elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

I was disappointed by my MS miata too, but I bought it anyway. It really was a great car in my opinion, still quicker than a ton of cars too. Traded the MS miata for an MS6, while its not the powerhouse some people seem to think it is, thats not why I bought it. If I wanted some crappy 400hp 4 door I'd have bought an SRT4 or a WRX, but I wanted something quality and reliable.

Having owned it for almost a full year now, put right at 9900 miles on it honestly its a fantastic car. Starts every morning, gets me from point A to point B, good economy, insurance is dirt cheap, and I got a killer deal on it. Paid 20,900 for it brand new off the showroom floor, fully loaded minus navi (had them delete that crap) and no sunroof which is fine, one less leak.

I did add a catback exhaust to the car which sounds great IMHO, and I can set the cruise at 80mph on the highway and aside from the exhaust note the car is virtually silent. Aside from the PCM reflash which I had them do and an alignment, oil changes, everything is perfect with the car.

Acceleration isn't bad, but could be better. Still quicker than hundreds of cars, stops better than most for a 3600# sedan, handling is fantastic on it (with adjustable balljoints anyway) and some sticky tires. Heated leather seats, GREAT sounding stereo, what more could I ask for?

Bottom line, its NOT an EVO and wasn't designed to be an EVO.. For my needs, its a great car.

Newbsauce

iTrader: (2)

Most surprising car I drove was my friends jetta VR6 with some mods.. not a bad amount of torque.
Least impressive.. GTI 1.8 turbo.. even with a chip it felt slow as hell.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

I couldn't disagree more. I like mine less and less every time I drive it. I wish I'd bought a standard Mazda6 V6. The AWD system is terrible, absolutely crap. The engine has a horrible tune and consequently there are serious inconsistencies across the build dates of engine power output, mileage, powerband, etc. The clutch is the worst I've ever driven in any car (and I have the motor mount and have done the pedal mod). There are several known defects that Mazda has taken forever to acknowledge... broken differential mounting brackets, broken axles, leaking turbos, crankshaft seals, dif seals, mysteriosly snapped connecting rods on bone-stock motors... the list goes on.

Mazda has also taken an overly aggressive stance on warranty voids for minor and unrelated mods. A test-pipe and (non-Mazda)CAI pretty much voids your entire warranty (don't preach Magnusson-Moss to me). Mazda is claiming that anything that could even possible affect the boost IN ANY WAY "could have led" to an increased possibilty of failure... BLAH BLAH BLAH... and are telling people SOL! Sorry, your K&N panel filter directly led to an overboost condition which snapped your #3 rod... that'll be $8k for a new motor! You can shake your head, but they're doing it.

I've got a great working relationship with my dealer, and I've spoken personally with the service manager about my soon-to-be-installed TP and my plan to purchase the Mazdaspeed CAI (which is a rebadged AEM piece) and he says no problem. I always go there in uniform and make sure I say the right things, so I might be a special case. I might be looking into the Forge BOV as the stock one is known to leak badly... we'll see.

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

That sucks for some, I really like the car. Granted mine was one of the first few thousand produced so I dunno. Not sure if you've got a specific case in mind, but I'm on the Mazda forums and have yet to see anyone with a rear end failure without a sub 2 second 60' claim in their signature. I wont disagree that the car can't do what mazda supposedly built it for, but thats beyond my interest in the car. Except for my gauges, subwoofer/amps, and catback, and monster ground cables my car is totally stock and will likely remain that way until I trade it in. Far as warranty goes, well, I'll just say I'm 'in good' with the dealership I purchased the car from and won't have any problems having my warranty honored.

Kid came into teh dealership one day when I was there with a messed up motor that was knocking. Had a TMIC, exhaust, CAI, BOV, and I think water injection. The service writer told him they couldn't do anything with those items on the car, he left and came back a day later with a completely stock car. He got a new motor.

Not going to deny the way Mazda is doing their customers is pretty fucked up but they're not the only ones doing it. Worked for Subaru for a while and they're screwing over their customers just as bad. :( Pretty sad, I worked at a ford dealership back when the 03 cobra came out and they'd warranty the car with an after market pulley on the charger no questions asked.

adjemin

Drove an '01 S2000 and it felt like a brick, heavy and stiff, twitchy at the limit (the sales rep got nervous on an on ramp @80+mph). 9Kredline was intoxicating, almost worth the purchase, but around-town manners and the price of admission were enough to break the deal. If I had the opportunity to track it at 6-9K, things may have been different. For how stiff it was, build quality (no squeaks, etc.) seemed excellent.

Drove an '05 S2000 (2.2 w/8k redline) and the sensation was similar, but with the softer rear seemed 0.1 sec behind the front in corner entry--more comfy for a DD, even with +1 wheels--the early car is the one I would buy. Just watch for spinouts, from what I hear.

A friend-of-a-friend is a higher-ranking engineer at Chrysler. He got the keys to a then-new '03 Viper(the 500hp one) and was giving rides. I nearly peed my pants with excitement. I then got a ride and nearly peed my pants a second time. The locomotive thrust, especially how it just keeps going (even at 120+) is something to experience firsthand, as is the lateral force generated by the steamroller tires.

Then I drove a '99 Miata. More fun than I imagined, even clapped-out (rusty, bad alignment, clicking/half-broken engine, etc.). Smaller, more tossable, more fun, period.

Fortunately, the same dealership also had a 190K-mile '91, the dealer's personal car, which he let me drive. I then experienced a new level of car love (flame suit on, and don't even bother--keep in mind what site we're on). A bit rattley over bumps, but still felt good revving to 7K and merging on highways. More tossable and fitting-like-a-glove than the '99. This is the one I want, I thought. Only maybe (definately?) with suspension and a turbo. Funny how it was more fun than the Viper...