The AI-generated cat pictures thread
03-06-2012, 12:17 PM
#8661
^I have a Speed6, minor mods. The AWD system is a complete POS. It bumps and clunks all the time trying to figure out where to send power. The clutch is the worst I have ever driven in any vehicle ever. Power is from 3000-5000 and that's it. The stock ECU basically kills all power above 5500.
Inside it's just like a stock Mazda6, which is to say pretty darn good. I love the Mazda interior schemes of the last few generations of cars. Bose stereo is good for a stock unit, and my leather seats are pretty comfy.
Aftermarket is decent but not exactly cheap. Mazda6club and Mazdas24/7 classifieds are ALWAYS full of used MS6 goodies. An intake/intercooler/axleback is good for about 50whp and an equal amount of torque. Accessport is the easiest way to tune, but there are a couple actual piggybacks that people have been working on for years.
The engine itself is actually very robust. Guys who have blown them were really trying to either explore the limits or violated the basic rules or tuning. Transmission is generally regarded as indestructable. There are quite a few issues with various parts of the drivetrain/differential being fragile. If you do a little homework, you'll discover dif-mounts and engine mounts being issues.
There is ZERO argument on the planet to purchase an MS6 over a Subaru Legacy. The Legacy has a better drivetrain, cheaper to mod, faster, more bulletproof, sounds like racecar, more stealth, and roomier inside plus bigger trunk. You might argue that the MS6 is better looking, or that Subie's are played-out... but you would have to justify buying an inferior vehicle in the MS6 as well.
Additionally, I will point out that mine has been absolutely flawless. I am not gentle when I drive it... I kinda hate-drive when I'm in the thing... you know, like seriously going to town on a really fat chick. You have the confidence that you can't hurt her, so you really give her all you got, and not in a nice way.
Someday if I've got an extra $500 to blow on it, I'll probably invest in a used Accessport and Cobb SRI intake for the extra ponies, and to get back the lost power above 5500... but for now, I've learned to look past how bad the drivetrain is. Besides, it's my wifes car.
Oh yeah, don't buy one.
Inside it's just like a stock Mazda6, which is to say pretty darn good. I love the Mazda interior schemes of the last few generations of cars. Bose stereo is good for a stock unit, and my leather seats are pretty comfy.
Aftermarket is decent but not exactly cheap. Mazda6club and Mazdas24/7 classifieds are ALWAYS full of used MS6 goodies. An intake/intercooler/axleback is good for about 50whp and an equal amount of torque. Accessport is the easiest way to tune, but there are a couple actual piggybacks that people have been working on for years.
The engine itself is actually very robust. Guys who have blown them were really trying to either explore the limits or violated the basic rules or tuning. Transmission is generally regarded as indestructable. There are quite a few issues with various parts of the drivetrain/differential being fragile. If you do a little homework, you'll discover dif-mounts and engine mounts being issues.
There is ZERO argument on the planet to purchase an MS6 over a Subaru Legacy. The Legacy has a better drivetrain, cheaper to mod, faster, more bulletproof, sounds like racecar, more stealth, and roomier inside plus bigger trunk. You might argue that the MS6 is better looking, or that Subie's are played-out... but you would have to justify buying an inferior vehicle in the MS6 as well.
Additionally, I will point out that mine has been absolutely flawless. I am not gentle when I drive it... I kinda hate-drive when I'm in the thing... you know, like seriously going to town on a really fat chick. You have the confidence that you can't hurt her, so you really give her all you got, and not in a nice way.
Someday if I've got an extra $500 to blow on it, I'll probably invest in a used Accessport and Cobb SRI intake for the extra ponies, and to get back the lost power above 5500... but for now, I've learned to look past how bad the drivetrain is. Besides, it's my wifes car.
Oh yeah, don't buy one.
I knew you had one so I was hoping you'd chime in. I still have my eyes open for the right LGT, but trying to find a decently priced GT Limited that's not in Oregon is ------- near impossible.I do like the interior of the 6 and the exterior is just enough for me. Overall looks good, but the speed6 looks slightly better. That's sad to hear they're not a fun drive and have multiple issues.
When you say hate drive I know what you mean. I REALLY used to hate drive the taurus. I swear to god if I could get it to a cliff, it'd be going off it. Alas, I'm going to part it out and see if I can make back $1500 or so.
If there's anything about subies I DONT like, its the crowd. Not to say all subaru drivers act like race god behind the wheel. I do like the legacy though. A lot.
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03-06-2012, 12:58 PM
#8665
I know it's not a Dumb ForTwo, but it's very similar in my opinion, so I just wanted to throw this out there:
More than half of people who purchased the Smart ForTwo said they would not buy one again.
Considering the fact that the ForTwo is an extremely niche market car, that's a bad thing. I hope the Fiat doesn't have the percieved shortcomings as the ForTwo. Are there any notable long-term reviews on the Fiat 500s yet?
Can't wait... in a couple years I'll have one finally!!!More than half of people who purchased the Smart ForTwo said they would not buy one again.
Considering the fact that the ForTwo is an extremely niche market car, that's a bad thing. I hope the Fiat doesn't have the percieved shortcomings as the ForTwo. Are there any notable long-term reviews on the Fiat 500s yet?
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03-06-2012, 01:05 PM
#8668
Elite Member
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
Posts: 5,360
Total Cats: 43
Overall performance of the car wasn't spectacular but wasn't a turd either. The braking and handling were excellent if you had a set of quality tires. Do I regret buying the car? Absolutely not. Do I regret selling it? Absolutely. Are there better cars for the money Mazda wanted? Sure, just not at the price I paid. Sticker was about $34k on my model and I signed mine at roughly $21k. Considering I don't beat on my cars or otherwise abuse them, it worked out very well in the end. As Sam pointed out, the aftermarket is somewhat limited and very expensive.
Why did I sell it? At the time I had 5 cars and honestly never drove it, decided that money would be better spent on my house instead of a car. Bought in 2006, sold in 2010 after putting 31k miles on it. Was sold to a guy in Florida for my asking price which was 10k more than I owed.
I lost the video of my WOT driveby, but it actually sounded awesome IMO. Wasn't too loud either.
Cold start audio clip:
I know it's not a Dumb ForTwo, but it's very similar in my opinion, so I just wanted to throw this out there:
More than half of people who purchased the Smart ForTwo said they would not buy one again.
Considering the fact that the ForTwo is an extremely niche market car, that's a bad thing. I hope the Fiat doesn't have the percieved shortcomings as the ForTwo. Are there any notable long-term reviews on the Fiat 500s yet?
More than half of people who purchased the Smart ForTwo said they would not buy one again.
Considering the fact that the ForTwo is an extremely niche market car, that's a bad thing. I hope the Fiat doesn't have the percieved shortcomings as the ForTwo. Are there any notable long-term reviews on the Fiat 500s yet?
I haven't found many terrible reviews on the 500 yet, but I'm interested to hear what actual owners of the Abarth think. They're supposed to show up in dealers sometime mid march, but I don't plan on buying anything for at least a couple years.
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03-06-2012, 01:06 PM
#8669
Boost Czar
iTrader: (62)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 79,493
Total Cats: 4,080
I've decided against a subaru, because they are for hippies with dogs.
I'm going with the new speed3 over the speed6. for the price and performance it's such more more bang for the buck.
I'm going with the new speed3 over the speed6. for the price and performance it's such more more bang for the buck.
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03-06-2012, 01:21 PM
#8670
Boost Pope
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,023
Total Cats: 6,591
What really knocked me over was the fact that about a year after his wife bought a Smart, my neighbor, a retired Marine colonel, bought a second one for himself.
While I haven't checked it out personally, I suspect that Col. Wright's ***** has not inverted.
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03-06-2012, 01:50 PM
#8672
I realize this isn't a speed6 debate thread but I wanted to toss in a few comments -
I had a speed3 for the better part of almost 4 years - I mildly modded it and returned it to stock before finally selling it. Obviously I can't speak to the ms6 drivetrain but I can say there are definitely a few reliability issues out there with the disi engine/turbo system even for someone that keeps the car stock.
Here are a few -
1. The pcv system is terrible - There has been a tsb on it and a redesigned valve cover (baffling), inlet, and connection point were all released in order to correct some of it. It does not properly circulate crankcase pressures and will leave you with lots of oil making it's way into the combustion chamber via the intake manifold if you do not catch and correct the issues. Pulling the intake manifold can display the effects of this on a used car.
2. The k04's CHRA was redesigned about half way through the life of the gen1 speed 3. All the speed 6's had the old turbo. It was also redesigned with the hopes of better oil circulation because the pcv issues I mentioned already cause the oil to not drain out of it properly - So instead it gets forced past the seals into the exhaust and smokes out the tail pipe. A very large number of totally stock cars had this issue and turbos and pcv systems replaced under warranty. Lots of people don't catch it though because the car has 2 cats (stock) and you really have to let it sit and idle a long time for enough oil to accumulate and smoke. CX7s have the same issue. An after market downpipe exacerbates the problem on any of the speed cars.
3. There have been several issues with the vvt actuator. There has also been an extended warranty released to replace the actuator and several of the surrounding components up to 70k miles.
My car's engine was replaced by Mazda under warranty at around 53k miles. It dropped 40lbs+ compression in cyl #4 and was burning about a quart and a half of oil a day. I went through a month and a half long battle to get it taken care of. At the time my only mods were an intake, a bov, a downpipe, and a cbe. Needless to say I'd do a compression test on any speed car before buying.
Here's the whole story:
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...erience-47657/
I had a speed3 for the better part of almost 4 years - I mildly modded it and returned it to stock before finally selling it. Obviously I can't speak to the ms6 drivetrain but I can say there are definitely a few reliability issues out there with the disi engine/turbo system even for someone that keeps the car stock.
Here are a few -
1. The pcv system is terrible - There has been a tsb on it and a redesigned valve cover (baffling), inlet, and connection point were all released in order to correct some of it. It does not properly circulate crankcase pressures and will leave you with lots of oil making it's way into the combustion chamber via the intake manifold if you do not catch and correct the issues. Pulling the intake manifold can display the effects of this on a used car.
2. The k04's CHRA was redesigned about half way through the life of the gen1 speed 3. All the speed 6's had the old turbo. It was also redesigned with the hopes of better oil circulation because the pcv issues I mentioned already cause the oil to not drain out of it properly - So instead it gets forced past the seals into the exhaust and smokes out the tail pipe. A very large number of totally stock cars had this issue and turbos and pcv systems replaced under warranty. Lots of people don't catch it though because the car has 2 cats (stock) and you really have to let it sit and idle a long time for enough oil to accumulate and smoke. CX7s have the same issue. An after market downpipe exacerbates the problem on any of the speed cars.
3. There have been several issues with the vvt actuator. There has also been an extended warranty released to replace the actuator and several of the surrounding components up to 70k miles.
My car's engine was replaced by Mazda under warranty at around 53k miles. It dropped 40lbs+ compression in cyl #4 and was burning about a quart and a half of oil a day. I went through a month and a half long battle to get it taken care of. At the time my only mods were an intake, a bov, a downpipe, and a cbe. Needless to say I'd do a compression test on any speed car before buying.
Here's the whole story:
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/foru...erience-47657/
Last edited by cpolly69; 03-06-2012 at 02:06 PM.
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