MSP is a POS!

I'd had a few issues with mine, but overall i'm happy with it, I did have to have my LSD rebuilt and now it's going in on monday for some odd misfiring, I just hit 40k miles. everytime i take it to the dealer they are very friendly everything's covered under warranty and they even pay for a rental for me to drive while they fix my car.
 
At 40k miles are you on original spark plugs or wires? That could very likely be the misfiring culprit. Good luck getting it fixed up!
 
theirishmexican said:
I'm tired of coming up with excuses for what is probably the poorest excuse for a car in my life. I thought that the Ford Taurus was the ultimate POS but not anymore.

15K- Rotors warped.
55K- LSD went out (5% failure rate and no recall??)
56K- Tranny oil leak from above

Now dealer tells me that my wastegate is malfunctioning ($650), my engine mounts are cracking, and my valve cover gasket is starting to leak. He also told me a couple of other things but I stopped hearing anything. I have no mods on my car nor have I ever raced it. I do drive fast, after all, it's supposed to be a "performance" car but I don't dog it. I've gotten oil changes when I'm supposed to and the only person who's touched my car is the dealership.

Now, at 55,000 miles, it's practically falling apart. This is the last mother phukking Mazda I ever buy. My brother-in-law has a Mazda6 and at 15k miles, had to have his manual transmission rebuilt as well.

Mazda has now taken over as the worst excuse for a car manufacturer. As soon as I get my car back I'm trading it in for a real car-- Toyota.

If you find this post a little harsh and hard to believe, just wait. There were very few of these cars made and there are getting to be fewer and fewer on the road for a reason.

good luck and later.

Its not just the MSP, my protege LX blew the totaly stock engine at 55K and has eaten 4 front wheel bearings.

Some of the MSPs problems are from a perfomance market being targeted and the car simply not being built for it. Like you boss, I am done with Mazda...i be rockin the toyota tundra now and I am even considering a Tiberon over a mazda 3 for the LX's replacement. Atleast i wont be out $3k for an engine at 55K with a tiberon
 
^^ sucks that people have the "I had one of those it had a couple problems, screw that company they totally suck" mentality.
 
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True story.

Don't worry, they'll get theirs. Wait until their Toyota starts to mess up. I can see it now..

.."**** TOYOTA"
 
k-lea said:
True story.

Don't worry, they'll get theirs. Wait until their Toyota starts to mess up. I can see it now..

.."**** TOYOTA"

yeah. then theres the F Chevy, Ford rocks...it doesnt matter that it broke down 15 times this week....and vice versa..
 
Plus no one takes into account all of the circumstances that play when things go wrong with their vehicles.

Weather .... Road Condition ... Driver error .... Maintainence .... The ability to spot problems before they cause others .... etc. There is so many factors that account for problems. So before anyone says **** one company over another I think they should consider the facts and circumstances.
 
1sty said:
Its not just the MSP, my protege LX blew the totaly stock engine at 55K and has eaten 4 front wheel bearings.

Some of the MSPs problems are from a perfomance market being targeted and the car simply not being built for it. Like you boss, I am done with Mazda...i be rockin the toyota tundra now and I am even considering a Tiberon over a mazda 3 for the LX's replacement. Atleast i wont be out $3k for an engine at 55K with a tiberon
It's Tiburon my friend.. (bang) I'm at 41k and had 1 problem on the tib which was a power door actuator reprograming it needed under warranty. Tech hooked it up to some massive OBD II computer thing and fixed it so it wasn't bad. Just don't get the early 03 model tib made in 02 those were the ones with the most problems. They also repainted my front end again but thats cause some D-bag egged the crap out of my car when it was parked at school and it damaged the clear coat, but they warrantied that too!

But yeah I know alot of people that when they have one bad experience with a car company they say "F them" and go to another car company. Although I do believe there are lemons in each car company i can sort of see why some of those people move on to other car companies. If I spent many thousands of dollars on a car made by a company and it completely failed i would be really wary of investing thousands of dollars into another car made by the same company. However if you know enough about the car manufacturer to realize that it is not a common problem then I might be inclined to go give them another try. But to be honest if i was in your shoes I wouldn't know what i'd do. Like if i got a lemon, which I have not gotten yet, I would prolly be upset enough to switch car companies, unless one really likes a certain brand which alot of people on these boards do.
 
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Kansei said:
^^ sucks that people have the "I had one of those it had a couple problems, screw that company they totally suck" mentality.

maybe if Mazda offered a 100K warranty?

Honestly though, even though my P5 has been rock solid, I'd do my homework really well before getting another Mazda. I have heard about a lot of unreliability issues across the board and I would take all that into account.

The thing about mazda is that their product line is so appealing and so what I'm looking looking for in a family car.

But overall the Hyundai sonata V6 is very appealing as a family car and while it does not look as sporty as the Mazda6, its arguably moer reliable, faster and that warranty is pretty unbeatable. Hyundai is just a few new products and sportier styling away from giving mazda a real rn for its money.

Toyota makes good cars but they are all boring, same with honda. Nissan has a great motor with the VQ35DE but it keeps sticking it in boring over overbloated cars (350Z aside) and their styling is FTL!

So overall I'd still take a mazda and its quirks over any other brand. They just really need to shore up their reliability and its a no contest.
 
Plus, No one on the board takes into account that we all care more about our car than the average person. That is why we are on this board. When a non-car enthusiast has something happen to their vehicle, they just take it to the shop and call it a day. When we have something happen to our car, it means more. It kinda hurts us a little deep inside because we take the extra time to care and maintain our vehicles. Since it effects us more, we come on the boards all pissed and vent for a little while. Thats the way I see it.
 
kamon8404 said:
Plus, No one on the board takes into account that we all care more about our car than the average person. That is why we are on this board. When a non-car enthusiast has something happen to their vehicle, they just take it to the shop and call it a day. When we have something happen to our car, it means more. It kinda hurts us a little deep inside because we take the extra time to care and maintain our vehicles. Since it effects us more, we come on the boards all pissed and vent for a little while. Thats the way I see it.

So very true.
 
I have had almost no problems with mine. My only problems so far were the squeaking sway bar bushings and the stereo dying.I have gone through 3 sets of tires but that is because I autocross it a lot.
 
MSP - fun, good handling, lacking reliability/robustness

I have a 2003.5 Titanium. Bought it used, so I cannot guarantee how it was driven. Guy claimed it had NOT been Autocrossed or Drag raced. Overall it is a very fun car -- I sold my IS300 (w/ LSD and 5spd) and "down-graded" to the MSP, but the MSP is so much more of a drivers car. The IS300 was a good handler w/ good brakes and rear-wheel-drive, but I hated the clutch feel and drive-by-wire throttle - really lame.

BUT, the MSP just feels too delicate in the power train department. My LSD (almost sure it is the culprit) rubs/chatters when it reaches operating temperature (especially after driving on the highway and coming to an exit where you have to come to a stop and then turn while letting the clutch out, but it still chatters/rubs even once the clutch is all the way engaged while the wheel is still turned). Really nasty when parking where it involves engaging the clutch w/ the wheel turned.

Syncros are lousy. I have to double clutch at least once just about every time I drive.

Motor's power curve is not as smooth as it should be. You can feel peaks/valleys as it works its way to redline.

Brakes are warp-prone. Lame.

Rear end squeaks/thumps like crazy.

I named mine the RK Special -- RK = Rice Krispies -- since it has so many snaps, crackles, and pops.

The MSP has a similar character to the 1994 Nissan Sentra SE-R that I owned way back when. THAT was a solid car. It is still running well b/c I know the person who owns it (I even drove it about 6 mths ago just to make sure it did not need any work and felt solid otherwise before my friend's son started driving it).

I still like the car (and it is more fun than the IS300), but am disappointed it is not more solid/robust like the Integra Type R I owned from 2000-2004 -- though it had just about NO low-end, that car was sooo solid. Absolutely zero problems with it. Should have held onto it.

Thanks for listening. This forum rocks.
 
Thanks, but that is one hell of an outdated pic...

geddy.jpg

2rebops2.jpg


A little more current.

/threadjack
 
xollins said:
Syncros are lousy. I have to double clutch at least once just about every time I drive.

Rear end squeaks/thumps like crazy.

since we are all bitching anyway.. These two things you mentioned are probably the only things that sometimes annoy me.
 
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