ZEEROLLA

from memory i think its abt 12psi. the thing is once i touch the car my warranty is stuffed :( i can't even add a turbo-timer (as its llegal) or some cool sounding HKS BOV.. :P

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 ;)

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 <_<

Damn! Sorry to see that man, a smashed car is always a difficult sight.. good to know you are ok though. Going too hot into any corner and this is what we'll get. ;)

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. <_<

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..

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

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 ;)

I agree its how u drive it, and also how much torque ur car has. Its easier to drive with more torque, don't have to floor it as much or as high revs hence a 6, 8 cylinder or turbo car can still be reasonable fuel economical UNTIL yopu give it a bit of a hott, then it starts to really sip fuel but which car doesn't?? I got around 7.5-8litres in my Stivo avergaing 650kms b4 the light comes on. If u after a small car i have a 1.5 Jazz VTI for sale!! :P 6.5litre/100km or better, my best has been 6.0litre/100km so farand i am not lying bcus it comes with a fuel economy calculator.

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

DRIVERS: Alonso M. Schumacher TEAM: Renault POLE: Alonso FASTEST LAP: Alonso Renault looks good even when they stuff up ;)

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

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

i might come to the 29th July cruise with my new ride! :D be friendly guys :P

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.

LOL ..... yeah dont take it the wrong way i was after the "having fun" after u have run it in .... and ofcourse there is always going to be some friendly rivalry ;) ;) ;) don't worry Bill i'm cool :D i give the Stivo alot of respect, it deserves it ;) few days to go!!! can't wait!

hehe u guys are so keen to shootdown the Mazda 3 MPS :P remember its gonna be a daily driver :P :D and they are very different cars the Stivo and the MPS. but we can still have some fun after i run it in :D

Good stuff Zee .... atleast we will know someone whom im hoping will be happy to bring it out to the track to compete against the stivos ;) ;) ;) ;) :D Bill i will bring it out to the next Rolla cruise! I don't know if i will take it to the track with this one though.. will see :P Its a 8 week wait for my Mazda 3 MPS but hopefully will get it sooner.

I'm still active on this forum! recently sold my 04' Stivo with 60,000kms and bought over my sister's Honda Jazz and also recently put an order on a Mazda3 MPS!! I am going to be sooooo broke :P

Sweeeeeet, I love my stivo! They will be a real challange only coz the mps 6 f***ing moves and the mps 3 is 100kg lighter! Right now this car has good cred on paper .... i wanna c it in action ;) ;) ;) Just had my first test drive over Mt Cootha about 30mins ago and my legs wont stop shaking and the smile just refuses to leave my face! DSC would have to be the best motoring invention eva! I was dubious to say the least about the FWD turbo set up but Mazda have pulled it off, so well balanced. I had to really push as hard as I could to start the feeling of understeer but thats when the DSC and TCS really came into play, pulling back straight away. This thing is a rocket and easily controlable, and very direct with the steering. The 18" shadow chrome alloys look awesome - don't think I would bother changing them at all. Seriously comfortable bucket seats with leather outer and grippy cloth inserts for maximum grip around those 120km/ph mt cootha corners! Great engine and exhaust tones. Think the exhaust piping is about 2.5". Heaps of torque of the mark and loves to rev. There was however a strange noise everytime I changed up a gear. Thought it was wheel spin but came to the conclusion it was related to the exhaust. Any thoughts on that? during my test drive i noticed some strange noise whenever i shift cogs too.. thought it was the diff, tranny or clutch making the noise. The gearbox didn't feel too smooth either in the demo. Its good to have long warranties, 380nm of torque will break alot of things!

Sportivo wins. :)

I HAVE PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN ON 1!!! $42,695 driveaway with paint protect, tints, mats and 6 year 200,000km warranty. Its going to be RED, wanted Silver but the MPS3 doesn't come in that colour. will lets u all know what the car felt like to me in my test drive, but this thing goes!!! i am obviously very happy! :D save up for coilovers, strut bar, BOV and 19's then man hahahahahaha nah man this is going to be a daily driver no need for coilies.. it comes with a strut tower member brace already.. and with BOV i did think of that, wanted a Blitz dual stage one but they might void my warranty for this!! wheels i think 18s are too big already, tyres will probably cost me a fortune to replace. But here is the rundown on the car, it has plenty of torque from 2000rpm where the turbo is already spooling hard, it pulls really hard even in 4th at 40km/h. You won't ever need to go past 1/4 throttle opening to get this thing to overtake in the city, i was actually taken aback when i first jumped in and gassed it in 2nd! it was lunging forward at an unbelievable pace riht from the word go and i was in a 60zone. The front wheels did lose traction in 1st gear once but it was only momentarily with some torque steer, nothing tyre smoking, and in 2nd gear i could still feel the torque steer and all the elelctronics trying to tame the front wheels. It actually felt very wierd as the Stivo never had this, if the front wheels spun in LIFT, it spun! It was more of controlling the throttle but in the Mazda3 MPS its very different. I have to admit it will take some getting used to. The brakes are super responsive though, lunged forward hard a few times when i attempted to heel-toe :P the clutch was grabbing very high up in the clutch travel which i didn't like, and the pedal felt softer than my Stivo's which is a concern considering it has so much power and torque to handle. The steering is heavier which i really like, no chance to test out the handling capabilities which was a bit of a shame. The interior quality and design was fantastic, i absolutely loved te beautiful seats like rollamods mentioned, and it oozes more quality than a WRX. The zero-counter pointers for the tacho and speedo were great and speedo does read 280km/h (claimed top speed of 250km/h)! Gearshift was a little less notchy than the Stivo's and lighter to shift but felt that it wasn't as accurate into the gates as compared to the Stivo's. Only gripe is there is less room compared to the rolla althought its a 5 door hatch but it has so many things that the Stivo hasn't got like a middle armrest for the rear seat, more cup holders, telescopic tilt and reach steering column, cruise/audio controls on the steering wheel, 6 airbags standard, Traction control and DSC (dynamic stability control), LSD, and of course the engine is so tractable and easy to drive. I really think Mazda has done a great job with this MPS version of Mazda 3, its like the formula Toyota used to create the Sportivo version of our Corollas :)

I HAVE PUT A DEPOSIT DOWN ON 1!!! $42,695 driveaway with paint protect, tints, mats and 6 year 200,000km warranty. Its going to be RED, wanted Silver but the MPS3 doesn't come in that colour. will lets u all know what the car felt like to me in my test drive, but this thing goes!!! i am obviously very happy! :D

Get the Honda Civic Vti for $23-24k Manual driveaway. Mazda3 is more expensive, and auto u need to add $2500 in most cases.

i went down to Dwyers Mazda today and there was 1 Mazda3 MPS Luxury model SOLD already for $49,000 icluding a few extras. Driveaway price i was told is $43,700 for standard 3MPS and $48,000 for Luxury. I was actually a little bit disappointed with the look of the car, it was dirty and 3 wheels were still covered. The tyre is 215/45 on 18s and i really think 225s would have been much better. The interior looks nice though and i think they come with a 280km/h speedo!? I will be getting a test drive in 10 days time so can't wait :D