BreakTheStatic

Well maybe I can shed some light on this cause I traded in my turbo tC for the exact same car as Steve (Cosmic Blue MS3 GT). On the tC I was running the Turbonetics kit with the boost turned up to 9.5psi. I can say, without a doubt, that the Mazdaspeed 3 pulls much harder than my tC did... and having that limited slip really helps out on the launches. The Mazda puts good power to the ground, whereas the tC would spin pretty much through 1st,2nd, & some of 3rd gear. Don't get me wrong, the tC is a great car overall, but the performance didn't stack up when compared to a car that was built from the factory to be a little rocket. As far as handling goes, the the car seems to hug the road pretty tight, even in stock form. I can take onramps a good 15mpg faster in this car.

ScubaLubaSteve

I've had the car for a couple months now and I absolutely love it. A few things about it are a bummer though.

1 - The stereo doesn't play MP3 disks, even though its Mazda's top-of-the-line Bose system. I was fine with that though since there is an aux jack in the center console that you can plug MP3 players into. I brought the car back to Mazda for them to install Sirius, but apparently to install Sirius they need to uninstall the aux jack. They never told me about this though, they just put a sticker over the jack. So a few days later I decide to plug in my MP3 player, open the console and there's the sticker. I was ____ed. So i brought it back to the dealership and they can reinstall the aux jack but it will cost $200 for parts and labor. Thats such b.s.

2 - Monday morning as I'm leaving for work, the TPMS warning goes off. So I go to Town Fair Tire and they pull off a tire and say it needs a new valve stem. So they put it on and I'm on my way. Three days later the warning goes off again. So I am going to bring it back to Town Fair Tire, but I'm starting to suspect there is something wrong with the TPMS.

3 - Gotta spend $600 on snow tires, bleh

4 - Still bummed about no sunroof.

The good things:
1 - The power is pretty intoxicating, lol. I have found that I'm accidentally driving like a jackass now. It's so easy to pass people and squirt into little openings between cars on the highway, floor it through yellow lights, and take corners at sill speeds.

2 - I'm not a racer and where I live doesn't really permit me to do drive in any "illegal" ways. I still punch the gas when I'm able to, but I usually shift around 3000 rpm. I'm getting 26.2 mpg. Thats better than I got in the TC. I think that is crazy impressive in a car that's heavier and has so much horsepower and torque.

3 - I get compliments on the color all the time. But only one person has known it's a Speed3. So, while I like that the cops don't seem to know what it is, I was hoping more people would come up to me and say how hot they thought my car was. It happened several times with the TC and even a couple times with my 02 Sentra SER Spec-V.

Congrats BreakTheStatic! Hope you love the car as much as I do

rjj130

Not to thread-jack or bring back a month old thread, but I'm thinking of saying goodbye and going after an 07 MazdaSpeed6 GT.

I test drove one last week and love it.

I'm close on a price that I like so hopefully have it by next weekend...

BreakTheStatic

DO IT! It's the last year for the Speed6 (at least this generation)

kevbow

I came really close a few weeks ago to trading in my TC for a super red Speed3....I test drove one at tony march mazda.....I must say...a very impressive car....lots of power and torque.....handled great.....the only reason I didn't was because the interior seemed kind of flimsy inside.....like they used cheap plastic......and my monthly payment would have been $430.00 a month.....but overall a nice car......best bang for the buck.

BreakTheStatic

Cheap materials compared to what? The materials on the ms3 are at least on par with the tC, if not better. Now if you're looking for BMW fit & finish, no it's not of that caliber. But I think the ms3's interior is nicer overall than the tC's (with the exception of the tC's panoramic moon roof... I miss that.)

rjj130

Yeah... I think I'm having second thoughts now... I want the GT as it has everything I want... but could afford the Sport no problem. The GT is like $3k more.

The other thing is monthly payments. I'm look close to $480 a month on a car that gets worse mileage and requires premium fuel. Double bummer!

I think I may try to get some other debt paid off first and explore a larger fun car later...

Though I still am 50/50...

BreakTheStatic

Well, from what I remember when I was looking for my car, Mazda was having some difficulty moving the ms6 at msrp so they were offering some really nice incentives to shrink their inventories. I saw a sport trim level ms6 for almost the same price I paid for my 3 ($24,500 for the ms3 and $25,200 for the ms6). Check out some dealers and see if they have any cash back incentives, etc... Might be able to get that GT for the price you want.

rjj130

I have them now at $26,244 for the GT which is a hell of a deal. it's about $5k off of MSRP.

I'm just still trying to get out of the whole post-college debt phase and would like to try and be debt free in a year. That would be the greatest thing ever.

I'm still thinking heavily on it...

BreakTheStatic

Yeah that really is a great deal. Sorry for being the little devil on your shoulder...

kevbow

When I went to check out the Speed3 even though they had all kinds of incentives and deals on all the other mazda's.....I was told by the salesman that mazda does not allow any of the deals or incentives on any of their speed series models. If they did I probably would have gotten the Speed3.

kevbow

I think the overall look of the Speed3 interior is nicer than the TC.....but the overall quality of the material they used seemed flimsy......the TC seems to have a thicker, better quality plastic.....the Speed3 plastic just seemed to be thinner and cheap...like it would break or crack easily.....but I will say the seats in the Speed3 were much nicer than the TC.

BreakTheStatic

The Speed3s are selling very well (and Mazda only made 5000 of them for 2007), so they don't need to offer any incentives. The Speed6s weren't doing as well from a sales standpoint (not sure why, they're great cars!), so I know most dealers were taking off a few thousand on them at least. Even without any incentives though, the Speed3 is a great deal; it can hang nicely with cars costing almost $10k more. It's like the next incarnation of the SRT-4, cheap, fun power

kevbow

I agree.....turbocharged....263hp...290tq.....for 23k.....a sweet deal. I hope they come out with an AWD Speed3. Then your up at WRX territory....which is also a nice car...but 10k more.

rjj130

Alright, I'm calling the dealer today at lunch time and offering him this...

$26,244 for the MS6, - $11k for my tC and have them throw in a free 72month/100k mile warranty.

If they agree to those terms, I'm in... I'll keep ya posted.

BreakTheStatic

Good luck! Hope it works out. For what it's worth, I got $13k on the trade for my 05 tC ( with around 22k miles on it).

rjj130

I have 55,000+ miles on mine... that is what hurts it.

I may go $11.5k for it...

rjj130

I ended up getting the car..

I ended up getting it for $25,000 out the door + tax and tags.

That includes my trade and what I owed on the tC...

I sign the papers next Wednesday...

kevbow

The speed3 or speed6?

BreakTheStatic

Congrats! You won't be disappointed