MX-3 discussion on retrorides
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@b226115045=RustyMx3:
His review is far more pleasing than what I would have written of my experience with an MX3 :wink:
I think your car was loved more by people who saw it then yourself bud, I really want to rat the two but I'd be disowned by family.
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@163146ab34=djmarcopolo:
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/mazda-mx-3-2002727.html
whoever wrote this review needs a right royal fish slap around the face
Oh come on, he's not exactly damning:
@163146ab34:
Theres a genuinely exotic feel to the engine response … Traction from the front tyres is excellent and performance feels a lot better than it actually is. Whilst 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds is as quick as an MGF, the MX-3 somehow feels more exciting, the tiny pistons giving the engine a delightfully light feel through the throttle.
The Mazda MX-3 is a car which sold well in the UK but has been largely forgotten ... Its no longer with us, but that shouldnt be an excuse not to track a good used one down.
the 1.8i is the model to go for if you enjoy driving. Its something with a little splash of exotic engineering, something that was conjured up in a moment of marketing madness.
its a fantastic little car. Buy the newest you can afford and you may have an outside wager on a future classic in your garage.
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@703eab4a9c=RustyMx3:
10.5 seconds 0-60 isn't correct surely
Okay, where did I get that from?
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I only slated him because his style of writing comes across as if he is comparing it to something above its class or was that just me
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yeh i felt that too although he did say some nice things about it as well.
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well the mx is in such a small class anyway so there isnt alot to compare it to. maybe a del-sol but for its day it was a small sports coupe with a V6 (despite it being small) for the same money as a new mondeo with much better performance and handling. in my opinion that makes it in a league of its own ;)
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IMO he's bang on with the entire review. Jap interiors are usually dire, I've had top of the range Lexus motor's and they struggle with quality never mind a more budget considered design, but then has anyone seen a similar aged golfs goppingly bad black interior? Only alfa managed to incorporate a stunningly good interior in cheap models but the rest of the car was shockingly sh*te!
The drive is surprisingly sprightly and the 1.8 does indeed pick up its skirts and run well. You do have to cane it a bit though to get it to respond. I see an advantage here in as much as if you keep your lead boot off the go pedal this car puts out decent MPG and if you want there is a fair bit of zing on tap if you fail to restrain that foot :D
Future classic? I don't think so because nobody has heard of this car now let alone in 5 years time!
I'm feeling the love for the one I bought last week but I'm under no illusion, its not a rocket but it is quicker down my local roads than my previous 300+bhp motor, it's a pleasant place to sit but not as nice as other cars I've sat in. It rides well but you know you are in a small car when you are approaching 4X4's at speed. All round its a good motor or I wouldn't have considered buying one.
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@df0e25d1a8=dangerous:
Jap interiors are usually dire,
Going to have to disagree with you on that one.
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@0c4059c5d5=dangerous:
IMO he's bang on with the entire review. Jap interiors are usually dire, I've had top of the range Lexus motor's and they struggle with quality never mind a more budget considered design, but then has anyone seen a similar aged golfs goppingly bad black interior? Only alfa managed to incorporate a stunningly good interior in cheap models but the rest of the car was shockingly sh*te!
The drive is surprisingly sprightly and the 1.8 does indeed pick up its skirts and run well. You do have to cane it a bit though to get it to respond. I see an advantage here in as much as if you keep your lead boot off the go pedal this car puts out decent MPG and if you want there is a fair bit of zing on tap if you fail to restrain that foot :D
Future classic? I don't think so because nobody has heard of this car now let alone in 5 years time!
I'm feeling the love for the one I bought last week but I'm under no illusion, its not a rocket but it is quicker down my local roads than my previous 300+bhp motor, it's a pleasant place to sit but not as nice as other cars I've sat in. It rides well but you know you are in a small car when you are approaching 4X4's at speed. All round its a good motor or I wouldn't have considered buying one.going to have to disagree too, I previously had an alfa 156 2.0 twinspark pushing out about 160bhp and i would happily say that the mazda is quite a bit faster to 60 (about a second!) and would out drag it on top end too. and as for a dire interior, i also had a rover 618 SI and believe me, that was an awful place to sit. yes the seats were comfortable etc but there was no wow factor. i would happily watch my V6 rev all the way to about 7.2k before i would consider changing gear and know that the engine would take it and it still doesnt feel like it is screaming. if it wasn't for the limmiter i think these engines could have an extra 1k on the rev range no probs ;)
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@02db627610=Lori:
@02db627610=dangerous:
Jap interiors are usually dire,
Going to have to disagree with you on that one.
By all means feel free to show me a jap interior within the non-luxury class that has anything more than a very plasticcy interior, and isn't very bland or dull then. I've had mazda, honda, and lots of toyotas and not one of them had what I would call classy or lovely interiors.
@02db627610=daniel:
@02db627610=dangerous:
IMO he's bang on with the entire review. Jap interiors are usually dire, I've had top of the range Lexus motor's and they struggle with quality never mind a more budget considered design, but then has anyone seen a similar aged golfs goppingly bad black interior? Only alfa managed to incorporate a stunningly good interior in cheap models but the rest of the car was shockingly sh*te!
The drive is surprisingly sprightly and the 1.8 does indeed pick up its skirts and run well. You do have to cane it a bit though to get it to respond. I see an advantage here in as much as if you keep your lead boot off the go pedal this car puts out decent MPG and if you want there is a fair bit of zing on tap if you fail to restrain that foot :D
Future classic? I don't think so because nobody has heard of this car now let alone in 5 years time!
I'm feeling the love for the one I bought last week but I'm under no illusion, its not a rocket but it is quicker down my local roads than my previous 300+bhp motor, it's a pleasant place to sit but not as nice as other cars I've sat in. It rides well but you know you are in a small car when you are approaching 4X4's at speed. All round its a good motor or I wouldn't have considered buying one.going to have to disagree too, I previously had an alfa 156 2.0 twinspark pushing out about 160bhp and i would happily say that the mazda is quite a bit faster to 60 (about a second!) and would out drag it on top end too. and as for a dire interior, i also had a rover 618 SI and believe me, that was an awful place to sit. yes the seats were comfortable etc but there was no wow factor. i would happily watch my V6 rev all the way to about 7.2k before i would consider changing gear and know that the engine would take it and it still doesnt feel like it is screaming. if it wasn't for the limmiter i think these engines could have an extra 1k on the rev range no probs ;)
Er crossed meanings a bit I think. I didn't say the alfa's were quicker cars just that they had a very good interior in them for cars in their class.
I don't deny the mx is a fairly quick car if you push it but I find mine lazy if you don't push it(maybe needs a damn good service and new plugs as mine feels quite hesitant and maybe a bit miss-firey up to 3k rpm under load). Top end doesn't mean alot to me as I replaced a car fully capable of 180 mph that only safely managed 60 on any of the roads I currently use. FWIW driving up to 7.2k rpm is driving a car quite hard IMO.
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@f4017f2787=dangerous:
@f4017f2787=Lori:
@f4017f2787=dangerous:
Jap interiors are usually dire,
Going to have to disagree with you on that one.
By all means feel free to show me a jap interior within the non-luxury class that has anything more than a very plasticcy interior, and isn't very bland or dull then. I've had mazda, honda, and lots of toyotas and not one of them had what I would call classy or lovely interiors.
Since it's subjective, I'm not going to waste my time to highlight what I think isn't dire for you to say it is.
I said I disagree with your view, not that your view was wrong or right.
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@7b26e1a2c8=dangerous:
Future classic? I don't think so because nobody has heard of this car now let alone in 5 years time!
**It's tough to call classics - they can come from anywhere. Just check out some of the shite that's scene-taxed these days. Vauxhall Vivas, Ford Cortinas, Datsun 120Y - when I was a kid, you mocked the kid whose dad had a (probably brown) Datsun 120Y. E30 3-series - what a load of crap they were. Okay, the first M3 should probably have been a safe bet for the future, but even 318s are scene-taxed - dross interior, mangy engine (with no power) and handling like a greasy prostitute. They're no better than E21 3-series (in fact they're barely any different).
The MX-3's death is still too recent (13 years) to decide whether it'll be a classic or not - even the newest ones aren't even at the end of their depreciation phase - but they are at least fun to drive (your experiences are the latest in a list of tales from friends and family who've had better and faster but look back on their MX-3 V6 more fondly than anything else), had the novel selling point of the smallest world-market V6 ever made and rare enough to be interesting. Give it another decade and we'll be better placed to say - but predicting classics is a fool's errand.**
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you'll know its a classic when its on "Wheeler Dealers" !!!
I for one love the interior of the mx-3, imo it doesn't look anywhere near as plasticy as some of todays newer cars….the other halfs astra for example with bobbly grey plastic in just about every orafice !
the only thing that i think could have been a lot better are the seats.the ones in mine look like my grans old carpet lol ! :)
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Hey I never said I loved it yet!!! But I know what you mean. Certain models of the Corrado, the original clio williams and then the clio V6 were touted as future clasics (in fact top gear ran an episode back when Quentin Wilson was on the show about this very topic). The MX3 is a niche market and I personally wouldn't hang onto one for ten years on the offchance its gonna make it big lol.
I do however appreciate where you are coming from with the love thing. My first true auto-mobilia love was for mini's. My first car was a mini because I've always been of the philosophy that I won't buy a car I can't pay for outright. That philosophy went out of the window when I first started commuting to work and I borrowed money for a car but that's another story! Mostly I've stuck to cars I can buy outright. I fell for the mini's outright ability to drive where-ever I pointed it through terrifyingly tight gaps into impossibly small places around incredibly tight corners.
I had my first little glimmer of those sort of memories today in my mx trying to pull out of a petrol station on the dual carriageway that feeds both Bournemouth and Poole at 17:30 with zero slip road (50 mph relentless traffic speed and only 20-30 ft gaps between cars and more concerningly lorries!) . In my last car despite its expensive TC system and its 300+horses and its tyres that cost me more than I paid for the MX3 I have had to wait to find a gap big enough to fishtail the bus into to get out of that station… Today I looked....I judged....and then I burnt some rubber. Its the first time in almost a decade that I've smelled that tyre smoke smell inside my car. I have no doubt that most reasonable powered FWD cars these days have this capability but for today at least I am going to remain thoroughly impressed!!!
The other thing right now that is impressing me is how the car literally flies :) There are several humps in the road I commute on and my last car used to lift itself marginally off the floor and then slam its underside notably the engine under tray and most of a hugely expensive stainless exhaust system into the road, surprising considering I lift most of the cars I've owned rather than lower them.. My range rover couldn't even hope to do rapid on this road without doing a major impression of a blancmange on a paint shaker!! With the MX the front end goes slightly light, the car takes off, the nose comes down and lands smoothly and you can feel the pulling you forwards again. Then the back end pops itself back down on the ground as an afterthought when you are already hard on the gas looking at the next jump :D
I think I may well end up falling for this lump of metal outside I bought in Lieu of a rover 200 diesel I was convinced I'd buy back from the same best mate of mine that had an MX3 10 years ago for the commute drudgery trip.
Not sure I would ever crack past a grand for one though!
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@871b41cb80=dangerous:
without doing a major impression of a blancmange on a paint shaker!!
This made me dribble a little wee LMFAO… I do love your way with words sir :)
The mx3 while almost nothing on paper, is a damn pleasure to drive and has a few surprises for people that drive them, I'm really shocked that they are not bigger within the modding community.
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your right I dont think alot poeple realise the potential it has regarding the amount of different engine swaps nor its great handling ability round corners, and how good it looks slammed with some phat 'ol rims. I do think that they might be realising soon though :wink:
It seems to be what the 205GTI is to the UK, but to the Americas, Canada etc, cheap great fun car with charachter that can be tracked and thats easy to work on.
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@e1de97778d=youdirtyfox:
your right I dont think alot poeple realise the potential it has regarding the amount of different engine swaps nor its great handling ability round corners, and how good it looks slammed with some phat 'ol rims. I do think that they might be realising soon though :wink:
It seems to be what the 205GTI is to the UK, but to the Americas, Canada etc, cheap great fun car with charachter that can be tracked and thats easy to work on.
Dude I owned an aristo for years, in fact I arguably owned the most famous aristo there will ever be. Anybody that knows the Japanese tuning scene will know that Do-Luck make practically the top end of styling and heading that way performance material. Mr Ito is the owner of said company. My car was his first foray into the tuning market. It was equipped with 600 bhp of mostly HKS extra's. That car won an award at the tokyo auto salon in 92 and that is the equivalent of winning an award at the British motor show!! Yes I had some issues with it but the car struggled to sell and I ended up flogging it for less than the value of the engine and turbo setup.
Slamming is definitely off the cards for me. One of the things I love about this car is its ability to soak up massive bumps and jumps with the same verve as my range rover did.
Engine swap??? Probably cheaper than the huge money folks spend on single turbo upgrades on supra's but really why?? Stick even more weight up front when its already front heavy? What's the weight difference between the 2.5 block I see bandied about on here and the 1.8 lump? Is it just a re-bored or over-bored version of the 1.8?
Dunno anything about the american market :)
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Dood I subscribe to the built not bought policy Im afraid, anybody with enough dosh can buy a high end car, not many can build one though. So what it is your trying to say here? apart from the '3 is faster round corners (and over bumps) than a ££££ 600hp mega beast! :P
Whilst my turboed and slammed car when finished would never sell for the 3K its going to cost I know I could break the car and make nearly 2k back no problem.(paid £900 for the car)
Engine swaps can be done for under a grand so can turbos with this car,
that is afterall what the backyard tuner society want, cheap reliable fun power with a hint of sleeper. My workmate was runnning a second hand greddy turbo kit on his miata 1600 for years that cost him £500 for everything, and gave great reliable results.dunnno about 2.5 Im afraid, Im a 1.6 kinda guy ( will end up making the same power with phase II of the project though;)
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@1341b1ed71=dangerous:
What's the weight difference between the 2.5 block I see bandied about on here and the 1.8 lump? Is it just a re-bored or over-bored version of the 1.8?
**Just about none and yes, in that order.
Though I largely agree that, at least to be considered a classic, a car must be able to stand on its factory merits - which is why one of my MX-3s, the 1998 last-batch model, is mechanically standard besides replacement wear & tear items. That said, the number of 205 with Mi16 swaps doesn't detract from the classic status of the 205 GTI and nor should the number of MX-3s with KL swaps detract from the status of the MX-3 V6.**
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@56156b5ada=youdirtyfox:
So what it is your trying to say here? apart from the '3 is faster round corners (and over bumps) than a ££££ 600hp mega beast! :P
dunnno about 2.5 Im afraid, Im a 1.6 kinda guy ( will end up making the same power with phase II of the project though;)
NO no no I never said the 3 was faster than the 600 bhp car just the MK2 bargy type one on the roads I drive on now. The Do-Luck car would if it didn't keep breaking utterly destroy the 3 and rightly so the money it flaming cost. What I am angling at here is that having owned multiple aristo's I am more than familiar with owning a highly underrated virtually unknown vehicle.
OK so I can now see why you'd stick a 2.5 V6 in if its basically the same lump as the 1.8.
Has no-one considered putting a 2.5 TT 1JZ-GTE lump in an MX3? Lightweight inline 6 that if you chuck a single turbo on it is more than capable of over 500bhp, granted you'd have to put the power out the back which going on the weight distribution would be quite difficult.