I think the Mazdaspeed looks great but like I said earlier, there are just better options out there for the price. It's just not that quick for the price it warrants. A few grand more and you have a new WRX which will pretty much blow the doors off a Mazda speed in every way.

 

I Am going to have to dissagree with the last statment you made "The WRX beats the Mazdaspeed in every way" I test drove the WRX before I bought the Speed. I was dissapointed, interior quality was not up to par with the Speed, it didnt feel like it was built as good. Look at the rims and wheels of the speed, it comes with Racing hart, and Z rated potenza tires, the wrx doesnt. I can go on but the wrx just wasnt to my liking as much as the speed. I get into the speed and really like everything about it. I got into the WRX and there was just dissapointment, dont get me wrong the WRX is a good car but, Mazda really tried with the speed, and I think they did a good job. The only thing in my opinion that the WRX has over the speed in 0-60 time. other than that nothing

 

Well to each his own. I agree with you that the Speed has a nice interior and a great look. I prefer its looks to the WRX. I've never driven a Speed but have driven a WRX and I thought it was a blast. I thought the seats were unbelievably comfortable and the car was fast as hell and handled like it was on rails. I'm sure the Speed handles awesome as well but I honestly can't imagine it being any better than a WRX. As far as Z rated tires or that the car's interior wasn't as nice as the Protege's....to me those things don't compare to the gains you get in performance. The WRX is hardly a Neon in the quality department.

So when it really comes down to it, the WRX handles as well or better than a Speed (and just about anything else out there) and can blow its doors off powerwise (an extra 57hp will do that) AND has AWD on top of that all for marginally more $. I think this is why you see 10 times more WRX's out there than you do MazdaSpeeds.

 

I agree with that 100%. Mazda took a protege and slapped a body kit and a turbo on it with some wheels and sold it fairly cheap. The subaru seems to be better engineered if nothing else.

The only thing I dont care for is the AWD. Too much extra maintenance , weight, etc...

 

i view the msp as a capable car and look at it as Mazda took a enthusiast and asked what they wanted and took a decent n/a car and boosted it (what a enthusiast would do...actually what i'm doing)

on the other hand, the wrx has been bred from rally racing using its research and development and applying it to its road going cars making it such a formidable opponent (a legend in its own time)...the engine/drivetrain was designed with a turbo in mind from day one where on the MSP it was an afterthought to get those of us who want more power from the protege series

taken that i own a pr5 and seriously considered the wrx wagon...the cost was the deal breaker...both are capable but the wrx is in another class than the msp

 

IMO. Why not modify an economy car for more power? With most muscle-cars you start out with a good engine and bad suspension. With most economy cars it's the opposite way around. Does that make it pointless to modify a GT/Z28 to handle?

Anyone can modify a muscle-car. Getting 300hp out of a I4 and 25mpg is more respectable than a 500hp V8 that gets 8mpg in my book.

 

OK I was wondering: The MazdaSpeed has a stock turbo boost of 6.9 LBS now I know there intention was to have more of an instant kick from the turbocharger, but it only has 170 HP what would I have to do to boost the Turbo pressure( im aware that this would void the warranty, but Mazda's are reliable cars so im willing to take the chance), what would I have to buy to do this, I would appreiciate all of you Mazda enthusiats input and knowledge....thanks

 

im sorry to break this to yall but it will take tons and TONS of $$ to make an ES look and perform like a msp. even if u do all the work urself u cant tocuh the performance of the msp for anywhere near the price. itll take more than springs and sum brakes to make it handle the same, etc.

 

Anyone can modify any car. All it takes is money. If your checkbook is deep enough, you can make anything you want out of anything. Theres no "respect" involved as far as Im concerned. Been there, done that. How fast do you want to go? How much money do you have.......

Economy cars dont have "bad engines". They have very good engines, they just arent designed with big power in mind.

My point was your going to have a lot more trouble to make any decent power out of an economy car. The more you modify a car, the less reliable it becomes. Modifying an economy car for big power is not as reasonable or financially prudent as starting with a car that has power and aftermarket support to begin with.

If you want to spend more money and go through more headaches to still get your doors blown off, knock yourself out.