2010 MS3 questions

[skatethesea]

First off, I love it. I feel a little weird in it still. But I am getting used to the clutch feel and the shifting is a lot longer than my S2000. But I can deal with it for a daily. Otherwise it is an amazing car. Cant wait to hit 500 miles so I can really try her out.

Okay now for the questions. When I get in the car it says Zoom Zoom and Welcome. I think this is "adorable" as my female friends say, but I would like to change it to say something else. Do any of you know how?

I am worried about the Tire Pressure Monitoring System also. If I got aftermarket rims. How will this effect this system. If not at all, then good. If I loose it completely, who cares. I check my tires regularly.

And I was told that a set of springs from an 09 MS3 would be fine for the 2010. Is this correct? And will it void any warranty?

TIA

Skate

 

[nynhex]

First off, I love it. I feel a little weird in it still. But I am getting used to the clutch feel and the shifting is a lot longer than my S2000. But I can deal with it for a daily. Otherwise it is an amazing car. Cant wait to hit 500 miles so I can really try her out.

Okay now for the questions. When I get in the car it says Zoom Zoom and Welcome. I think this is "adorable" as my female friends say, but I would like to change it to say something else. Do any of you know how?

I am worried about the Tire Pressure Monitoring System also. If I got aftermarket rims. How will this effect this system. If not at all, then good. If I loose it completely, who cares. I check my tires regularly.

And I was told that a set of springs from an 09 MS3 would be fine for the 2010. Is this correct? And will it void any warranty?

TIA

Skate

First off, welcome to the addiction!

I'll address your concerns in order:

Shifting: The clutch that is included in the 2010 (and 1st gen, I assume) is equivalent to a "race clutch" somewhere in a stage-1 range. With that being said, there's a bit more pressure required to engage the flywheel/clutch. You'll get used to it, trust me. I'm almost used to it and I'm at about 40 days of ownership.

ZoomZoom: That'd be cool if you could get it to say something else. I'm not sure if this can be done easily. Your best bet is to ask the service manager when you see him, some of them dig stuff like that.

TPMS: From my understanding the TPMS will have to be re-calibrated, but is in fact totally usable. You should be good here.

Springs: That's the big debate right now. No one that I've heard of has dropped their 2010 MS3 on springs yet. Everyone is afraid of what might happen since the car is a tad heavier/etc. From my research our suspension is very close to the 1st gen. I don't see why a set of springs would be a problem. In fact, I'm probably going to get a set of H&R springs and throw them on my car in the next couple of weeks. I'll have a thread about this one, I'm sure. As far as voiding your warranty, it may indeed void your suspension warranty (struts/sway/springs/etc), but your mileage may vary and it depends on how mod-friendly your dealer is. Why not ask?

If you have anymore questions, post it up!

 

[ridenfish39]

Shifting: I have trouble with my 1-2 shift when the car is cold, so I just double clutch until it's warmed up. I have one of the E-4 knobs on my shifter, it's really heavy and makes shift effort much easier. Next mod will be a short shift plate.

Clutch: every car is different and takes a bit of time to get used to and drive smoothly. My 04 Acura TL had the most difficult clutch to drive smoothly. Everyone who got in it for the first time stalled it.

TPMS: When I had my new rims installed they just switched them from my stock wheels.

 

[slashsnake]

Well I had a teggy with a stage 2, so the clutch feels pretty smooth to me (my wife would disagree).

As for the TPMS, mine went off the other day. Had me worried for a sec, till I remembered that happened in my Xterra and pressures were all just a tad low due to outside temp (was about 10 degrees), was 15 the other day, checked the pressures and seems to be the exact same thing here. No Problems so far.

I wanted to get past that break in too. Went out on a long drive, switching between interstate, highways, and frontage roads (keep RPM/speed changing), got it done in a hurry, and have put 100 miles on it the last couple weeks (snow every day I am off... grrr).

 

[gogogomoveit]

Well I had a teggy with a stage 2, so the clutch feels pretty smooth to me (my wife would disagree).

As for the TPMS, mine went off the other day. Had me worried for a sec, till I remembered that happened in my Xterra and pressures were all just a tad low due to outside temp (was about 10 degrees), was 15 the other day, checked the pressures and seems to be the exact same thing here. No Problems so far.

I wanted to get past that break in too. Went out on a long drive, switching between interstate, highways, and frontage roads (keep RPM/speed changing), got it done in a hurry, and have put 100 miles on it the last couple weeks (snow every day I am off... grrr).

Owner manual actually states no special break-in procedure is needed. So I think a couple short sprints never hurts. I just passed 700 mile mark on the car..(whistle)

 

[skatethesea]

So it has been two weeks and my MS3 has 2950 miles on her. hahahaha. And I tell you what. I dont think I would have a cent in the bank if I would of done that with my S2000. And I fit a sh*t ton of stuff in it also. That was awesome!!

 

[slashsnake]

Owner manual actually states no special break-in procedure is needed. So I think a couple short sprints never hurts. I just passed 700 mile mark on the car..(whistle)

690 miles now here...

They said it isn't really a "break in" but in the manual it says not to run same speeds for long distances, run high RPM's for long periods of time, race the engine, full throttle starts, or hard braking for the first 600 miles.

 

[nynhex]

690 miles now here...

They said it isn't really a "break in" but in the manual it says not to run same speeds for long distances, run high RPM's for long periods of time, race the engine, full throttle starts, or hard braking for the first 600 miles.

It's pretty much general guidelines/common sense break-in fodder. Personally, I adhered to it for about 1200mi (at 2700mi now) just to be sure. Nothing like precaution. One can never be too careful.

 

[slashsnake]

It's pretty much general guidelines/common sense break-in fodder. Personally, I adhered to it for about 1200mi (at 2700mi now) just to be sure. Nothing like precaution. One can never be too careful.

Yup, which is why, as much as I want to get down to our local track for some lapping days (2.5 mile 15 turn rolling hills), I'm gonna wait a bit longer.

 

[gogogomoveit]

Yup, which is why, as much as I want to get down to our local track for some lapping days (2.5 mile 15 turn rolling hills), I'm gonna wait a bit longer.

Word. Looks like I am going to be another Laguna Seca spectator at least for this month.

 

[bluedragon10]

Im new to the mazda family myself. if u find out how to change the "zoom zoom" let me know. I want mine to say " welcome my master" lol

 

[coololddude]

I broke mine in driving out of the lot!!

 

[Stavesacre21]

As for the TPMS, I drove all winter on winter rims without TPMS, so I can tell you what will happen if you don't add them. The warning light will come on...and stay on. It's a lil annoying when driving in the dark, but that's about all. That and it flashes for about 30 seconds everytime you start the car up.

Adding a 2nd set is very easily. As a matter of fact, the manual states a few things to reset the sensors...but i'd found that just simply driving around for a good 10-20 minutes will reset the codes and the light will go out. Easy as could be. Touche', Mazda.

As for the clutch, it's not too bad. Nothing even CLOSE to as horrendous as the Speed6's trainwreck. The clutch is VERY annoyingly difficult in the first 2-3 minutes when you start up in a cold climate, but then levels out. You'll be fine.

 

[Newf]

As for the TPMS, I drove all winter on winter rims without TPMS, so I can tell you what will happen if you don't add them. The warning light will come on...and stay on. It's a lil annoying when driving in the dark, but that's about all. That and it flashes for about 30 seconds everytime you start the car up.

Adding a 2nd set is very easily. As a matter of fact, the manual states a few things to reset the sensors...but i'd found that just simply driving around for a good 10-20 minutes will reset the codes and the light will go out. Easy as could be. Touche', Mazda.

As for the clutch, it's not too bad. Nothing even CLOSE to as horrendous as the Speed6's trainwreck. The clutch is VERY annoyingly difficult in the first 2-3 minutes when you start up in a cold climate, but then levels out. You'll be fine.

I have an 06 speed, original clutch. I don't find it bad in cold conditions really, but overall, yeah it sucks compared to the Speed3.
Actually it sucks compared to almost everything I've ever driven. They really messed up the speed 6 clutch
Nice to see that Mazda did it right with the TPMS. With no sensors in my accord, it permanently turns on traction control and you can't disable it with the button. This is bad is deep snow or on a slippery hill as the car won't have any power. Matter of fact it can be dangerous and I'm surprised they are even allowed to do it this way.

 

[Stavesacre21]

I have an 06 speed, original clutch. I don't find it bad in cold conditions really, but overall, yeah it sucks compared to the Speed3.
Actually it sucks compared to almost everything I've ever driven. They really messed up the speed 6 clutch
Nice to see that Mazda did it right with the TPMS. With no sensors in my accord, it permanently turns on traction control and you can't disable it with the button. This is bad is deep snow or on a slippery hill as the car won't have any power. Matter of fact it can be dangerous and I'm surprised they are even allowed to do it this way.

I just realized that I didn't word that paragraph properly. When I was talking about the cold start clutch, it was referring to the Speed3, not the Speed6.

To set the record straight, the Speed6 clutch was a mess anytime...not only at starts. So bad was it that they even put out a TSB for clutch replacement. The BIG error on Mazda NA's part was that they made it a TSB...not a recall (as it should have been). Making it a TSB gave every dealership the option to refuse to do it for the typical BS reasons. I gave up after 3 different dealerships refused me. I even did the adjustment and while it did help, it still wasn't acceptable IMO. It's a cryin shame too, because I wanted SO BAD to love that car. AWD, nav, sunroof, leather, fully loaded GT...it had everything I wanted. However, after the clutch issues, a new tranny that took 6 weeks to get installed (while I drove a rental for 6 weeks...thanks Mazda NA), the infamous studder, and seat rails that would let the seat click around...I couldn't take it. I do miss it from time to time, but all I have to do is think about all the troubles and it's a short lived memory.

But yeah, the TPMS doesn't affect anything besides the dummy light which may or may not get extremely annoying (depending on your temperment).

 

[Cannondale]

Regarding the OP about the TPMS, if you buy new wheels without TMPS sensors, the warning light on the IP will light up. How do I know? Last winter, I ran Borbet LV5 wheels without TMPS sensors, so the little light light was illuminated all winter. As long as you check your tire pressure, it's no big deal.