Test drove the 2012 Mazdaspeed 3.....
 

I loved it and I'm probably going to get one in a couple weeks but I have a couple concerns I would like to address as I have never owned a ms3 before.

As soon as we pulled off the lot for the test drive and everything heated up, they was a god awful smell that arose from the cabin. It smelt like burning plastic along with burning clutch and brakes all mixed in lol. It's that normal for a new mazdaspeed. When I addressed the smell to the salesman who also owned one, he said it was all the new material in the car, all the new glues and the exhaust film hasn't burnt of and stuff it sounded like he was making it up... So basically wondering if anyone noticed that weird noise upon buying their new ms3

Second thing, we were driving down a back road so I slowed down and did a 1-3gear pull with TCS on. When I shifted from first to second I heard a very loud BANG! (not my driving so shhh) it sounded like it came from the floor board or clutch but the gear engaged fine. And it never happened again after that. But it was kinda of scary because it was not like a little bang. It was really loud and freaked salesman out to. Just wondering if anyone you have witnessed this during heavy acceleration and shifting

Thanks
Dan

He is right that very new cars can smell like crap from residues and crap burning off, that's probably what it is if it's brand new.

And the loud BANG, well that was probably the engine slamming into the firewall, the motor mounts on the cars are worthless and should be replaced straight off. That's not a concern, as any speed with stock mounts has the potential to do that.


Tappin'

i slammed my engine into the firewall a few weeks into owning the car. i thought someone shot a gun. one of the first things that needs to be replaced along with the airbox for an intake

Interesting thanks guys

tl ; dr. rmm, intake, cobb. read, donate. noodz of gf/wife/sister

you may notice some smoke to from under hood with all the crap burning off. basically everything of importance has been said... buy it!

All normal. My car smelled like shit until mile 50 or so. Rear motor mount will fix the bang.

Yeah I bought mine new and had the same smell, which went away after a couple weeks. And the other two post are spot on about the noise too. wait till you get on it and the whole front end jumps off the ground lol. welcome to the forum by the way. If you want anything for the beast hit up eric@edgeautosports

Yes on the smell, and the rear engine mount sucks balls. I bought my JBR RMM 1 month after I got the car, best buy as a needed 1st mod for the MS3.

0-Buy the car, donate, search
1-Rear engine mount
2-SRI
3-AP
3.5-Short shift plate or TWM shifter + JBR heavy knob
4-OCC, TIP, FP internals, RP (or DP)
5-TMIC or FMIC
6-Last, CBE
7-Your K04 just went bye bye...GTX, XL TIP, XL MAF

Suspension, anytime is good, brakes upgrade when they need changing...

On this forum it is best to look for answers, my wife asked me why I don't read magasines any more, no need to thanks to MSF.org.

As others have mentioned it's all normal. My car emitted a foul (almost "clutch") smell on the test drive, it had less than 10 miles on it. After the first day of driving I never smelled it again.

Regarding the spongy engine mount- it took me a bit longer to hear that for the first time but wow, I thought something hit the bottom of the car when it did! A rear motor-mount should be done on ALL MS3's regardless if you plan on modding or not. Essential, IMHO.

Good luck and have fun!

Don't buy the one you did the 1-3 gear pull in while the new smell was still burning off. I feel sorry for the guy that bought the one I test drove. They stink like hell when you run the piss out of them with 10 miles on them. You know their humpin when you hear the engine thumpin.

Thanks guys! And obv you guys are biased but as I'm sure most of you saw before you bought your car.... The gti wins the total review from every review I've ever seen comparing the two. Do you recommend this car 100%? I like the gti too but it has a lot of quality problems..... Cough cough vw...

Driver mod will fix the bang. Even with a stock motor mount you should not be driving in such a manner that you are slamming the motor into the firewall. I continue to be fascinated by the high amount of interest in replacing the rear motor mount in these cars. A better mod than an AP ? I just don't get it I guess.

if you want fun to drive/mod, and kick some ass, go ms3. If you are into hellaflush,slamming, all show, then get the vdub

Seriously asking about the GTI? It only won reviews against the speed because it doesn't have torque steer.. Because it is no were near as fast as a stock speed. Even with the basic upgrades that car doesn't compare. As for the bad smell.. I didn't have any of that and my car had 9 miles on it when I drove it off the lot. If you want high german maintenance and no speed buy the VW.

If you want to be slow and as common as a honduh buy the vw. If you like slow and gay get the vw.

I'm not biased, and I work for VW so I know a metric fuck-ton about the GTI and I like the car. With that being said, I still bought the MS3.

The GTI is... Cute... If you're 40+ and want a "sporty car", but aren't really into performance and making shit go fast, you buy a GTI. Shit haz pep, but the MS3 will eat that bitch alive in everything performance.

We may not have full leather interior, heated seats and all that fancy shit, but we haz race cawwr. MS3 wasn't built for comfort, it was built to perform.

Except for the engine mounts.... Someone at Mazda dropped the ball on that one. :ugh2:

Dont get me wrong, they are good looking cars and sound mean. BUt thats it, sounds and looks nice. It was made for a more relaxed and comfortable ride. This thing wasnt made to go balls out. Can you make it fast? Yes. You can make anything fast. Is it worth it? No im my opinion.

I may be biased, but I have NEVER been beat by a GTI... and my car is stock. (For a few more days anyway). :147:

The interior isn't a Mercedes, but it isn't a Subaru either. Buy the car! :banghead:

yeah, and it took years for the gti to actually win too. i seem to remember from 07-09 that the ms3 beat the gti and then finally...the gti won.

I wouldn't say its not worth it. I've seen some really fast GTIs. The only difference is, its going to cost you a fair amount of money to even put it on the same level as the MS3. So you're starting from a deficit.

They have forged rods and a forged crank, so the block is ready for some added power.

I was considering the GTI as well when looking at cars. But I ultimately couldn't justify spending more money to get less. Although I did love the more mechanical feel of the shifter on the GTI.

Im not biased. I like Evo but I have a speed3. I will say as someone stated above...I have never lost to a Gti aswell. Get the speed3 and use the money from lower payments for mods to destroy gti

if im not mistaken, the turbo on the gti is in a stupid hard to get to place too. curse you german engineering!!!

Its not necessarily that its in a bad place, its that its a 1 piece mani-turbo combination. Small engine bay + hunk of turbofold = aggravation.

I honestly loved the gti as a DD, its not all about speed, its about how the car feels when you drive and the gti felt damn good, but for what it costs I can't justify it when compared to the speed.

Even if they had offered something like 0% I would have considered it but with a high price and interest on top it was STI money.


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I looked at both when I bought my ms3, and I'm into hellagay low slammed faggotry. The Ms3 is simply a better platform. You have four doors(for more whores) which is more practical than a little two door hatchback with no trunk or backseat. The motor on the MS3 is direct injected(awesomeness). The MS3 seems to be a more serious track/road race/drag car than the gti.
That being said, if youre into fitment go with the gti, the ms3's options are...limited at best, and our fenders are terrible. Also if you're stupid and cant figure out that you need to spend $800 to start modding your car (AP/Internals) go buy the gti. Lastly if you dont have the money to mod seriously, go buy the gti. A stage 1 unitronics chip will give you 50hp and 80 ft/lbs for $500...

I was cross shopping the GTI and new GLI before I got the speed3. I ended up with... the speed3. Why?

Speed 3 becuz:

- GTI price when optioned to speed3 options was far more
- you can actually tell the traction control to go away
- moar powah and torque
- more raw than the GTI/GLI, which is very important in a sports car/hatch
- racecar

My unbiased thoughts on the GTI:

- solid build quality feel
- interior screams audi
- more refined, but that's not what I want yet
- option for dual clutch or 6 speed appeals to more demographics
- torque everywhere, but still less than the speed3
- leather sports seats are secks
- vw's crap reliability is scary

Get a speed, and be prepared to become an ass-hat driver :09:

Doesn't the GTI come with a K03?

The mk4 was a ko3 but to be honest, I'm not sure if the new 2.0t has any markings on the turbo. I don't have one in stock to go look at. I'll check it out if I remember next time we get a turbo in.

Yes. And the Audi A4 and the Passat 2.0T I believe.

They all use the same engine. The 2006-2008 was the BPY and the new chain drive is a CCTA.

I asked one of the techs and he said he's pretty sure its a Ko3 but he doesn't its made by KKK.

I also have a co-worker that went BT a couple years ago. He says he still has his factory turbo at home, and will take a look at it when he gets a chance.

So do we.......

I'm aware hombre. He said it wasn't worth it to try to make a GTI fast. My point was that its not like it has a bitch ass crank and rods that won't even handle 300whp. Therefor the modding game is pretty much the same, they're just starting at a lower hp than us.

Gotcha. I thought you were saying we didn't and they did and I was like "uhhh no".

I have alot of VW hate from working on them over the years. A lot of cheap materials and shit wearing out way before its supposed to.

Its all good.

VW quality seems to have become a little better these past few years of production. I'm interested to see what fails on them once they start getting some higher mileage. Right now there isn't a whole lot. They still have the same bullshit electronic issues, but mechanically, they aren't too shabby these days. No major reoccurring failures. Yet....

as far as issues they have currently... a brand new gti with be fully equipped with water leaks from door seal, rattling from trunk, passenger seat, dash, and will have wind noise come though the door at highway speed. not acceptable for a brand new $27k car IMHO!

I'm a General Sales Manager at a Mazda VW dealership and I'm on my 4th Mazda in a row. If i had ten bucks for every time I got a recall email or a tsb on my desk from VW I'd be retired laying on a beach being fanned with a peacock tail by a gorgeous man in a g string.
Buy the Mazda.

I went from an 05 1.8t GTI to a 2010 MS3
Loved the GTI even though it was derpy, slow, and problem-riddled
Not planning on going back to a VW any time soon

Even the "Golf R" is meh
256hp to the crank, not bad
AWD, haldex system, meh
Price tag: $35,000 (base model)
why would you not STI or Evo for that price?

VW really man? Most of those reviews are done by VW fanboys anyways. Now that you drove the MS3 go drive the tdi and have fun getting passed by old ladies in chevy malibus. lol