new here

[ringflyer]

Hey all,
Just a quick hello from Victoria BC. Bought the 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 (True Red) while on vacation in Winnipeg this past June, and we LOVE it.

Currently, the fleet includes the MS3 and our 2009 G8 GT.

Looking forward to learning more about the speed, its our first turbo car, and it's good to be back in an import. The G8 is awesome, and doesn't wreak of american auto union BS (seeing as it was made/assembled in Australia ), but it's a HUGE upgrade from my POS lease Pontiac G5 GT and his old G6 GTP.

The car, after having it for a month, DOES have a couple of issues, but mostly are from the aftermarket parts that were installed by the previous owner or little hiccups we can fix ourselves. I won't mention who that person was though, as he is/was on this board... granted I'm sure you can put 2 and 2 together once I post pics of the car - will do that when I'm at home, I do most of my research on my breaks at work and don't have any GOOD pictures of the car here.

- Alison

 

[Z-Indy]

Howdy, yall.

 

[ms6acton]

welcome to the forum!

 

[bradboyd80]

Welcome! I must say, that's quite a nice combo. An MS3 and G8 GT are quite the pair. What are some of the problems/issues? Perhaps we can help.

 

[ringflyer]

Here's the car =)

don't be too hasty on the pictures, the red did NOT turn out in the light, but we needed to take pics after a month of having the car, and only having 2 iPhone pics... that, and we just clay barred, polished and waxed it =)

we thought for sure once we got back home from our trip to Wpg that we would be taking the eyelids off, but they're really growing on us... ha!


the only real issues are the power mirrors, they don't go down/to the right for either mirror due to the wiring shorting out after they were installed (I figure just over a year or so ago, after finding the previous owners thread on when he installed them).
They also have condensation in the signal markers on the mirrors, but that might be because they were painted? not tooooo sure. they also have mould in the LED (or - what we thought at first - was a light sensor) on the bottom of the mirror (it's alright though, I'm fine without it working LOL)
That, and when we got the tires they weren't balanced properly (not sure if they fell off with the previous owner, or while sitting @ the dealership's lot for a couple of months before we picked it up). SO, we KNEW the BFG KDW's were a loud tire (had them on the G6), so we didnt really think much of the noise... till we got back to Victoria and it was a lot louder after 2400kms. We need new tires now, they're slightly effed (2 bad wear spots on each tire).

these issues are by NO means an issue with the previous owner or any beefs with him. I knew him a few years back when I lived in Winnipeg, and he was more present in the car scene there.


SO, if anyone around is selling their speed3 mirrors, we'd be interested in the OEM ones on the car again, if at a decent price. (already have a thread in the WTB forum)

 

[Sport6]

Ahh yes the red headlight lens covers give it away. Sad to see him go because I was trying to get the info on how he did the independent foglight mod on the GT without going through the firewall... he said he would do a write up a year ago! haha

Congrats and have fun with the car!

What else did he leave on the car?


Edit: Funny thing is that he traded it in for a G8 GT

 

[ringflyer]

the HID fogs, mirrors, CAI, extra fogs (that might have been the dealership though, as one of the fogs was cracked and they had to buy them in pairs), winter mats (no use for those in a 3 season city (well... 2 I would say, coming from Winnipeg), anti-rust module, boost gauge, BOV, all black RX-8 rims and The Bra.

we found evidence of the satellite radio (removed, which is fine, we haven't used it in the last 3 cars we've had), and what might have been the backup camera (there's a small hole under the buttons on the left side of the steering wheel, where it might have been mounted?).

that's all I can think of, I might be missing stuff though.

 

[leadf00t]

Edit: Funny thing is that he traded it in for a G8 GT

I was going to point that out also !

 

[ringflyer]

I was going to point that out also !

ha, yeah we knew that already. we showed up to test drive the car in the G8 (thats when the salesman went into details on the car/history)... with no intentions of actually BUYING the car, we were actually just narrowing down cars for the replacement for the G5 after the lease was done (January 2011). But seeing as there was one to test out and we had time to kill while on vacation, and NO speed3's at dealerships on Vancouver Island to test drive, we figured why not?! But after test driving it, and getting the deal we got, we just turned the 5 in early and bought this one. and had a fun 2400km drive home with both cars (2thumbs)