New MSP owner: The good, the bad, the ugly

[BrianV]

I got my brand new black MSP today.

I've only put 8 miles on it and already have some questions (doh).

Well first The Good:
Wow this thing handles like its on rails. It has very precise steering, I'm shocked a FWD can do this. It's light on it's wheels but very confident and planted. Also, the LSD seems to work well. Finally, I had concern of the car looking too immature and boy racerish. I was at the gas station get some munchies when a 50 somewhat year old man came up to me and asked me about the car. He said he wants something fun and different, but thinks everything else out there is too overdone. He thought my car looked great. Score 1, only after 5 miles of driving.

The bad: I miss all the little storage areas I had in my Lexus. Also, there appears to be a clunk or rattle in the trunk when I go over moderate bumps. That can get a bit annoying, any remedies?

The ugly: I apparently need that reflash because at 3500 RPM the engine instantly feels like it lost 40 HP or so, it appears to only do this when the pedal is 75% of the way down or more. The final ugly is with the radio. I was mystified on how to set the stupid preset FM stations, and in the process somehow I set Auto-off on or something. About 15 seconds after I stopped playing with it and the screen turned off. I couldn't awaken the screen and pressed every button. Then the CD eject button caused it to flip and turn off. Since then it will not turn back on. No buttons, no removing and reinserting the head, no restarting the car.

Someone please help me get my radio working and please tell me how to set radio presets.

Thanks

Great car, I'm extatic that it only cost me $15995.

 

[GI-]

The ugly = Start up your car and press in the upper left hand corner of your closed faceplate with your finger. That should get the radio to flip open.

 

[GI-]

The bad = welcome to what we refer to as the "clunk".

 

[SuperSpud]

Hi, and congrats on the car..

the bad - its called the klunk.... there is no fix for it yet that I know of.. pretty sure there isnt one. its caused by the rear sway bar bushings.

the ugly- yes, hesitation is a b****. get it reflashed and it will run perfectly

the radio is somthing that boggles me too. damn kenwood and all their buttons.. are you saying that it closed? like, flipped over? or just went dead? if it just closed, then press the upper left hand corner in, that will turn it back on.. if it went dead, then disconnect your battery, then connect it back... that should fix it. many ppls have done this.. just another small problem...

 

[BrianV]

Umm GI, the head unit hasn't completely flipped over, it's in the down position, like it wants to accept a CD. The screen doesn't have any power or anything. If I take it off and put it back on it goes to the normal position and remains off.

Thanks.

Mine isn't as much a clunk as a rattle. I thought it might be the spare tire tools, but I secured those. Is there anything service dept can do?

 

[BrianV]

Superspud, lol disconnect the battery, I only have 7 miles on this car and I already gotta tinker to get things to work.

Once I do get it working how do I set the presets? They didn't give me a manual for my stereo and the actual car manual refers to the stock protege stereo.

 

[Heathen23]

press the eject button. It should flip back up. Mine does that from time to time but if it hasn't shut itself off you just push that in and it will flip up. (it's the one on the bottom right)

 

[GI-]

Press the eject button again, it should cause it to flip back.

 

[BrianV]

I tried the button, I did the obvious things like that, still no go. It seems like the damn device is completely shut off. If I remove the face and put it back on it puts itself into the right position but doesn't turn on.

 

[GI-]

Sorry man, i don't know what else to tell you. After you get that s*** taken care of, you will love this car!

 

[GI-]

What happens if you stick a cd in it?

 

[BrianV]

Didn't have a CD handy I was on my way home.

Already love the car, the clunk is lame though.

 

[GI-]

Patience, it will be fixed!

 

[Geoffsurfs]

Go to the dealer and tell them to give you the manual for the stereo (if you feel like reading a dictionary). You will love the car man. Welcome

 

[oldzoomer]

bad=storage areas eh? I think that speaks volumes for modified economy car. The only thing I'm really missing right now is a map pocket on the back of the seat.

klunk - new model teething problem

flash - get it done - Roger Beasley on Burnet did mine with a smile.

The radio is a geek's dream. I've already spent 1.5 hours learning how to program it and still have some fiddling to do. The dealership had one on the lot that was "stuck" halfway down. I'm pretty sure it was broken. In fact, I'm wondering if you bought the car I test drove???

BTW, were you the guy in the showroom last Thursday who I was explaining the stereo to?

Wave if you see a yellow MSP flying around North Austin.

 

[t3ase]

I got my brand new black MSP today.

I've only put 8 miles on it and already have some questions (doh).

First off, welcome to the forums. Here we go:

Well first The Good:
Wow this thing handles like its on rails. It has very precise steering, I'm shocked a FWD can do this. It's light on it's wheels but very confident and planted. Also, the LSD seems to work well. Finally, I had concern of the car looking too immature and boy racerish. I was at the gas station get some munchies when a 50 somewhat year old man came up to me and asked me about the car. He said he wants something fun and different, but thinks everything else out there is too overdone. He thought my car looked great. Score 1, only after 5 miles of driving.

Congrats. It feels hella good when ya get compliments on your car.

The bad: I miss all the little storage areas I had in my Lexus.

I'm not sure what "little storage areas" you're referring to, but I've never had a problem running out of room. Maybe you mean pockets for stuff? You have a pocket in your door, to the left of the steering column, under the radio, above the cupholders, the actual cupholders, under the ebrake, console armrest, glovebox, passenger side door pocket. What kinda stuff do you need to put in your car?

Also, there appears to be a clunk or rattle in the trunk when I go over moderate bumps. That can get a bit annoying, any remedies?

Two things here:
#1) The "clunk". It's been described over and over here, and there's no real fix for it yet. Dealership can order new bushings, but it'll do it again eventually.
#2) Amp rack. There's a gap between the top of the amp rack in the trunk and the rear deck. When you hit a bump, the amp rack may jump up and hit the rear deck. Solve this by getting some medium thickness foam and cutting it to the amp rack's shape. Then put it between the rack & rear deck. Or go complain at the dealership who will do the same thing, just not as carefully.

The ugly: I apparently need that reflash because at 3500 RPM the engine instantly feels like it lost 40 HP or so, it appears to only do this when the pedal is 75% of the way down or more.

Hesitation. Varies with temperature, under hood temps, etc. Go get flashed.

The final ugly is with the radio. I was mystified on how to set the stupid preset FM stations, and in the process somehow I set Auto-off on or something. About 15 seconds after I stopped playing with it and the screen turned off. I couldn't awaken the screen and pressed every button. Then the CD eject button caused it to flip and turn off. Since then it will not turn back on. No buttons, no removing and reinserting the head, no restarting the car.

If it locks up on you in the "eject CD" position but doesn't do anything else, get a pen or toothpick or something and press the "RESET" button right to the left of all of the preset buttons. Press for a few seconds & release. The HU will then pop back up, with all of the default factory settings. Go back into your settings menu (RTM) to reconfigure your radio. Notify dealership of problem and they should order another unit for you at no cost.

Someone please help me get my radio working and please tell me how to set radio presets.

Radio Manual

Thanks

You're welcome. Enjoy the car.

Great car, I'm extatic that it only cost me $15995.

You got it about $5k cheaper than most of us did. Enjoy it.

 

[t3ase]

bad=storage areas eh? I think that speaks volumes for modified economy car. The only thing I'm really missing right now is a map pocket on the back of the seat.

klunk - new model teething problem

flash - get it done - Roger Beasley on Burnet did mine with a smile.

The radio is a geek's dream. I've already spent 1.5 hours learning how to program it and still have some fiddling to do. The dealership had one on the lot that was "stuck" halfway down. I'm pretty sure it was broken. In fact, I'm wondering if you bought the car I test drove???

BTW, were you the guy in the showroom last Thursday who I was explaining the stereo to?

Wave if you see a yellow MSP flying around North Austin.

I've seen you around. I may have also left a note on your car sometime if you were at Austin Park & Pizza recently.

 

[t3ase]

You Austin people need to look under the Regional Texas section. I've been trying to organize a meet of sorts. Saturday night @ RPM Indoor Raceway in Round Rock off I-35 at around 10:30. PM me if you need help getting there.

 

[Black Majik MSP]

DAMN, I think the MSP community in Austin might actually be growing faster than Orlando even though we have the largest Mazda dealer in the US. You all are lucking out with that $16k deal...funny that our dealer isn't doing the same thing, especially when they have like 15 MSPs on the lot.

 

[t3ase]

Hell, I paid 20.5 like most of us.