Poetic Paragraph: Mazdaspeed accessory review

[Antonio DiMarco]

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=122361/pageNumber=1

One paragraph stuck out for me:

"It's an old story. A huge team of highly skilled engineers devotes hundreds of thousands of man-hours to optimizing the design of a production car. Then, some yahoo picks a bunch of parts out of a catalog while he's sitting on the can, and slaps them on his car with the help of two buds and a case of Coors. Can you say "prescription for disaster"?"

I found this paragraph particularly poetic with respect to many of the threads I read here. It's my biggest pet peave about those Monday morning quarterbacks among you who thinks they can design a car better than the hundreds of engineering hours that goes into a classic like the Speed 3. Those who slap on bigger turbos and huge diameter exhaust stick out most, as well as those idiots who expect Mazda to fix their cars under warranty when a mod goes horribly bad.

No offense to those of you who ACTUALLY know what your doing.

Otherwise Edmunds certainly gives the Speed 3 a fair share of exposure.

I can't wait for mine.

 

[silverspeed03]

The pieces Mazdaspeed offers are nice, just to expensive to justify spending that amount of money when the return is not that impressive (from what the numbers show). Although I'm sure it feels better, I still can't see myself spending the amount of money they ask.

I would think with the "huge team of highly skilled engineers devoting hundreds of thousands of man-hours optimizing the design of a production car." That they would have surely fixed something as obvious as the motor mount issue by using a stronger/more solid unit. No doubt the Mazdaspeed 3 is a fantastic piece of machinery, their other efforts weren't so fortunate. Take for example the MSP. Don't get me wrong I loved, and I do mean loved, my MSP but, it seemed as if it was just thrown together at the last minute. I mean it excelled in the handling department but the engine blew, literally and figurativley. I guess all I'm trying to say is that just because a part is a mazdaspeed part doesn't mean that is the best part for the job. Most of the people on this forum buy their mods from aftermarket companies based on some kind of backed/proven information like dynos, videos..etc.

Ok. I'm tired of typing and it's 85 degrees and sunny, time for a drive!!!!!!!

 

[Falconx84]

it all depends on what you want to get out of the car as well

with those thousands of man-hours designing, you can be sure that not all of that goes into one area... a vast portion of it goes into cost-saving measures, quiet operation, etc -- see thin paint and a completely messed up restrictive stock airbox

They design cars so that the mainstream will like it, but it's up to us to customize the car for what we want/expect out of it. That's the beauty of tuning - not settling for a cookie-cutter, one-size fits all approach

 

[ecniemann]

it all depends on what you want to get out of the car as well

with those thousands of man-hours designing, you can be sure that not all of that goes into one area... a vast portion of it goes into cost-saving measures, quiet operation, etc -- see thin paint and a completely messed up restrictive stock airbox

They design cars so that the mainstream will like it, but it's up to us to customize the car for what we want/expect out of it. That's the beauty of tuning - not settling for a cookie-cutter, one-size fits all approach

Ha, just got a laugh out of your signature: "speed dent". Is that like the Simpsons episode where Homer is using a pick-ax to put speed-holes in his hood. "They're speed hole FLANDERS!!!"

Yeah I know, off topic, but funny nonetheless.

On topic: I'm sure they design the car as best as possible within reason, nothing is perfect, and regardless of what parts they use others will look for a "better" one. Also, using premium parts for everything would likely bring the cost up to unattainable or unreasonable levels for most of us. Therefore, those that want to mod have the aftermarket for that.

 

[Falconx84]

again, off topic, but the speed dents serve same concept as with a golf ball. All the little dimples actually serve to reduce drag. therefore, the more dents and dings I have, the less parasitic drag will affect the car, and it'll help improve my 1/4 mile times!! (smash)

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/golf_balls.asp

I first discovered this theory when working with my 15 year old hondas (rockon)

 

[fourthmeal]

Well that explains why my old 91 Supra Turbo was faster in the 1/4 after the baseball-sized hailstorm it went through. It looked just like a golfball.

Or maybe it was the new turbo.. (shrug)

 

[Haltech]

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=122361/pageNumber=1

One paragraph stuck out for me:

"It's an old story. A huge team of highly skilled engineers devotes hundreds of thousands of man-hours to optimizing the design of a production car. Then, some yahoo picks a bunch of parts out of a catalog while he's sitting on the can, and slaps them on his car with the help of two buds and a case of Coors. Can you say "prescription for disaster"?"

I found this paragraph particularly poetic with respect to many of the threads I read here. It's my biggest pet peave about those Monday morning quarterbacks among you who thinks they can design a car better than the hundreds of engineering hours that goes into a classic like the Speed 3. Those who slap on bigger turbos and huge diameter exhaust stick out most, as well as those idiots who expect Mazda to fix their cars under warranty when a mod goes horribly bad.

No offense to those of you who ACTUALLY know what your doing.

Otherwise Edmunds certainly gives the Speed 3 a fair share of exposure.

I can't wait for mine.

I have never owned a car that remained stock and after 20 yrs, i dont plan to start anytime soon. Every car has its limits, however... knowing the limits and respecting when a car is at its max is crucial... This is where experience comes in... I wouldnt call anyone here an idiot for trying to learn.. They do become the idiot with their parts hanging all over the car after its punched a hole in the block and they know why.

 

[Antonio DiMarco]

I woudn't blame the highly skilled engineers...

The pieces Mazdaspeed offers are nice, just to expensive to justify spending that amount of money when the return is not that impressive (from what the numbers show). Although I'm sure it feels better, I still can't see myself spending the amount of money they ask.

I would think with the "huge team of highly skilled engineers devoting hundreds of thousands of man-hours optimizing the design of a production car." That they would have surely fixed something as obvious as the motor mount issue by using a stronger/more solid unit. No doubt the Mazdaspeed 3 is a fantastic piece of machinery, their other efforts weren't so fortunate. Take for example the MSP. Don't get me wrong I loved, and I do mean loved, my MSP but, it seemed as if it was just thrown together at the last minute. I mean it excelled in the handling department but the engine blew, literally and figurativley. I guess all I'm trying to say is that just because a part is a mazdaspeed part doesn't mean that is the best part for the job. Most of the people on this forum buy their mods from aftermarket companies based on some kind of backed/proven information like dynos, videos..etc.

Ok. I'm tired of typing and it's 85 degrees and sunny, time for a drive!!!!!!!

You have a good point about the engine mount issue. But I doubt the mount was due to "bad" engineering, more like it was a batch of faulty parts. Mazda put that car though the ringer (look at the the Sport Compact Car article along with the majority of MS3 owners who never had the issue for proof) before the released it. 9 times out of ten a failure in the field is due to the parts quality of certain lots.

I keep going back to consumer reports in the late 90's when EVERY popular Japanese manufacturer had issues with Body Hardware and A/C. Black dots everywhere including from the likes of Honda and Toyota (the supposed kings of manufacturing quality). The reality is that they all used the same basic OEM parts from Nippon-Denso that turned out to be marginal.

Do you actually think Toyota designed and test cars with marginal parts? Nope. Nippon Denso had issues with manufacturing. Late 90's Maximas and a few other Japanese manufactures had similar issues with bad Hitachi-sourced Ignition coils. Up until the post Millenium "Renault-inspired" models, Maximas were among the most bullet-proof cars on the road, which means the basic design was solid, while the Hitachi coil was the result of faulty manufacturer.

At least that's my opinion.(gun)