First off, yes I did a search on reliability of the Mazda Speed...
I know there have been problems with clunk and FLASHED vs. NON-FLASHED cars and a few coolant leaks, but what about general reliability of a STOCK car...
I could see problems coming up with moding the car but other than the annoyances listed above, has there been a big PROBLEM with the reliability of this car in stock form? Since I ride my R6 most of the time, I only put about 12K mi. on a car per year. Also, I won't be racing or going to any drag strips (I ride my bike on a race track and drag knees
). I'm sure the power falls off before red-line, so I doubt I'd run it much higher than 5K RPM...
Also, say you raised the boost on the car, 1. Do you have to buy an intake 2. If you put your boost back to stock and brought it to the dealer, is there anyway they could know that you raised the boost and potentially caused the problem (maybe the coloration of the spark plugs, an a/f ratio diagnostic light coming on, or anyother tell-tale signs)???
I'm probably going to test drive one in a week or so. I just can't afford to buy the car and have it consume even more time and money if it constantly has problems. I'll just suck it up and buy a regular ES....
Thanks for your comments...
I know there have been problems with clunk and FLASHED vs. NON-FLASHED cars and a few coolant leaks, but what about general reliability of a STOCK car...
I could see problems coming up with moding the car but other than the annoyances listed above, has there been a big PROBLEM with the reliability of this car in stock form? Since I ride my R6 most of the time, I only put about 12K mi. on a car per year. Also, I won't be racing or going to any drag strips (I ride my bike on a race track and drag knees

Also, say you raised the boost on the car, 1. Do you have to buy an intake 2. If you put your boost back to stock and brought it to the dealer, is there anyway they could know that you raised the boost and potentially caused the problem (maybe the coloration of the spark plugs, an a/f ratio diagnostic light coming on, or anyother tell-tale signs)???
I'm probably going to test drive one in a week or so. I just can't afford to buy the car and have it consume even more time and money if it constantly has problems. I'll just suck it up and buy a regular ES....
Thanks for your comments...