I'd have to guess it's because Mazda has done a piss poor job of branding when it comes to the Mazdaspeed name. I haven't seen any advertising of Mazdaspeed but I've seen all kinds of branding for Skyactiv (even my wife asked about it and if the MS3 had it).

Doesn't help that they DC'd the dealer parts either even if they were rebadged. They also lack some consistency as well...e.g. RX-8 Shinka and R3 editions should have been branded as Mazdaspeeds to help build brand equity.

Entering WRC or ALMS would help too. Most people aren't going to figure it out by a small badge on the back of a car that looks nearly identical (to the untrained eye) to its non-speed brethren.

I'm glad noone knows what an MS3 is, it's part of the reason I bought the car. It looks like a soccer mom's grocery getter. It's cool to be stealth:fuckyou:...

^This

One of the major reasons I first got into ms3s was because they are less known.

My 98 Cobra I got compliments all the time(pretty much everyday)

04 Ranger people complimented it a decent amount as well.

My MS3 I've only had people compliment or trash talk my rims...lol. which most people actually compliment them, which is weird to me lol.

I wonder how many people think we're retards who dumped money into a regular 3 or 6, I'm guessing quite a few.

The first time my buddy saw my car he said "Nice car. What do they call that color - Fuck You Blue?"

personally I like the no attention getting looks of my car. ( it is also true for the police... wich is great)

I even removed my mazdaspeed badge to get even less attention from ricers who would think I put that badge on as a mod lol.
The looks on peoples faces and the "oh shit" they say when they ride with me and I punch it is really priceless.

I get the occasional "nice speed" and "is that a speed?" mostly from people driving the regular mazda 3.

strangely, I get a lot less people wanting to race me with this car, than when I had a 106hp civic cx hatchback...

i get attention all the time. thumbs up, comments and about three or four of my neighbors said they want to buy one. i told them that its a FWD and they didnt care, they just love the way my car looks

then again, i got coils, PC rx8 wheels and a different bumper which makes it a bit different than everything else on the street

Should put typeR and VEEETAK stickers on them and then people would be commenting on our cars all day long and wanting to race us.

That reminds me, I need to take a few people for a ride. Been a minute since I have seen those faces. :smirk:

The only person who said my car looks nice is my mom. She didn't like my genjuan.
My friend's wife asked "Who's girly car is that?"
And my girlfriend calls it a Lesbaru.
So no. Fail genpu.

I've had an older guy ask me casually about the car I was driving, but he did it in such a way as to tactfully gauge how much I might (or might not) know about it. Turns out he has a Corvette, and was just riding around on his Harley, and he's had a couple turbocharged cars before. And it all started with that hood scoop, because that was the first question he asked me when I got out of the car to buy a coffee.

I've had a couple more random compliments since then (one from a guy who had just finished pumping gas, and another from a random speed owner (local). But for the most part, I'm actually kind of glad that nobody else seems to realize what the car really is, and pass it off as a regular Mazda 3 hatchback.

some kid tried to tell me the ms3 was girly.






...he drives a honda fit.

ive had a bunch of people tell me the car looks great. i had a guy in a 2.5 hatch pull up next to me and ask me where i got my aftermarket hood LOL.

took the ms3 to a mechanic to do the install on my internals. Proceeded to tell me the car does not have a fuel pump in the hood lol. Proceeded to do the install myself lol. He did say nice car though.

Ive actually gotten a lot of compliments. Mainly from people who know cars. I have also gotten compliments from people who dont know. Then shit talk about my smiling retard. Then when they get beat they realize its a shit eatin grin, a lovely fuck you of sorts!

I get a few here and there.....but the people in Vegas are vain stuck up douchebags....that speaks for itself. Which Wawa? Gotta be harford or PG county.

Sounds like you made the right choice, there's no way he wouldn't have screwed it up...

tapatatapa...DROID 2 GLOBAL... etc etc

I get a couple compliments here and there but one particularly sticks out to me. I was driving in a 25 zone. Some idiot pulls up next to me in a regular 3 and calls my car a rice rocket. 25 zone turned into a 55 zone...he punched the gas, I pulled up next to him and said, wow your car is fast, and then I proceeded to show him what a rocket can do. The expression on his face was priceless. We hit a red light and he was like....whoa, wtf did you do to your car?!?!? Told him I feed it rice, lol!!!

Bitches and queers all love my turbo wagon! Duh!

I've had women and ricers tell me they like my car, which makes me wish noone said anything :ponder:

Had a friend (girl) buy a regular 3 right around the same time I picked up my speed. I have had 3 different conversations with her since then to explain they are not the same car and what makes them different...I finally gave up and just took her for a quick ride. The car did a much better job getting the point across.

Funny you are right. It's the newer one near Harford Mall on RTE 1 (Belair Road). Harford County. How'd you guess? Maybe it was YOU ?!?!?

honestly, i have had multiple people comment on my car and say how good it looks. and i've literally done nothing to the exterior. my shit is still a fish bowl. the best part is i always tend to have someone with me to witness it.

outside the reston Best Buy, one guy and his wife told me they test drove one and loved it. asked how i liked it (i said it's great) and after 5 minutes they said they were going to pull the trigger on it.

gas stations, shopping center parking lots, and traffic lights. it's weird.

It is weird, and people in this area (Baltimore, Washington, NoVa) are not known to be friendly! I bet they drool over these things in San Francisco or whatever.

people say it to me all the time, and i'm beginning to think they're mocking me.

LMAO! ghey.:supergay:

I haven't owned my ms3 long enough, but I don't expect to receive any compliments considering the rather "hoity-toity" area I live in. I'm sure most people don't even realize it is much different than a regular mazda3.

Let's ask Ray Charles what he thinks.... Oh nvm.

I love when people ask me that. I always want to say "I fucking hate this thing, that's why I bought it!" But I'm too nice.

Only compliment I ever got was from 2 white kids crossing the street in Chinatown. 1 compliment in 1 year of owning the car. But that was also right after I finished polishing and waxing my car. So it's shiny and stands out o_o.

I love this car. Lots of people think it's a Mazda3. Hondas and shit doing their ricer flyby only to find out they made a mistake.

Have you ever SEEN Ray Charles' wife!?!?







































Neither has he.

I never get anything but questions.

"Hey that's got a rotary, doesn't it?"
"What year is that?"
"Is something wrong with your car? I saw a bunch of smoke back there."
"Why does it say Mazdaspeed? Isn't that a Mazda 3?"

I could care less. Makes it a happy sleeper.

I get comments here and there.

One that sticks out was this time I was walking into the local Sheetz a worker was coming out just as I made it beep. He goes, "man that car looks mean."

But most people have no idea what it is (I like), and my friends just think I'm nuts for making the car any faster. But they do enjoy going for rides in the speed.

an 80+year old man stopped me the other day as i got out of the car and, after asking me what it was, told me he really liked my car.

i was driving the miata.

no homo.

i tell u what i live here in odessa tx and i git compliments weekly about specially at sonic and the mall.

With the exception of my close friends who ive let drive my car (and they all want one now) its usually girls who say anything.

"I like your car, it looks zippy"
"Your cars cute, it looks like a hot wheel"
"Why did you buy a rollerskate?"


Still, im not one for compliments. Im much more satisfied by looks of bewilderment when WOT ;)

When I drive around every now and then I get a question that just makes me want to stab myself.....

"hey man is that thing turbo?'

OF FUCKING COURSE ITS TURBO....its not a mustang so the scoop is actually FUNCTIONAL....maybe they dont catch on from the bpv ping, intake/tih sucking, turb spoolin, black clouds with thunder from exhaust, or the sudden abrupt change in rpm+wheelspin from a quick goose in 1st or 2nd gear.

I feel better now

Let me guess, you stopped at a rest stop??? lol

Got my first compliment tonight from a dude who was working at the convienient store i frequent. He said hey is that your zoom zoom? lol yeah. He says those things are pretty badass, dont they have like 260hp? Ahh yeah thanks man.

usually no compliments but alot of stare or wondering what it is. mines debadged and throws them for a loop