Mazda 3 MPS tests and reviews!

[ZEEROLLA]

The sales manager showed me this website - Mazda Japan Official website

It has everything on the Mazda3 MPS, pics and video regarding the development of the whole car, and has some cool shots of it on a racetrack ;)

My own Mazda 3 MPS has been fast-tracked to arrive in 3 days!! Its gonna be a BLUE one!! The red one i wanted initially will take 8 weeks, mine will be the 2nd batch of Mazda 3 MPS to dock Ozzy shores, this shipment only brought about 15 to NSW!! My insurance for it is also just $1500 from NRMA 65% ncb with windscreen option, and agreed value. Not bad considering i was paying $1200 for my Stivo.

So guys not long to go and pics will be up! :D i do have some mobile phone ones with me atm, its a black one.

Edited July 16, 2006 by ZEEROLLA

[sportiyo]

i thought they will arrive in August! u so quick, well, congrat mate, hope you enjoy while me and others sit here and be jealous

[ZEEROLLA]

http://210.8.18.32/motoring/news_reports/mazda3-mps-look.htm

New review! :) "The Mazda 3 MPS is officially quicker than the RX8!" :D

Edited July 11, 2006 by ZEEROLLA

[Saiya]

Whats the RRP for the Mazda?

[INASNT]

http://210.8.18.32/motoring/news_reports/mazda3-mps-look.htm

New review! :) "The Mazda 3 MPS is officially quicker than the RX8!" :D

The mazda rx8 has always been slow.

Theres a supercharger kit available for it now from a few workshops in aus

[ZEEROLLA]

Whats the RRP for the Mazda?

The rrp is $39,990 for standard MPS3, and another $3500 for the "Sports Pack" (don't know whats so sporty abt adding 13kg of weight :P), but it comes with half leather seats, Xenon headlights, glossy wheels, and Bose sound system.

And yet another Australian review! :D

Mynewcar review on the Mazda 3 MPS

Edited July 13, 2006 by ZEEROLLA

[iNdCeNt]

sounds like a great car!!

all the best !

[INASNT]

Atleast Mazda has addressed the bad torque steer fwd turbo cars have, unlike the astra turbo

[ZEEROLLA]

Atleast Mazda has addressed the bad torque steer fwd turbo cars have, unlike the astra turbo

Torque steer is still there in the Mazda 3 MPS! But 2 thumbs up for them adding an LSD and restricting torque in 1st and 2nd gear, also it senses the steering angle and restricts torque appropriately. You can really feel the difference it makes, with 380nm out the front wheels no one would ever think its possible to keep the thing straight. Loo at its 0-100km/h time of 6.1s to know how well the electronics are working to combat wheelspin, who needs AWD? :P

[SILVABULLIT]

Got to take one for a test drive this week and have to say i was impressed with the power but a few small things it lacked were the following.

A decent gear shift. the throw from 1st to second etc etc is too long and feels a little vague. The gates from say 2nd to third are close but the other way is too long. After market quick shift would solve this. :D

Car lacks genuine road feel. It's hard to tell what the car is doing under you. You can feel the great power and torque but it needs a little more work in the suspension dept. I would suggest some firmer springs and a rear sway bar to tie the rear down a little.

Some better tyres. Enough said. :D

Better exhaust system. The rear resonator is way too restrictive and you can hear it choking it under full boost. Easy fix with a trip to CES :D

A bit less weight. At some 200 odd kg's heavier than the Sportivo it's getting a little on the porky side.

Don't get me wrong the car is great fun to drive and will be giving WRX owners a very big surprise in the right hand for sure but these things will make the car that much better again and would in my opinion make it feel safer to drive as hard in the twisties as I could my Sportivo.

If I had the $$$ ATM and could do all the things mentioned above I would have one sitting in my garage right now. The power and the way that the DSC works is great and makes it a hell of a lot of fun to drive. Definately not a car for someone inexperienced with that sort of power being that it's front wheel drive and in the wet I'm guessing there will be a few sorry owners with big repair bills. :D

Thumbs up Mazda for building a decent car although a little on the pricey side for the top of the range.

Toyota..... are you listening????????????????????????????????

[ZEEROLLA]

Got to take one for a test drive this week and have to say i was impressed with the power but a few small things it lacked were the following.

A decent gear shift. the throw from 1st to second etc etc is too long and feels a little vague. The gates from say 2nd to third are close but the other way is too long. After market quick shift would solve this. :D

Car lacks genuine road feel. It's hard to tell what the car is doing under you. You can feel the great power and torque but it needs a little more work in the suspension dept. I would suggest some firmer springs and a rear sway bar to tie the rear down a little.

Some better tyres. Enough said. :D

Better exhaust system. The rear resonator is way too restrictive and you can hear it choking it under full boost. Easy fix with a trip to CES :D

A bit less weight. At some 200 odd kg's heavier than the Sportivo it's getting a little on the porky side.

Don't get me wrong the car is great fun to drive and will be giving WRX owners a very big surprise in the right hand for sure but these things will make the car that much better again and would in my opinion make it feel safer to drive as hard in the twisties as I could my Sportivo.

If I had the $$$ ATM and could do all the things mentioned above I would have one sitting in my garage right now. The power and the way that the DSC works is great and makes it a hell of a lot of fun to drive. Definately not a car for someone inexperienced with that sort of power being that it's front wheel drive and in the wet I'm guessing there will be a few sorry owners with big repair bills. :D

Thumbs up Mazda for building a decent car although a little on the pricey side for the top of the range.

Toyota..... are you listening????????????????????????????????

WRXs?? pffttt.. this thing goes from 80-160km/h as quick as a WRX goes from 0-100km/h!! :D But yeh, fwd still has its limitations, and i guess its not really suited for track work, its more a cruiser or touring type car imo ;)

[SILVABULLIT]

With the right suspension tweaks,brake pads and lose some serious weight a MPS could become a seriously quick track warrior. From the drive I had through some mountain twisties i found the limiter many times and gave the car a real workout. There is a hell of a lot of potential there. It just has to be sorted in the right manner same as sorting out handling woes of a Sportivo:)

[ZEEROLLA]

With the right suspension tweaks,brake pads and lose some serious weight a MPS could become a seriously quick track warrior. From the drive I had through some mountain twisties i found the limiter many times and gave the car a real workout. There is a hell of a lot of potential there. It just has to be sorted in the right manner same as sorting out handling woes of a Sportivo:)

hmm.. i'll take note of that ;) but just by looking at the exhaust i do see qute a few horses hidden there, then of course there is the controversial top mount intercooler, and ride height, and tyre width etc.. so i agree plenty can be done to the car to make it track ready, just need someone to donate the time and money to do it :P

[sportiyo]

cant wait for the mazda to rip the renualt sport clio head off, all those clio drivers thinking they r the king and everything

[ZEEROLLA]

cant wait for the mazda to rip the renualt sport clio head off, all those clio drivers thinking they r the king and everything

Is that bcus Renault is now leading F1 <_< I want to race a Megane Sport! Not like there will be much of these wierd looking things sold..

[SILVABULLIT]

I can say that the Renault drivers should be keeping a keen eye on any Mazda MPS coming up from behind as I don't think that there will be much they can do to stop it from passing them:)

[oodee]

the quick trip that i had the pleasure of undertaking today (thank you Anthony) was awesome. ashley and i sat in the car and picked the bits we didnt like before we even knew we were going for a drive. luckily all those things are cosmetic and can be fixed if needed :D

the drive was awesome, it was wet and the car handled like a dream even at full revs on windy roads. if i could afford one i would propbably be investing in it. but i cant see myself getting a new car for a while yet. the stivo will have to do

the drive well outweighed the little things we picked it on before the drive

Thanks Anthony :D :D :D :D

Edited July 15, 2006 by HDACHE

[ZEEROLLA]

the quick trip that i had the pleasure of undertaking today (thank you Anthony) was awesome. ashley and i sat in the car and picked the bits we didnt like before we even knew we were going for a drive. luckily all those things are cosmetic and can be fixed if needed :D

the drive was awesome, it was wet and the car handled like a dream even at full revs on windy roads. if i could afford one i would propbably be investing in it. but i cant see myself getting a new car for a while yet. the stivo will have to do

the drive well outweighed the little things we picked it on before the drive

Thanks Anthony :D :D :D :D

Did yous test drive a MPS3!? Good to hear yous like it! The more poeple that does it the better bcus there are a few journos out there trying to bag it to the ground already by giving false reviews. <_<

[INASNT]

Hows the road noise?

The normal 3 has a heap of road noise

[ZEEROLLA]

Hows the road noise?

The normal 3 has a heap of road noise

Lets just say it was heaps better than my Stivo which had suspension mods and different tyres etc. Also don't forget the Stivo has a noisy engine to start with, and mine still had the cable rattle characteristic <_<

[oodee]

Lets just say it was heaps better than my Stivo which had suspension mods and different tyres etc. Also don't forget the Stivo has a noisy engine to start with, and mine still had the cable rattle characteristic <_<

what do you think about the exhaust noise from all the air rushing through an almost 90 degree angle??

i was in the back seat, so i probably noticed it a bit more, but my gosh, its windy back there :D

[Ashs Red Rolla]

I was sitting in the front seat and i thought it was the turbo winding up or wheel spin (road was wet, greasy and very twisty) but it was the crazy angle in the exhaust

[ZEEROLLA]

To be honest i found the MPS3 to be a little too quiet. Maybe bcus the Stiov was always noisy with te CAI and high revving nature. But turbos always mute the engine and exhaust a little bit more. I will be able to give yous a better review once i get hold of it!! I am still waiting, shouldn't be too long to go ;)

[SILVABULLIT]

To be honest i found the MPS3 to be a little too quiet. Maybe bcus the Stiov was always noisy with te CAI and high revving nature. But turbos always mute the engine and exhaust a little bit more. I will be able to give yous a better review once i get hold of it!! I am still waiting, shouldn't be too long to go ;)

Exhaust needs work as it's very clearly restrictive and you can hear it on boost and high in the rev range. I'd say the muffler and rear resonator are totally desinged to reduce the note substantially and keep it real quiet.

Zee first thing is get the exhaust done and watch the grin on your face get wider. ;)

[CHA54]

will be interesting to see how the mazda responds to exhaust mods. Other modern turbo cars are known to flag CEL's and hit boost cut once the exhaust is free'd up.

How much boost do they run to make 190kw?