Any more pictures from Detroit of 2003.5?

I'm going to Detroit next Sunday (Last weekend) to see the Auto Show. When i'm there, i'll remember to take more pictures of the Titanium Gray MSP. If the Yellow and hopefully it's there, i'll take some pictures of that one as well....

But, i guess those pictures will have to wait 'til i attend the show. ;)
 
I didn't insert the image, to save bandwidth for those who have seen the pic before. You have to click the link.
L.E. - if you take some good pics, I'll buy you a beverage. :) (drinks)
 
I was at Detroit yesterday

Hey guys. I'm new to the board and I'm currently in the process of deciding between the MSP or Nissan SE-R SpecV to replace my Altima when the lease is up.

I was at the Detroit show yesterday and have a couple of pics of the MSP, but should have some ones that are worth posting later this week when they get developed.

OK, before I say this I should warn people that this might make them angry. When I was at the Detroit show my friend and I visited the MSP display and were quite impressed. We then left for lunch and came back. We went back to the Mazda display and saw that the trunk of the MSP was open. At first we were quite excited that we could now look in the trunk at the Kenwood stuff back there. However we were both soon horrified to see that some had actually ripped the spoiled off of the trunk! That's right, someone actually got away with ripping the spoiled off the dark silver MSP on display in Detroit.

We were both upset and couldn't believe that they let someone get away with this! So anyone who vists the show this week let me know if they replace the deck lid and the spoiler.

I'll try and post the better pics when I get them scanned later this week.

Until then and pros and cons that will help me decide between the MSP and the SpecV would be helpful. :)
 
The MSP looks nicer. It is faster through the slalom. It has a better stereo (reportedly). It is a limited edition model. Sport compact car ranked it well above the Spec-V in their battle of the sport compacts.

The Spec-V is cheaper. ($4000 in Canada) It's seats have much more aggressive side-bolstering. It is not a limited edition (therefore may have more factory and aftermarket support). It has more colour options.

That's about it, for me. Anyone else care to chime in? You can also do a search for topics related to this question; I'm sure there are a bunch of threads already.
 
AltimaSE: The MSP is going to be more of a hard riding suspension than the SpecV on Michigan roads, but that also means its going to handle better at the limit when you autox or go to the track. The MSP has a little longer wheelbase than the SpecV, so there's more interior room, especially in the back seat. The SpecV engine has about the same amount of torque as the MSP, but it peaks a little later at 4000rpm vs 3700rpm. If you can, get the Jan 2003 issue of SportCompactCar which compared 8 sport compact sedans for around $20,000 US. The SpecV placed 5th, the MSP 2nd. If you want more, see if the article is posted at www.sportcompactcarweb.com. If it isn't, ask me for more info and I'll post it.
 
hey altimaSE...i would go with the msp but yes they did have the spoiler fall off actually when somebody opened the trunk up...it flew open fast and just flew off. cause when i went over after it had fallen off(thank god i got pics of it b4 it happened) it literally rocked the whole car back and forth. and i read on the info board next to the car that they are coming out with a yellow msp also...not sure if thats going to happen or not but...it said they were. but im posting pics tomorrow after i get off work guys so...visit the mazdamp3 forum alright.. i have a post up over there and im posting them there. and if you guys want any other pics...like the new srt-10 truck...they didnt actually have it there but we drove by and got some pics at a place and of some new vipers and a few srt-4s....we have some....also have pics of me and a few friends in a couple of vipers at my friends dads work...or just any pics of any other car i may have taken at the car show... i will burn cds and we will work something out. also will try and post a video..not sure bout that yet or not but pics of msp ill for sure post tomorrow and others of other cars will follow. email me if you have any questions.
 
dan00k said:
...and i read on the info board next to the car that they are coming out with a yellow msp also...not sure if thats going to happen or not but...it said they were.
Click to expand...

Yellow 2003.5 MSP: http://www.mazdamp3.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11494


I'll add to a few things AutoXer has said about Spec V vs. MSP (although there are a ton of threads here on the subject, and over on www.b15sentra.com ):
Shifter feel in the Spec V is a bit disappointing (especially in comparison to previous Nissans even.) Its way too easy to overshoot the gate on the 4-5 upshift and head towards reverse (which is beside 5th since its a 6-speed box). The 5-speed in the MSP isn't perfect but it is a better in this respect. (My ideal shift feel would mimic the 5-speed in the Miata).
I found the ride of the MSP to be acceptable even on less-than-perfect pavement. It is far less punishing then the car I'm driving now, but would leave my car behind in the twisties in about 2 seconds. Haven't driven the Spec V over bad pavement, but I do know it rides stiffly. Unfortunatly, I drove the 2 cars several months apart, so my memory is too foggy to make a comparison between the two as far as ride comfort goes.
 
I went to the show in Detroit took a few pics and will post them here once I scale them down...the grey looks nice the rear spoiler isn't as bad I thought it would be, i can live without the front fogs...but what really pissed me off was the fact that it had really nice steel tubing for the turbo and air filter...my tubing is all black plastic and looks like crap...
 
pictures from detroit

DSC00104.JPG


DSC00105.JPG


DSC00106.JPG


DSC00107.JPG


DSC00108.JPG


DSC00109.JPG


And yes the gril is my girlfriend...as long as she is happy sitting in this one I don't have to worry about her driving mine...:)
 
Wow! Thanks digi! That was fast!
I'm on my way out of work now. I'll have to look them over carefully at home and digest them a little.
 
the metallic flakes are there, but it doesn't seem as dominant as the orange. I mean with the orange it's obvious. The grey it seems less so.

Gorgeous color though.

Something else I've been afraid of is that the 2003.5 will have a more refined turbo....like better parts, hence the pipes. I wonder is this one of the final releases of the car?
 
Last edited:
I wonder why they replaced the piping with aluminum now? What was wrong with the plastic ones? I hope there's nothing wrong with the current ones in our cars.

Although i'm sure if it is better in anyway, it won't be hard to replace ours with the aluminum ones.

Damn, can someone make an intake available for our cars already?
 
My guess is that those are old parts, not new parts. I wouldn't be surprised if the parts on the titanium car came off one of the orange or black pre-production cars. Notice also it doesn't have "Mazdaspeed" on the heat shield.
 
the plastic pipes tend to crack...in certain weather extremes...I would prefer the metal pipes, but I tried to take the plastic ones off and they wouldn't come off...
 
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