Stu_Gotti

So a good buddy of mine decided that he was finally going to get himself a new car. Monday we went and picked him up from work and went to the local dealership. My buddy Josh who owns a pretty sick WRX drove the car. We went to the local mall.. found a small empty parking lot and let loose on that car. I was pretty impressed with the performance of that car.. even with 3 people in it. I def think that with a little work and the right tune.. that car is more than capiable of taking out a STi or Evo. Anyone else check them out? He is getting the white with white and black leather.. pretty nice imo! Lord knows once I get my car turbo'd.. I'm going to have to hurt his feelings!

rp64ctsv

I have a buddy with a red mazda6.The car screams,very quick,He already needs new tires at 3000 miles.It will smoke em.Bone stock,It has some kind of sport package added,suspention and tires I think.A lot of bang for the buck IMO

Stu_Gotti

Yeah. You should ride in the Mazdaspeed version though Pretty quick!

hotbox05

the mazdaspeed needs more than just a little work to beat sti's.

Stu_Gotti

I'm not saying just a little work, ie. intake, exhaust.. I do mean a little bit more.. but they got some punch to them.. handles pretty well too. This is also the review that I got from a buddy of mine who is a WRX owner.

hotbox05

hmm. wrx and sti are miles apart tho. lol. and the sti and the evo are miles apart.


still a cool car i'll have to check it out at least once more.

Stu_Gotti

Yup, agree'd.. the WRX my bud owns.. its pretty well modded.. he can take out a STi or Evo.. again.. I haven't driven it personally.. but I think its a nice car for the price.. I like the top mount intercooler also.. sucks they dont have a hood that is functional.. the setup they have now is so darn restrictive.. and its exhaust it only like 2" maybe less!

Skunk

Mazda made big time mistakes designing the Mazdaspeed6. They suffer from horrendous heatsoak problems do to the engine/turbo/intercooler/hood setup. The ECU is also currently problematic. Hopefully they'll change the setup when they use the same engine in the Mazdaspeed3.

SO-CAL_TC

Actually the hood is functional, take a look under it. It kinda works like a ram air. But yeah that car is f n sweet man I work for mazda and drove one already that thing pulls hella hard even @ 100+ mph. Its an AWD turbo With a 0-60 time in 6.0 sec. flat, the car completely outperformed the audi quattro and subaru legacy (These cars are considerd to be in the same class.). oh and another cool feature is that you can manually adjust your headlights from inside the car (move light up or down) cool huh?. So yeah pretty _____in car for its size.

hotbox05

why would they use the same engine in the mazdaspeed3? then no one would buy the slower mazdaspeed6.

Nick06tC

I can make zero comments about the build of the car, and longevity, because I know nothing about it. But having test driven one, I will say I was impressed. Anywhere near a STi or EVO? Not even close.

But mazda does something they didnt do. They made the Mazdaspeed6 a fun family car. Yes it has 4 doors like the evo and sti, but it has the luxuries that subaru, and evo left out in order to gain their performance edge.

I think its a good compromise car.

i.e.:

guy: honey i want a 2 door sports car
wife: NO
guy: please
wife: No
guy: how about a mazda
wife: is it 4 doors and not a sports car
guy: yes
wife: I love you honey you bought a family car
guy:

hotbox05

lol

SO-CAL_TC

i.e.:

guy: honey i want a 2 door sports car
wife: NO
guy: please
wife: No
guy: how about a mazda
wife: is it 4 doors and not a sports car
guy: yes
wife: I love you honey you bought a family car
guy: [/quote]

Skunk

It functionally takes the air for the intercooler (which is supposed to be cold) and runs it over the hot engine. It has a top-mount intercooler and thus should have had a hood scoop. It is a quick car until it heatsoaks. The turbo system is remarkably inefficiently desgined.

And the Legacy actually crushed it in a comparison in the last Road and Track. Don't get me wrong, I actually do like Mazda more than I like Subaru. But they made some big time mistakes with this car, and the Legacy GT or Spec B is a far better car overall. I just pray they'll revise this turbo system on the Mazdaspeed3, which has pontential to slay the competition in it's market.

cmndrjamesbond

One of my friends bought one, and on the first day of driving it, was highly upset when an SRT-4 humiliated him. Now he's working on modifying it, by he has a typical civic ricer mentality (he thinks his new exhaust is gonna net him 40 hp, LOL)

ReverseGTR

Of course a 280hp as well as torquy sub-compact is going to beat the MSP6, even if it is FWD. In fact, the SRT-4 having FWD gives it a great weight advantage over what should already be heavier considering it is a larger sedan.

Also, I think the interior is quite a bit better than what C&D would like you to believe, they seemed to be not at all a fan of the two tone seats. The Mazdaspeed6 or normal Mazda6 sedan also has more trunk space and overal interior for that matter than the Legacy. Aside from that and how you can get a better bang for your buck interior wise, the Legacy 2.5GT outperforms it in every other aspect.

It is all a matter of if you have or put out an X amount of cash towards options which prevents you from affording the Spec B let alone an Audi A4 Quattro and have your preferences set towards a bit more interior space, than the MSP6 is for you.

Also the engine the Mazdaspeed6 has is closely related to the one used in the WRC Focus as well as RS model in Europe or if a new Cosworth was ever made, so it should be pretty tunable and have a pretty good aftermarket.

Stu_Gotti

All good points.. My buddy picked it up Monday.. I have yet to see it for myself yet.. at least his that is.. I know when I looked at the hood and under it.. the first thing that my buddy and I noticed is how restrictive the cooling system is on that car.. The top mount gets air from a very restrictive slot below the hood.. IMO.. that is a big flaw.. then I noticed the exhaust is only like 1 3/4" or 2".. also very restrictive.. I'm not saying this is the best AWD car available.. I just know with a little work, and fixing the bugs that the factory didn't take into concideration.. that car def would be a sicker car than it is now. I'm not a big Mazda fan.. but I wouldn't knock that car.. def pretty sweet for the cost.