Questions about MSP...

[ktmwakeboarder]

Hi there, totally new to this board, but if all goes well and I do get this car, I hope to post and engage more. I am looking into an orange Speed Protege, and have a few questions. I am downgradng from an SUV and I hope the questions/concerns aren't too stupid or basic. Thanks in advance for the help and input- Kevin

- Idling trouble: I just test drove the car today, and when at a stand still, it seemed to run roughly, and even worse vibrations/shaking when the A/C was turned on. It seemed excessive. Is this normal for a turbo car or is this a sign of possible problems?

- Tires: does this car seem to go through tires quickly?

- Turbo: How long should I expect the turbo to last on this car, what is a realistic life expectancy? I assume that it should last as long as I don't do any extreme mods, right?

- Gas: I have read that it takes premium gas, is that what all of you run? Or is it ok to get medium?

Thanks again, ciao!

 

[terbow]

- Idling trouble: Rough idle is usualy a vacuum leak. if the idle is surging or dipping theres probably a cracked hose. if its not surging and its still rough. the engine mounts may have been upgraded to stiffer ones (the front one will be gold color with red inserts.


- Tires: the stock potenzas are summer only tires, they wear very quickly but thats a tradeoff for traction. dont use them in the snow. u will crash

- Turbo: If u baby it, 70k, but it depends on what condition u get it in.

- Gas: Premium ONLY. anything less and your asking to blow up the engine.

 

[spike blue]

well im no pannig this beutiful car but actually if i were you i will get another car or wait for the ms3 , get the ms6 there are good deals right now or the cx-7!!! Just my 2c

 

[yashooa]

First off the turbo (according to Garrett) is made to outlast the motor think +100k miles. Mine rocked hard at 15+PSI for 103,000 miles in a getting the hell pounded out of it every single day fashion and it was in great shape when it was upgraded. I am quite certain it would have lasted a lot longer.
It was in perfect shape. I used Mobil 1 and changed it every 10-12k miles. Yes that is 10-12 thousand miles. It's made to go that long and I drive highway miles so why waste money. My entire car was a bullet proof little beast the only glaring flaw that the MSP has (at least in my 100+ thousand mile experience) is the defective LSD. It works great but I think that since there is an obvious manufacturing defect/design flaw that all the diffs are just waiting to break.
Hell I still have the original platinum spark plugs in it! I had one exhaust repair, two sets of sway bar bushings and a whole lot of fun for the 1st 103,000 miles.
The only thing that I would think twice about getting this car would be the damn diff breaking as it is very expensive to change it out $1047.00 without labor that was just a welded diff kit, and clutch kit.

Anyway the car can be reliable for more than 100,000 miles, turbo included, you just have to keep the maintenance up and watch out for detonation it is the enemy.

No offense Blue why would anyone want a CX7 if they were looking for a mini-sport sedan? It's still a freaking SUV (pukey)

You're on an SUV high right now you've got the SUV FEVA!

 

[terbow]

its not that i dont believe you, but ive seen plenty of msp turbos go bad (perhaps due to design of our kit), to say that 100,000 miles isnt a realistic number. I think your lucky and its taking its beating well. ive had mine replaced under warranty 2 times. and i know plenty of others have well. the turbo itself may be made for the life of the car, but it is aparent that something is causing them to fail early.

First off the turbo (according to Garrett) is made to outlast the motor think +100k miles. Mine rocked hard at 15+PSI for 103,000 miles in a getting the hell pounded out of it every single day fashion and it was in great shape when it was upgraded. I am quite certain it would have lasted a lot longer.
It was in perfect shape. I used Mobil 1 and changed it every 10-12k miles. Yes that is 10-12 thousand miles. It's made to go that long and I drive highway miles so why waste money. My entire car was a bullet proof little beast the only glaring flaw that the MSP has (at least in my 100+ thousand mile experience) is the defective LSD. It works great but I think that since there is an obvious manufacturing defect/design flaw that all the diffs are just waiting to break.
Hell I still have the original platinum spark plugs in it! I had one exhaust repair, two sets of sway bar bushings and a whole lot of fun for the 1st 103,000 miles.
The only thing that I would think twice about getting this car would be the damn diff breaking as it is very expensive to change it out $1047.00 without labor that was just a welded diff kit, and clutch kit.

Anyway the car can be reliable for more than 100,000 miles, turbo included, you just have to keep the maintenance up and watch out for detonation it is the enemy.

No offense Blue why would anyone want a CX7 if they were looking for a mini-sport sedan? It's still a freaking SUV (pukey)

 

[yashooa]

its not that i dont believe you, but ive seen plenty of msp turbos go bad (perhaps due to design of our kit), to say that 100,000 miles isnt a realistic number. I think your lucky and its taking its beating well. ive had mine replaced under warranty 2 times. and i know plenty of others have well. the turbo itself may be made for the life of the car, but it is aparent that something is causing them to fail early.

Yes, well I did buy my car new with 8 miles on it so I have always taken care of it. I think that a good portion of people who bought the car beat the s*** out of it, did not use a turbo timer or let it idle for 30 secs after they ran the car and they probally did not use synthetic oil which can save your turbo when the oil gets very hot and the viscosity lessens or when mineral oil restricts flow due to coking.
So I do agree that many have failed but I think more due to lack of "turbo love" than because of a defective turbo. Not all though as you seem like the type to take care of jur chit mang!

 

[yashooa]

Tires: I went through 3 sets in little over two years
I drive my car hard through the corners though and I put a lot of miles on it.
A minimum of a 104-110 miles a day. Except weekends but sometimes I will drive more than that on a weekend all in all I drove a lot. (glare)
I have been on set number 4 for a while as I got a much harder compound but it is still probally a medium compound just not soft like the first 3 sets.

 

[MrDiggler]

(mswerd) Good oil = good turbo

 

[~JoJo~]

I wouldn't call going from a SUV to msp a downgrading. Unless you mean the value of your car. But with the fun you will have with the msp, and the $$$ you will save each time you get gas, I would call it an upgrade for sure (not to mention the style of the car (unless you had a 2006 land rover sport =p)

 

[terbow]

i had 36 miles on mine when i got it. but i agree with you, but since hes buying used theres no way for him to tell.

Yes, well I did buy my car new with 8 miles on it so I have always taken care of it. I think that a good portion of people who bought the car beat the s*** out of it, did not use a turbo timer or let it idle for 30 secs after they ran the car and they probally did not use synthetic oil which can save your turbo when the oil gets very hot and the viscosity lessens or when mineral oil restricts flow due to coking.
So I do agree that many have failed but I think more due to lack of "turbo love" than because of a defective turbo. Not all though as you seem like the type to take care of jur chit mang!

 

[yashooa]

I wouldn't call going from a SUV to msp a downgrading. Unless you mean the value of your car. But with the fun you will have with the msp, and the $$$ you will save each time you get gas, I would call it an upgrade for sure (not to mention the style of the car (unless you had a 2006 land rover sport =p)

Hey, if I had to get a minivan and mean had to it would damn sure be the 5. I rented one when I had to go down to some of our Florida[FONT=&quot] offices.
For what it is it was the best of the bunch hands down. I just look at SUV's and Minivans as the automotive equivalent of a vehicular sex change. Your nads just melt away through osmosis as you sit in the seat watching your hair thin, your gut thicken and your manhood wane away. But hey you can haul a lot of stuff around with them. (yupnope)
I love my MSP and have had nothing but joy from it except the diff but when it is all said and done I should be about 300HP at the wheels with good mileage and if I don't act stupid with the car the bottom end should hold on until forged innards go in but that will be down the road a bit. I have upgraded every aspect of the car outside of the shortblock now. I will have it paid for soon and then I will be car payment free for two years until I get the Wife another Mazda.
[/FONT]

 

[~JoJo~]

yeah I had the protege 5 before, which was tons of fun, however, with the baby on the way (he's deal anytime =p) I needed something that is more functional.

 

[yashooa]

yeah I had the protege 5 before, which was tons of fun, however, with the baby on the way (he's deal anytime =p) I needed something that is more functional.

Heck, I have three kids. My Wife has the PR5 and I have the MSP.
Of course mine are 18,13, and 5 The Wife wants an RX8 next. I might just talk her into a one of those little, 4 door, 6 Speed manual, super charged Mercedes.

 

[ktmwakeboarder]

Update: I found another spicy orange MSP and it was like night and day compared to the first one I test drove. There definitely were a bunch of things wrong with the first one. So I went ahead and got the second one. Also, it had fewer miles; 15k vs 55k. Additionally, the guy had put on a turbo timer and turbo boost controller which sound like they will help prolong the life of the turbo, which was one of my original concerns.

Mazda5owner- By downgrading I meant in size. I loved my Pathfinder, but I will be moving soon, and no longer making Tahoe trips or towing my boat. I am very excited to be getting twice (literally) the mpg.

Now I just need to figure out how to post pics and what # it is.

 

[CitizenPro]

I wouldnt say adding a boost controller will prolong the life of the turbo.....That means he raised stock boost and isnt good for the stock motor, but it only has 15k miles so im sure its fine. Thats actually and awesome find man, 15k miles in a spicy?? crazy.

 

[ktmwakeboarder]

Thanks, I definitely felt it was a good find. As for the boost, he showed me how it can adjust the psi. I have it set at 6.5 and I doubt he ran it much above that. Maybe he bumped it up to the next setting of 7.5 occassionally, but I don't know. He warned me about going/setting it up to 9psi, which I don't have any intention of going that high haha. But yeah, I understand what you mean about how the controller can be used in a detrimental way. My feeling after a bit of talking is that the previous owner babied the car, which is great for me.

 

[CitizenPro]

Thanks, I definitely felt it was a good find. As for the boost, he showed me how it can adjust the psi. I have it set at 6.5 and I doubt he ran it much above that. Maybe he bumped it up to the next setting of 7.5 occassionally, but I don't know. He warned me about going/setting it up to 9psi, which I don't have any intention of going that high haha. But yeah, I understand what you mean about how the controller can be used in a detrimental way. My feeling after a bit of talking is that the previous owner babied the car, which is great for me.

Thats good to hear....you can definitely boost more, just make sure you pick up some sort of Engine Management first. You may want to make that your first mod if you have the funds to do so.....

 

[Bakum]

yea 15k is a nice find. I got mine from a Ford Dealer used and it was in good shape. Only thing that annoyed me was the 1st owner messed the wheels up pretty good. Dealer told me the guy who traded it bought a Explorer cause he was expecting a baby. Then I found out who's car I bought. There was this guy who had it who I saw almost everyday coming home from work. He stopped showing up when I was leaving, and a few weeks after I bought my MSP, I saw him in a used explorer. He stared at me for a minute because im pretty sure he knew it was his car. Small world, let me tell ya. Sorry for the rant, just a weird coincedence story.

 

[ktmwakeboarder]

Bakum- no worries, haha, small world. Have you changed your wheels?

 

[D-rock240]

Thanks, I definitely felt it was a good find. As for the boost, he showed me how it can adjust the psi. I have it set at 6.5 and I doubt he ran it much above that. Maybe he bumped it up to the next setting of 7.5 occassionally, but I don't know. He warned me about going/setting it up to 9psi, which I don't have any intention of going that high haha. But yeah, I understand what you mean about how the controller can be used in a detrimental way. My feeling after a bit of talking is that the previous owner babied the car, which is great for me.

Sounds like the previous owner knew what he was doing. Is(was) he a member here?