looking to buy a 09 MS3.

[fr0st]

But i have questions.

Never thought i'd be doing this again, buying a speed. After spending countless hours and money on my MSP to achieve close to 200 WHP and having tons of problems.i said to myself never again...but here i am again..(boom06)

But this time, i'm taking a diffrent approach torward this and will not mod as much.. i want reliability...if such a thing exists with a MS3.


my mods would be CAI, BOV(something noisy) and a catless mid pipe( i had very good results with that mod on my MSP)



problems :
so far i've found ( yes i used the search button) :

bad mounts, fixable
grinding gears 2 - 3 ?? i assume abuse ??
knocking on start up ( injectors?)


questions

1- is the paint as bad as on the msp ? does it chip as easily ? will i end up with fender wells with rust in like 3 years?

2-can a test pipe be installed without any issues other than installing a fouler plug for the
O2 sensor like on an MSP ?

3- are the gears grinding that bad ?

4-are the turbos smoking that bad ? why ? bad turbos or abuse?

5-any other issues i should be getting ?



i found a 09 speed GT near hear with a good price and low miles.

thanks

 

[Tungsten6]

I dont have a Ms3, but we have had a MS6 for 4 years (35,000) and we have had zero problem with it.

As for your Issues:
1) The paint is pretty high quality i think. The MS6 has a 2 or 3 chips on it and i dont think i have heard Ms3 owners complaining about the paint quality. If people do have alot of chips its probably from bad roads and following people to closely on the interstate.

2) Test pipe, you should be safe with. I would never buy a downpipe for it though. (it seems like alot of ms3 owners with catted/catless downpipes are the ones who smoke alot. My friend has a Corksport Test pipe and he has had it for awhile now and he doesnt have any problems.

3) No grinding gear problems on our MS6. I have recently seen people talking about it though so it may be a problem, but i dont really know.

4) I think its a combination of abuse and the catless exhaust. If i got a MS3 (which im thinking about) there is no way i would get a downpipe. Yea you get a shitload of HP from it, but at what cost? to risky for me.

5) The Ms3 seems to be a really stable car. People will tell your otherwise but they are modding the s*** out of them. What do you expect? its going to blow. but your coming from a MSP so i know i dont have to tell you anything about issues. lol.

 

[fr0st]

yeah issues,MSPs sure have their share.

i don't get your point about the the downpipe leading to turbo smoke and not a catless mid-pipe..a test pipe right?.

it takes the cork out of the exhaust and should technically be less harsh for the turbo since their is no cat to brake the flow of gas out. Alot of wrx guys do that so they won't hurt the turbo if they up the boost.

and besides, i love the fireballs

 

[Tungsten6]

Thats just my theory.. it seems that most of the people who have smokey turbos usually have a downpipe. i mean i have seen people with the test pipes that have done it also but it may be less likely i dont know..

Personally if i was getting a ms3. i wouldnt even touch the exhaust.

SRI, TIP, AP, Springs, and maybe a FMIC and i thats about it

 

[spdjnke]

A local member close to me is selling his 09 CWP MS3 with only I believe 18000 miles if your interested.

 

[Remspeed3]

problems :
so far i've found ( yes i used the search button) :.......... I've had 0 issues to date..my 09 speed3 was bought new in Nov 08..it has 33xxx mostly highway miles..my mods are Cobb Sri, Hypertech Flash and Eibach springs on stock shocks and upgraded wheels. The car is night and day IMO with the two power mods I have.

bad mounts, fixable.............................. Rear Mtr.Mount is a must have!!
grinding gears 2 - 3 ?? i assume abuse ??......gears grind when tranny is cold mainly...mine still do even with the Motorcraft Tranny fluid everyone raves about!
knocking on start up ( injectors?).............I haven't notice any knock with mine


questions

1- is the paint as bad as on the msp ? does it chip as easily ? will i end up with fender wells with rust in like 3 years? ....paint on my CWP has chipped pretty easy IMO..but I do drive the highway 5 days a week!

2-can a test pipe be installed without any issues other than installing a fouler plug for the
O2 sensor like on an MSP ?................n/a

3- are the gears grinding that bad ?....answered above^^^

4-are the turbos smoking that bad ? why ? bad turbos or abuse?.....from what I hear its mainly cars with DP's

5-any other issues i should be getting ?......n/a on this

Hope this helps alittle.

 

[b e z]

I havent had my black mica speed 3 very long, going a little more than 2 months i think. I bought used with 24,495 on the odo. Im not sure if there is a motor mount on the car but i would guess not. The paint chips very easy, the fron of my hood near the grille has chips all along it.I do travel interstate very often but not at long periods. Ive had no grinding issues with mine even when cold but it is tricky when cold to get the shifts just right. No smoking turbo issue here either and also no knock.

 

[jri4]

Never thought i'd be doing this again, buying a speed. After spending countless hours and money on my MSP to achieve close to 200 WHP and having tons of problems.i said to myself never again...but here i am again..(boom06)
But this time, i'm taking a diffrent approach torward this and will not mod as much.. i want reliability...if such a thing exists with a MS3.
my mods would be CAI, BOV(something noisy) and a catless mid pipe( i had very good results with that mod on my MSP)

problems :

bad mounts, fixable Rear Motor Mount upgrade and you should be good--less than $150
grinding gears 2 - 3 ?? i assume abuse ?? Motor Mount plus upgraded solid shifter bushings; also change tranny fluid--$50
knocking on start up ( injectors?) My car seems to have a rough start up, but don't think it is knocking...I dunno!

questions

1- is the paint as bad as on the msp ? does it chip as easily ? will i end up with fender wells with rust in like 3 years? I don't know about rust, but the paint is thin layered. Chips easily and doesn't take a whole lot to get down below the primer.

2-can a test pipe be installed without any issues other than installing a fouler plug for the
O2 sensor like on an MSP ? Test pipes are deemed pretty safe, I think, and add about 10 horspower--$150

3- are the gears grinding that bad ? Grinding, not really, but missed shifts and jerky shifting is terrible until you upgrade mounts and shifter. Then it is smooth!

4-are the turbos smoking that bad ? why ? bad turbos or abuse? Bah, if it goes, go big turbo! A catch can, PTP smoking turbo pill fix, and 5w-40 synthetic should combat most of the issues.

5-any other issues i should be getting ? Stock shocks suck. They blow out and leak oil at anytime. Be prepared to need a new suspension at some point after purchasing (sooner than you'd want)--$750-1000

Hope this helps, just informing you based on my experiences.

 

[Domino81]

I've never owned a car that chips as easily or as often.

 

[oaklandopen]

Motor mounts were recalled on first model year, fixed after that. However, I think it is still a "soft" mount for the amount of torque the ms3 engine produces, so its fairly easy to miss a shift during hard accelleration

Its hard to really understand how common a problem such as smoking turbo is when you get the info from a forum. For one, its nothing but stories or he said she said, so a grain of salt is needed. Another thing is a forum is only a fractional amount of actual vehicle owners, and not everyone with an ms3 is on this forum or any other forum. So you could argue that even a number like 10% of ppl here have a smoking turbo, but that might only be .01% of the ms3s out there. Then you gotta look at how many of them are modded, no matter how small the mod may seem

Going on 45k miles on my 08.5, cai and hypertech tune, penzoil platinum 5w30, no smoke, and she's pretty much golden

 

[erick pina]

I have a DP on my speed6, no smoke.

 

[kvndoom]

Motor mounts were recalled on first model year, fixed after that. However, I think it is still a "soft" mount for the amount of torque the ms3 engine produces, so its fairly easy to miss a shift during hard accelleration

Its hard to really understand how common a problem such as smoking turbo is when you get the info from a forum. For one, its nothing but stories or he said she said, so a grain of salt is needed. Another thing is a forum is only a fractional amount of actual vehicle owners, and not everyone with an ms3 is on this forum or any other forum. So you could argue that even a number like 10% of ppl here have a smoking turbo, but that might only be .01% of the ms3s out there. Then you gotta look at how many of them are modded, no matter how small the mod may seem

Going on 45k miles on my 08.5, cai and hypertech tune, penzoil platinum 5w30, no smoke, and she's pretty much golden

It's a bad enough problem that there's a TSB out for it now, to replace the whole friggin turbo. Obviously some of these are failing on unmodded cars, or Mazda wouldn't bother. The TSB does state for cars built before July 2008, but my 2009 was built 7/2008 (my rotten luck) and smoked at idle several times this past summer. It hasn't since I put in the PTP restrictor, though.

 

[oaklandopen]

I've been under the assumption that the fix was 5 or 10w40 oil, and THEN turbo replacement. And also that it wasn't a tsb, just a dealer to dealer grapevine fix

 

[kvndoom]

It's official now... been that way for 3 months apparently, but this TSB has been very hush for some reason:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...01-004-10-(8-18-2010)-Smoking-Turbo-(Speed-3)

 

[oaklandopen]

Bwah...totally missed that one during my trolling travels on here