I think the MazdaSpeed3 will surprise alot on the road!

 

I agree....you will see some STI and EVO guys upset that Mazda made a car that can keep up now....

 

I love the sounds of it - especially at the price!!! But boy oh boy 268 HP to just the front wheels sounds like a recipe for tire smoke and bad launches, even with a good limited slip differential. But I guess enough so that Mazda had to calibrate the PCM to retard power in 1st and 2nd gear?

Fun, fer sure tho.

 

i get bad launches w/ 170HP, still get the stubborn wheel hop w/ stiffer motor mounts... another 100 horses... sounds like fun! - cant beat that price though.. lotta car 4 the money.

 

damn, i gotta get my 100 shot...I cant be getting beat by no stock mazda,lol

 

Im a bit bitter they stuck with FWD, if they truely want the mazdaspeed3 to compete with its intended competition(ie. STI and EVO) it should be AWD and be packin about 50 more hp imo. Im not gunna lie though im pretty excited to see how it competes, its curb weight is less than the EVO and the STI but its trailing the EVO by 35 hp/10 ft-lbs and the STI by 50 hp/50 ft-lbs.

Im pretty sure that stock for stock the EVO and STI will take the Speed3, but luckily the Speed3 is 8 grand less, so dollar for dollar, the Speed3 Kicks the **** out of the EVO and STI both.

 

about 10 grand 4 the sti $33,000 - evo starts @ $30,000

 

Ok. So how much is the price? About 23K?

 

Starting @ 22,835 according to Mazdausa.com

 

Dam I wish we had those MSRP prices out here in Puerto Rico a base SPEED3 will cost me $29-30g's.

 

i'd get one if it was a sedan...the hatch is too big for a small girl like me

 

I'd love to trade in my protege for a newer MSP3... but I couldn't live with driving a hatch, I'm sorry.. but I'm a 100% sedan only guy

 

same here, love the car but absolutely hate the hatches...on any car

 

MS3 will be awesome. It may even be faster than my MS6 but I needed a bigger car and the AWD will really help out if I decide to launch the car at the track.

 

it trails the STi by 20 lb/ft of torque not 50... and it trails the STi by 37hp.. and the STi puts down about 225 awhp due to the drastic drivetrain loss.. the MS3 should put down around 235-240whp i'm guessing because fwd's have less drivetrain loss than rwd too. The mazdaspeed weighs 3153 the STi weighs 3351 i don't see the STi romping on this car in anything really besides from a stop.. which is the only advantage..