Well now that I've read more of this post I can tell you that I bought a new FX16 GTS in September of 86. What a sweet little car that was. We turned it into a SCCA ITA race car in 92 & ran it for a number of years. I sold it & it still survives as a race car today. Now on to the 81 Starlet I had. Great gas mileage & a fun car to drive. Very tossable on the dirt rally roads in Southern Ohio. One of the most fun cars that I've owned.

 

i wanted the Honda City TurboII... 5sp manual over 100hp!
from a 1.2L intercooled 4 banger.

 

I was reading about a new "king of the hill motorcycle" with 1.4 litres of NA madness. 200 HP!, 4x 44mm throttle bodies. Quarter mile in 10.1 at 140 with an inexperienced driver! Serious trouble lurks....

Matt

 

^^ dang...

 

If you've ever seen it, it goes uphill quite a bit. No world records getting made there!

Matt

 

is the MS3 already available in the west coast? beta testing?

 

and I've heard of some pre-orders going in, but I haven't heard of any deliveries. The aritcle did say available now, but the Mazda USA web site says that the car is coming, and some of the specs aren't final...

Matt

 

One of my friend's got his VIN number. My SO is still waiting. :impatient They're supposed to go into production this week (I believe) and will be delivered in September.

 

Maz needs to be careful not to release faux hp like they did
on their RX8 when it was first released. they made a
fool out of themselves then and then after releasing the AT
version that is no faster than a stock Civic. lol

if they're building this week, you'll see it in Oct.

 

Mazda may be making a habit of overstating HP figures. They did the same with the Miata a number of years ago.

 

yeh, they're known to be wannabies...

 

I flat love my MC, but am among the few here who really like the looks of the M3 hatsh, 5dr, wagon, whatever. I don't really think I'd buy the Mazdaspeed version unless they managed to tame what's got to potentially be enough torque steer to build Popeye forearms trying to keep the beast going straight. 160hp is just fine, thanks. Mazda RX3 rotary was my first car - great fun to rev. Had an '88 or '89 Mazda RX7 convertible that was a very decent car. Lots of mini drivers here do love their hp, but as Kenchan said, it ain't just about that . . . the sheer, tactile goodness of my little 115hp Cooper makes me love driving it somewhat more than my 225horse Audi tt, which cost twice as much new. And I do love to just look at either of those cars in the garage sometimes

 

Looks like the new turbo MCS has a JCW figure to shoot for: +/- 250 hp; otherwise Mazda is going to eat BMW's lunch with the Mazdaspeed 3. This little bugger is the new benchmark for pocket rockets.

BMW it's time to step up to the plate and hit a grand slam with a new high horsepower version of the gen2 MCS.

 

in the first two gears the MS3 limits boost so that peak torque doesn't rip the tires loose (sounds like a fun place for tuners to play)....

And it's quite the package. It's a 5 door though... Think if all that fast fun was in a 3 door!

Some people who post here will have some first hand experience to report on the fast three soon enough.....

Matt

 

Thanks for all the info. I've been looking into the Mazdaspeed3 lately and knew I'd find some more opinions here.

I'm considering an 07 MC, MS3, Honda Si Sedan and Audi A3. The A3 is too expensive and the nearest MINI dealership is about 100 miles away and me and BMW Dealerships aren't really compatible. The honda looks nice but has no torque, the Mazda looks cool but I'm not sure about reliability with all that HP and Torque. I take a regular Mazda 3 for a test drive.

I'm going to try and drive all of them and wait till December when I can play around and build a loaded MC or base MCS because nothing comes close to a MINI in terms of style and all that. But 250 hp for the same price as 120 really makes me think twice.

 

If you're planning on choosing between a MINI & Mazdaspeed3, you need to at least compare it with a MCS.

 

i think you're going to like the CivicSI sedan too... even my EX sedan has
very quick steering similar to my MCS and feels a lot lighter even with its
small 140hp motor and 5sp AT.

 

I don't think I get this. With performance in mind, the more you load an MC the further away it starts to get from the MCS in all respects. The only exceptions to this rule would be the sports suspension, sport seats and the cooper works or whatever package.

 

I'm considering a MC because I mostly just want something that is fun to drive. I used to have a 04 MCS. I have two kids so 4 doors would be nice but not mandatory. I don't need a fast car, I just need a car that is not boring. However fast would be fun which I why I like the idea of a Mazdaspeed3.

 

the Mini used to be a unique, niche vehicle. Now there are others that are similar in performance, sometimes better, and much less expensive. What is Mini to do? What was a market pretty much owned by Mini is now wide open....

Matt

 

The MS3s will be on the boat shortly, if not already.

I didn't buy my MINI because of hp or handling. Those aren't what really makes a MINI a MINI, they're just part of the total fun factor!

 

hope they don't tip the boat over this time...!

 

No, no, no! Lightening cannot strike twice. My SO already lost his first MINI on a sunken ship. It simply cannot happen again. :impatient

 

congrats on the MS3, its gonna be a SWEET car, and will set the standard in the hot hatch market (so I'm a little biased being a current mazda3 owner, but the regular MZ3 revolutionized the small car segment IMO). The SRT-4 Caliber will try and compete, but will be bloated and top heavy by comparison (but have more hp). As the torque limiting stuff indicates though, more hp isn't necessarily gonna make the SRT-4 any faster I don't think, this is really the limit of what FWD can handle. And for $22.5k!? are you kidding me, cheapest hp/$ out there

 

Here is AOL's write up from this morning.

http://autos.aol.com/article/general...19143709990001

It's a little heavy, but it's a bigger car after-all. I still marvel at how heavy the Mini is despite it's size. That's the price of safety these day. That is definitely an impressive powerplant they have in that thing. I'm curious how it really handles.

Gives me an idea to take a 24 hour test drive on the next autocross day.