanenews.com/mazdaspe...challenge.html

Mazdaspeed3 wins class in MPG challenge.

This is some funny news. Totally unexpected.

 

^Damn that's awesome! Maybe I should convince my parents that this is a really "green" car

It's amazing how fast that thing is but yet so practical on long trips. What's your MPG so far? I'm sure you haven't been easy on that gas pedal though

 

You know, I only drive like 5 miles a day. I live really close to my work so... It's like stop-and-go for like 15 minutes of local driving. I averaged like 22.5 mpg for the first full gas tank. So, it's pretty good I guess.

 

Good MPG to boot?! Can't beat that...

 

^

That's a regular 3 though! HA!

Leave my car alone! It's just a happy car!

 

Look, someone over at mazdaspeedforum.org photoshopped my car to make it look more evil-ish.



I really need some help of you photoshop geniuses to change my front end look more evil-ish smile. HELP!

 

Is that lower grille with all those gills/slats/smiles removable?

 

^ I'm not sure, but I was thinking of removing that (if it is removable) and putting a good looking mesh grille maybe. That'd be much clean looking.

 

Depending on what's behind it, a mesh grill might look much better.

 

Great pickup!
I drove one of these from Miami to LA...it was a base one...but stick and it was great to drive.
Another friend of mine opted to get a MS3 recently...I drove it and it drove great...very fun...oddly enough, he drove my 6MT TL right after and couldn't stop talking about what a great car mine was and how smooth and powerful it felt. Lol...
I guess the grass is always greener.

Good work lowering the payment though...great move...and to a car that is super fun to drive. If I had the money...I'd be ALL OVER the Sti...I love hatchbacks...good gas mileage and you can basically haul the same stuff a truck can.

 

First of all, thank you.

STi is too much for me. If I was going to get into that segment, I'd love to pick up a fully loaded WRX, not the STi.

I don't know which is faster between 3G TL 6MT vs 2G MS3. But it's apples and oranges so. Both are very sweet vehicles for sure though, I know it because I owned both.

Before I pushed my new car hard into the curves, I thought the best handling FWD car was TL. But now I think this Mazdaspeed is more capable of attacking the corners.. Apples and Oranges for sure though.

 

Hopefully, it's just black stuff behind it.

But, some members were saying that it'll mess up the aerodynamics or something. Is it true??

 

^Wtf how? I'm no car genius, but I wouldn't think removing some "decorative looking" trim would affect anything.

 

What's the Accessport?? Is it like those APR chipping?

Also, I read that several 1st Gen MS3 owners popped their engines due to the excessive amount of bolt on modifications or something.

Should I just leave my car stock? I really wanted to put intake, turbo inlet, BPV, and some simple stuff...

 

You should be fine as long as you don't get a turbo timer and go upping the boost while bouncing off the rev limiter.

 

Got it.

Thanks!

 

 

^ Wow! That looks pretty good!

FMIC looks good on it.....

btw, what's the benefit of having FMIC instead of TMIC??

 

Supposedly better cooling because you can get a much bigger FMIC in there. But there are guys that have upgraded the stock FMIC on their A4s and haven't seen much difference.

I would think a CAI/CBE combo would make a huge difference if they are done right. 25hp or so for less than $1000 IIRC.

 

You wanted evil. I gave you evil.



Nice purchase btw.

 

That looks evil... literally...

 

SuperTrooper169's rendering of the car without that shit on the front looks SICK. Add a FMIC on the front and that would look sick. Especially if you got it powdercoated black or a dark red.

 

I'm thinking of installing this Short Shifter Plate. Is there any potential downsides with this mod? I've never had MT before so..

I just directly quoted a post from MSF.
[/quote]

 

The short shifter on my CL made a HUUUUGE difference. Id say go for it.

 

Yeah, everyone over at the MSF seems to be very happy with this setup. It's like $80 too. I think I should just order this part right now. Installing is easy as well.

For all the other performance modifications, I still think I have to get used to this turbocharged 4-banger. It's my first stick shift car as well, so I better know what I'm doing before it gets more powerful. It's just so much faster than my previous TL...

 

For the performance modifications, Cobb, CP-E, and Corksport seem to be the dominant aftermarket brands for Mazdaspeed3.

Which one do you think I should go with? If anyone had any experiences with any of those brands, please chime in.. Thanks.

 

Ive heard of Cobb and Corksport, but I dont recall hearing about CP-E. You dont need to build the car with all one brand. You can mix and match, just go by value (hp vs cost, so on and so forth).

 

Should I paint mine...? I think it looks fantastic. This guy did it himself too!

 

Yeah, I'm going to wait probably 6 months before I begin modding it. I usually do way too much research upon making a mod decision..

 

Those wheels look awesome! Do it

 

Those do look amazing...

BUT... it's on a gray MS3. I'm not sure it would look good with black. Might start getting that dirty brake dust look. IDK.

 

looks great huh?

hmm.. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and put it up. So someone can photoshop my rims black..

Btw, I'm thinking of getting some RPF1s in 1 year..

 

RPF1s FTW

But the painted wheels do look good though.

Have you considered some mild modifications other than engine/drivetrain? You already mentioned wheels, I bet you could do some fun stuff with the head/taillights too. Is there an OEM kit out at all? maybe get some coilovers?

I also know Mazdaspeed had tons of performance parts for the 1G MS3, maybe it'll be the same for the 2G. Shouldn't void the warranty, either.

 

i read your first post while ago and never knew you finally got one! congrats!!

 

 

Yeah.. I love those RPF1s... especially in that Special color or something.. It's afforable and super light... can't go wrong with that.

I'm going to black out the headlights and probably get those JDM LED taillights. I always wanted those clean stealthy look, so I'll probably get rid of all the chrome parts..

This new generation just came out, so not much of choice in aftermarket parts 'yet' including Mazdaspeed parts. I'm going to wait a year, so there should be plenty of options to choose from then.

Thanks, I've been loving it so far.. it's pretty quick and it's my first stick shift car!

Looks very good....! Thank you very much supertrooper! Keep up the good work when you think of something creative for my car!

I like that yellow foglight overlay.. how do I do that..?

 

RPF1s one of my favorite wheels, ever. In the right size, I've seen them look great on many many different cars.

I'm sure there's Rockblocker or other makers of fog light overlays out there or there will be eventually. It's basically like window tint, it just goes over the fog light

 

Haha, glad you like it. I really love the MS3, so to make it look even better, icing on the cake. Did you notice the drop?