Thinking about buying a MS3...need your help

[Cevaes_64]

Dang.... All of them are hit in the front.... that means one thing only.... A combination of Torque steer and pussyness maybe?

[Raider]

Naw. Those are all SURE Gorilla Arms. Yup. All of em.

[SpeedThrizzle]

Originally Posted by Raider I have 2 kids. I LOL at the guys at daycare unwilling to let go of their high school civics with 1993 American Racing wheels, and trying to cram 3 kids in the back seat like they are Romanian gymnasts. And then watching them try to stuff a 2 kid stroller in the trunk is just as entertaining. Reason I went MS3 was for how well it was received for safety. Guys have had 60 mph head on impacts and survived, rollovers, and a bunch of other stuff, and have made it. I just honestly could not see any other 4 door hatchback at the time doing this. Believe me, once you own the MS3, you spend the $25 for VIP, do the "married guy modding" (I have no $ either for stuff now) and score pre-owned parts for a fraction of the cost. Will save more than $25. My thread on buying a used MS3 is also golden if you go that route.

Thanks I actually read your thread over more then once already. I'm trying to make sure I can recognize potential problems before I sign my reliable Tacoma over to somebody. I'm sure little mods here and there will happen over time but for now but buddy has an rx8 with stock rims he will sell me for cheap so ill throw those on with a nice suspension until I get bored withy the stock power. I'm going to go test drive a few today and will let you guys know later this evening.

Thanks everybody for all the feedback...I was expecting more answers along the lines of "search button pwns joo" lol.

[ANITIX87]

Originally Posted by Raider Seems good to me.

I'm just going by the Monroney stick that was on my car and on the 2013 MS3 at the NY Auto Show. Two stars for rear side impact.

TIS

[CW42]

Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

[Playaj]

Originally Posted by CW42 Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

U definitely have something wrong. I thought I got shit mileage at 250 a tank but average about 285-300 and not grannying it either

[Raider]

Same here.

[Cevaes_64]

Yeah.... really wrong , Iaverage 26 mpg hand calculated.... you better keep it out of boooosssstttt

Sent from my SPH-L900 using JellyBombed Tapatalk 2

[CW42]

Been in the dealer about 100 times. They've declared that it's just the way the car is and isn't something that can be fixed. They triple checked everything and replaced every part that could cause the problem so I'll just assume some of these cars are good and some are rotten.

[Cevaes_64]

I also drive all interstate cruising at 70-75 all times

Around town might be different

Sent from my SPH-L900 using JellyBombed Tapatalk 2

[MS6 Sanchez]

Originally Posted by CW42 Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

I get around 280 on the speed6

[Jooky]

Originally Posted by CW42 Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

That's crazy! I get anywhere between 250 - 300+ depending on driving conditions. And that's normally the mileage right when the light comes on to fill it up. If that was a brand new car and it's been to the dealer numerous times already, I'd pursue some sort of Lemon law to get the car replaced (unsure if such a law exists in the Great White North)

[ANITIX87]

Originally Posted by CW42 I only get about 168 miles out of a tank

Whattttttt? That's 10-12MPG. There's no way that's what you're getting. Even driving like a Formula1 driver around town, I can get 16-17MPG.

Originally Posted by CW42 They've declared that it's just the way the car is and isn't something that can be fixed.

No, there is 100% something wrong, or the gas you're using is the worst stuff ever created anywhere. With good gas (Shell, Exxon, etc) I get 260 miles on a tank if I'm driving hard, and 330 miles on a tank if it's mostly highway. I got 25.6MPG over one whole tank coming home from D.C. a few weeks ago.

Originally Posted by Cevaes_64 Around town might be different

Of course but not like what he's describing.

TIS

[MonstaSpeed6]

Originally Posted by CW42 Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

Get a retune, I got pretty bad mileage until I got tuned, now I average 28mpg highway with AWD.

[SpeedThrizzle]

Originally Posted by CW42 Make sure you have an extra 600 dollars or so set aside for gas each month. These cars seem to have horrible mileage. I only get about 168 miles out of a tank and I granny drive mine. Fun car in some ways though.

I would be at the stealership everyday bugging them about that. My TACOMA gets better mpgs then that and it's a v6 double cab (heavy). My 1st SRT was modded to shit and I would average 19-20 mpg. Go back and complain until they replace every possible part that can affect that shit. You're only shooting yourself in the foot by not pushing the issue. They don't give a fuck... It's not their money going in your gas tank

[CW42]

Speed: That's exactly what I've been doing for 18 months. It's cost me a fortune (price of another car) for them to throw parts at this thing and do every possible test and check known to man. Got nothing. They said whatever is causing the cel to keep coming on and the horrible mileage is completely unrepairable. All tests and logs have been sent to Mazda Canada and Japan and they said the same thing. Not repairable. What's maddening is that even if I bought a new engine the same thing would happen and it would eventually be destroyed as well by running so rich and being flooded with gas constantly. I'm just ignoring it at this point and I'll hope it lasts until I can pay it off then dump it and never darken Mazda's door again. I lost my life savings and more to this car and nothing was even remotely repaired.

[ANITIX87]

Have you talked to your local NATOR guys? Get involved with them, you may find them to be more helpful than the dealer. The knowledge some of the NATOR guys possess is just stupid.

TIS

[CW42]

Unfortunately, I'm in Nova Scotia. They would have been the first ones I would have sought out if I lived in the U.S. Dealer visits never go good for me.

[ANITIX87]

There must be NATOR guys in Canada, no? @Tokay444; you're a Canuck, right? Can you point this guy to people who might help?

TIS

[Tokay444]

Yes. But I left the "scene" up here. I'm an honorary Nator New York member now.
Up here we have "Mspeed". Well, in Toronto anyway.
I know. Mwho, right?

[pochylkospeed3]

i have'nt had a single problem with mine, i love it and I was a Honda guy before the ms3, the car is better in every single way and if you don't plan on modding it i don't think for any reason it would be unreliable to you at all. mind you going WOT all the time with any car will lead to problems. My advice is get the ms3 and find your first true love.

[SpeedThrizzle]

Originally Posted by CW42 Speed: That's exactly what I've been doing for 18 months. It's cost me a fortune (price of another car) for them to throw parts at this thing and do every possible test and check known to man. Got nothing. They said whatever is causing the cel to keep coming on and the horrible mileage is completely unrepairable. All tests and logs have been sent to Mazda Canada and Japan and they said the same thing. Not repairable. What's maddening is that even if I bought a new engine the same thing would happen and it would eventually be destroyed as well by running so rich and being flooded with gas constantly. I'm just ignoring it at this point and I'll hope it lasts until I can pay it off then dump it and never darken Mazda's door again. I lost my life savings and more to this car and nothing was even remotely repaired.

Why would a completely new motor duplicate the same scenario? If its a new motor & ecu whatever the problem with the current motor is would be gone. Lemon law your car and get a new one. Every car has lemons brother. I was heavily active in the SRT community years back and in the years I spent with them I must have seen at least 4 lemons. I'm talking complete pieces of shit. There are just to many people that have had a great experience with this car for it to be complete junk.

A side note just to vouch for Mazda. My wife has a protege and after being married to her she tells me she's only changed the oil 3 times and I've changed it for her 2 times. It has 115k on the motor and it runs like a champ. That's pretty damn reliable to me. Honestly you can't peg an entire company from one experience. My first skittle ran like a beast with not a single problem. My second one on the other hand (bought used with only 12k) ran like a fags beat asshole...shitty

[Jooky]

Originally Posted by SpeedThrizzle ... ran like a fags beat asshole...shitty

[SpeedThrizzle]

Well I went to Mazda today at 8 pm and they close at 8... They left a 13 white ms3 unlocked so I sat in it. It was nice as hell...I'm going back tomorrow to drive it. Keep you guys posted

[silvapain]

Originally Posted by SpeedThrizzle Well I went to Mazda today at 8 pm and they close at 8... They left a 13 white ms3 unlocked so I sat in it. It was nice as hell...I'm going back tomorrow to drive it. Keep you guys posted

White is the best color for the Pu. And the '13's have the sweet LCD display in the dash.

Do it son!

[lamp3]

I prefer the silver...

[SpeedThrizzle]

^this I love liquid silver...it was nice as hell though. Interior was top notch and I loved the keyless start and entry

[reckywind]

great thread and a fun read for sure haha. Im 29 with a 1 yr old now.. I used to own a 2007 FA5 in NBP and modded clean to death.. loud as fck and fun as hell.. I got my genpu two months before I found out I was gonna be a dad and traded in my paid of 2005 Altima SE-R and bought my Genpu now... Do i love it? HELL FUCKING YEAH!! Do i miss the backseat space an FA5 has? definitely!! Honda parts are cheap and numerous by Mazda standards, but they are 2 very very different cars. I can honestly say the FA5 sedan I had was really fun because of how it felt overall. It didnt have to have a ton of power ( I dynoed at 205bhp tops with full bolt ons) to be fun and tossable but it didn't have boost.. I love my genpu and how it delivers boost and how it handles.. I do wish the transmission was as buttery smooth as the Civic Si's but maaaan.. I love the MZR engine!! I think both cars have alot to offer in different ways.

[CW42]

For some reason I thought the OP was buying a used one when I first read it. My apologies. The new ones are probably better and I'm sure any car that's only a couple of years old with little miles is going to get nothing but praise. Duh. From my point of view Mazda isn't so great. I've had all used cars and all of them had a LOT more miles than this MS3 and I haven't had much (if any) problem. To be told that a car with 60,000 KILOMETERS is not fixable by the company that built it is pathetic to me. To rob my bank account then NOT fix a car is deplorable. No other car company has ever done this to me or told me this. What idiot engineers design a vehicle that can't be repaired??? All I know is I'm staying well away from Mazda when this nightmare is over. If I can even recover from it. I tried to stay positive about this car but at this point it's impossible. No one has a clue about the car, it eats more gas than 2 hummers and it has the acceleration of a loaded dump truck. What a gem.

[SpeedThrizzle]

That does suck dude, I would contact corporate at this point and threaten legal action. I mean from what you have said you have been coming out of pocket for the repairs and they still haven't fixed the problem. Just to save face you would think a giant car company would at least right the wrong. Are you stock or have you turned it in to them with mods?

[ANITIX87]

Well @CW42; you're clearly frustrated, but yours is a very unusual case. I still think it would be a good idea for you to take a trip to the USA and talk to some of the Northeast NATOR guys if the Canadian community isn't as developed. I realize you live about as far out there as someone can live (right near the SR111 memorial, it seems, and that crash is close to my heart in many ways).

I'm all for you getting your problem resolved, but you have your own thread and I don't think it's fair for you to continuously post and bitch about Mazda and your car in many different threads. You're discouraging people from buying the MS3 for a case that's the only one I've ever heard of.

TIS

[lamp3]

I second that motion! If you have your own thread, keep it there man. As far as cars and problems go. I have owned many cars from numerous manufacturers over the years. I also used to be extremely anal, which I have dulled down some lol. The bottom line is regardless of manufacturer, until cars are built by something other than humans their will always be issues and they will be different from car to car. Some worse than others, there is no perfect car.

That being said. There is truly a very real problem that needs to be addressed by a competent service department. A lot of times that's one huge part of the battle. Finding a service dept. that's not full of complete tools.

[Raider]

I will 3rd it. I have never seen this before on any other MS3.

Now my 2000 GMC Sonoma. Now that was a steaming pile of shit. And I suffered with more than 300 others who reported seat problems to NHTSA without a care, as well as 20+ OTHER defects.

Never seen a Speed3 spit a 12" flame out of the alternator, but I did get my GMC. Because Fuck GM, thats why.

[CW42]

Speed: We have zero consumer protection up here when it comes to used vehicles (not much for new either). You can put in a complaint and get an arbitrator. From what I hear they almost always side with the dealer though. Then you're really screwed. Can't sue the car company either up here. They're protected. Legally they aren't actually responsible for anything even if they rob you blind. This is one area where Canada really stinks for the average person. It's all about protecting businesses up here.

I've read about a couple of others with my problem. There's also tons of people on these forums that keep getting this code every once in awhile no matter what they do. There's no excuse for this as far as I'm concerned. I'm even angrier now because since I got it back this week, it "mysteriously" won't start every now and again. A bit too much of a coincidence if you ask me.

[MS6 Sanchez]

When my second gear synchros took a shit, it took a year to repair but they eventually did it. Every other problem that I've had has been MY fault and I have repaired it and learned from my mistakes. I've learned just a little, how to take the valve cover off, how to time the car, install mods, and fix certain electrical problems. For me it's been a pretty decent experience and it's nothing I wouldn't change for the world. You can pretty much do all the work on this car on your own and I love that about this platform (except for tuning and pnp). The information, and help you get from the guys on here is superb! There's no other community like this. Just remember that when you get the car you're going to have a lot of people behind you to help you, answer questions and also have your back.

Just my .02

[SpeedThrizzle]

Went and drove a 13 w/tech package..loved it. I'm on the hunt for one now big time. Time to trade in the taco. That tech package is crazy with all the extra shit and keyless entry and start. Anyway thanks for all the help guys. Ill post pics when I get one!!!

[nayilsi]

I had an 8th gen Civic Si. Took it all the way to 109 000 miles and totalled it. Got an Is 350 after that.

The Si was a great car until I drove a Speed 3.

[Limeybastard]

Originally Posted by CW42 For some reason I thought the OP was buying a used one when I first read it. My apologies. The new ones are probably better and I'm sure any car that's only a couple of years old with little miles is going to get nothing but praise. Duh. From my point of view Mazda isn't so great. I've had all used cars and all of them had a LOT more miles than this MS3 and I haven't had much (if any) problem. To be told that a car with 60,000 KILOMETERS is not fixable by the company that built it is pathetic to me. To rob my bank account then NOT fix a car is deplorable. No other car company has ever done this to me or told me this. What idiot engineers design a vehicle that can't be repaired??? All I know is I'm staying well away from Mazda when this nightmare is over. If I can even recover from it. I tried to stay positive about this car but at this point it's impossible. No one has a clue about the car, it eats more gas than 2 hummers and it has the acceleration of a loaded dump truck. What a gem.

Don't judge Mazda by a dealership they are not Mazda but merely a franchise licensed to service and sell their goods.

[[R]usty]

Originally Posted by CW42 Speed: We have zero consumer protection up here when it comes to used vehicles (not much for new either). You can put in a complaint and get an arbitrator. From what I hear they almost always side with the dealer though. Then you're really screwed. Can't sue the car company either up here. They're protected. Legally they aren't actually responsible for anything even if they rob you blind. This is one area where Canada really stinks for the average person. It's all about protecting businesses up here. I've read about a couple of others with my problem. There's also tons of people on these forums that keep getting this code every once in awhile no matter what they do. There's no excuse for this as far as I'm concerned. I'm even angrier now because since I got it back this week, it "mysteriously" won't start every now and again. A bit too much of a coincidence if you ask me.

Damn sucks about your speed. Sorry you have to go through all of these problems. I hope this experience is not ruining the Mazda image in your mind. I assure you they are a great auto manufacturer. The one you bought is obviously a lemon that someone pawned off on you. This kinda stuff happens to all car manufacturers. I've even heard of a guy who had a lemon GTR. He posted a video on YouTube showing his GTR would not accelerate to save his life. He would literally have to launch it to get it moving. It had too many issues to count. He ended up hiring a lawyer and they got it all sorted out. I think he even ended up with another GTR and loved it. Goes to show that there are lemons everywhere.

[socaltouch13]

Get whatever will fit your lifestyle man. I bought a '13 speed3 in march because its fast, and like you said It has enuff power so i wnt want to do too much to it. Careful with that. seeing as how you have had srt4s and an eclipse, this vehicle will manhandle those and once youre hooked, lemme tell you, you will be hooked! Its unfair to judge a speed 3 on reliability because the oldest one you can encounter will be about 6 years old because they came out in 07. Reliability has a lot to do on scheduled maintenance and wether you drive like an asshole or not. I want to start a family and with the damn money I paid on one these, im gonna make sure it lasts me at least until the second coming of jesus muthafuckin Christ yo! If you do purchase one the best thing you can do is donate to this site and ask whatever the hell you choose or search and you can bet someone will help you with that a sarcastic, tough love attitude which is what keeps me coming back to this site. Best of luck to you. Oh yeah, and do you really want a car you see every fucking way you turn???