Mazdaspeed3

[Arkaign]

^^ Nice info. I <3 the Speed3, but just like the Focus ST/RS, I have a hard time believing that I could spend that level of $ on it personally.

 

[jlee]

^^ Nice info. I <3 the Speed3, but just like the Focus ST/RS, I have a hard time believing that I could spend that level of $ on it personally.

Yep. It's great fun, but I'm not loaded so I decided to go for cheaper cars / more variety.

 

[punjabiplaya]

there's a guy campaigning his speed3 through SCCA auto-x. He's got all the tune/etc... but the most interesting part is he's done a quaife lsd swap and is running 295s up front. The only guys who beat him are two STis and they have pro drivers.

edit: stis or something else, I don't remember exactly, don't know why STis popped into my head

 

[MotF Bane]

there's a guy campaigning his speed3 through SCCA auto-x. He's got all the tune/etc... but the most interesting part is he's done a quaife lsd swap and is running 295s up front. The only guys who beat him are two STis and they have pro drivers.

I don't suppose you have pictures of that?

 

[punjabiplaya]

http://vimeo.com/13103777

 

[MotF Bane]

LOL, I'm impressed he fit those. Thanks for the pic.

 

[CraigRT]

I almost bought the older gen Speed3 (looks way better) but the body on Mazda's does not last and that is not something I'm willing to deal with.

 

[exar333]

I almost bought the older gen Speed3 (looks way better) but the body on Mazda's does not last and that is not something I'm willing to deal with.

Yeah...this x1000.

My Mazda6 was babied and rusted to shit. Liked that car a lot until I had to dump it before it was all rusted out <5 years old...

 

[brblx]

where does OP live? if south of the mason dixon line, rust is just not a concern.

you ARE in minnesota. that's in canada, right?

 

[Zap]

My Mazda6 was babied and rusted to shit. Liked that car a lot until I had to dump it before it was all rusted out <5 years old...

Mine's doing great! This will be my fifth Wisconsin Winter driving it. Still looks new. I just cleaned it so I should take pictures.

One thing I do in Winter is to take my car to a no-touch automated car wash that has undercarriage spray. I do this two or three days after every storm, basically when roads have been plowed and have dried up.

 

[brblx]

Mine's doing great! This will be my fifth Wisconsin Winter driving it. Still looks new. I just cleaned it so I should take pictures.

One thing I do in Winter is to take my car to a no-touch automated car wash that has undercarriage spray. I do this two or three days after every storm, basically when roads have been plowed and have dried up.

this definately helps with stuff stuck to the undercarriage- in the absense of salt newer cars withstand fresh water just fine, so i'm never hesitant to rinse down any part of the exterior. but every little crevice where water flows into needs to have a drain. find the drainage holes around the bottom of the car- they're usually fairly obvious. things like doors and fenders tend to rust out at the bottom because the places intended to drain water end up clogged with either organic matter (dirt, leaves, sticks, tree sap, et al) or (later) even scaling peeling rust bits from inside the panel.

aside from rare bits (sometimes diffs, driveshafts, and similar hefty parts) that have little rust protection, simply washing the car often and making sure it's not holding water anywhere should keep it pretty rust free. even the inside of panels have SOME kind of coating that should resist the elements.

although carmakers always want to build things as cheaply as possible, they can't avoid inevitable advances in materials and technology.

 

[Gibson486]

Yeah...this x1000.

My Mazda6 was babied and rusted to shit. Liked that car a lot until I had to dump it before it was all rusted out <5 years old...

Oh yeah....the paint on my mazda 3 is very weak.....

 

[MotF Bane]

Yeah...this x1000.

My Mazda6 was babied and rusted to shit. Liked that car a lot until I had to dump it before it was all rusted out <5 years old...

Total mileage? Garaged, streetside, driveway?

 

[JCH13]

I am not excited about the rust prospect, so I'm going to suck it up and have paint chips repaired every 1-2 years and get an oil undercoat soon... I like the car too much to trade it in.

 

[exar333]

Total mileage? Garaged, streetside, driveway?

Bought the car at 39k. 20k later (2 years) the wheelwell/passenger rear quarter-panel was rusting all the way through. I managed to get Mazda to fix this under rust coverage.

1 year later, the OTHER side did the same thing, even though the car was thuroughly inspected for any additional rust just a year before.

The car was garaged and kept extremely clean. Pissed me off...

Edit: Rust issues seemed pretty common for Mazda in the mid 2000's (mine was 2003) and they may be better, but it's enough of an issue that I don't want to chance it.

 

[JCH13]

Bought the car at 39k. 20k later (2 years) the wheelwell/passenger rear quarter-panel was rusting all the way through. I managed to get Mazda to fix this under rust coverage.

1 year later, the OTHER side did the same thing, even though the car was thuroughly inspected for any additional rust just a year before.

The car was garaged and kept extremely clean. Pissed me off...

I've noticed that garaging in salted areas will kill cars pretty quickly. I think it's because when all that salty slush on a car and leave it is left outside it generally freezes up and won't do much. However, when a car park it in a garage the salted goop will melt. Then there is salt water soaking everything all night long, giving the salt a much longer window of opportunity to do its damage. This is just what I've noticed from living in NH for a long time, anyway.

 

[JimKiler]

Edit: Rust issues seemed pretty common for Mazda in the mid 2000's (mine was 2003) and they may be better, but it's enough of an issue that I don't want to chance it.

My 2003 Protege5 is rusting in the rear wheel wells. But my original Protege from 99 had chipped paint on the back door and never rusted even though I live in Minnesota and delivered pizzas with it. I hope the rust is fixed since we just got my wife a 2010 CX-7 last fall. Even though her previous Saturn was a turd the plastic panels did not rust.

 

[Zap]

I've noticed that garaging in salted areas will kill cars pretty quickly.

Mine are always garaged.

Of course this doesn't mean I won't post a thread in a year or two about how my Mazda rusted out. :hmm:

Still, as of right now, after many years, two different Mazdas did not rust.

 

[exar333]

I've noticed that garaging in salted areas will kill cars pretty quickly. I think it's because when all that salty slush on a car and leave it is left outside it generally freezes up and won't do much. However, when a car park it in a garage the salted goop will melt. Then there is salt water soaking everything all night long, giving the salt a much longer window of opportunity to do its damage. This is just what I've noticed from living in NH for a long time, anyway.

True, but I should clarify that my garage was not heated. That said, nothing prevents the natural freeze/thaw process we see sometimes during winter and a lot in early spring around here.

Still unacceptable to me...

 

[Vic Vega]

Rust is not a problem for me. My daily driver is 1996 and is like new inside and out, including the undercarriage.

 

[mc866]

Just wanted to weigh in on this topic

I have a 07 speed3 and live in MN, have had it almost 3 years now, I'm the second owner. It's the GT and I got it with the Mazdaspeed CAI and exhaust. Tons of fun to drive. I really wanted AWD too when looking for this one but after looking at some WRX, V70R, the speed3 was the best bang for the buck for me. It's been fine in the cold weather and snow except for the really deep stuff like we had last year but that ended up being more of a clearance issue than a FWD vs AWD issue.

I just recently had an issue with a leak in the shaft seal and assembly gasket at the shift component which was thankfully covered under warranty.

Aside from that I really haven't had any major issues except that tires don't last too long especially because I've been running high performance all season tires year round and they are probably too soft for the summer. I had pzero nero M&S and they lasted less than 3 years. Just put new Continental DWS on last week.

One other thing to note if you are in MN or other cold area, pot holes have been bad for me. Before I put the new tires on I had 3 of 4 tires straightened. I think a wheel or two was already bent when I got it but the pot holes up here haven't done the 18's and favors. The stock wheels seem a bit weak.