tidy protege said:
firstly dont get me wrong i am a fan of the new sp23 however i must say i believe that the sp20 is a better car by going of driving my mother mazda 6 (which is a great car) firstly the sp23 is a car that would not be as enjoyable to drive, it is a car that lacks the character of the sp20 which is a joy to drive.
secondly the current sp23 has identity problems it drives like a european tourer rather then a small sporty japanese car and looks more european than japanese the sp20 looks aggresive the sp23 looks soft also another fault in the sp23 is the ride height its way too high and i was buying a sport model i wouldnt want to feel like im driving a 4wheel drive contrasting to this the sp20 looks relatively low mostly thanks to the side skirts but the whole range of 323s look low.
Thirdly mazda has tried to do to much at once with new sp23 (much like for did with the ba falcon) they have put substandard parts in the car the first thig that i noticed when i hoped in the sp23 were the crap seats they look sporty but dont offer the support on the sp20 also mazda have made the car in a way that you cant do much to it at all with the stereo and climate control incorperated into one meaning that the only ways you can have a decent sound system is by cutting up the controls or puting a head unit somewhere else which is pretty dodgy, also the car has cheap part like a plastic exhaust manifold and a very restrictive exhaust system with a crap exhaust note (but a sweet engine note) also the car is so computerised that modifiying the car wont be a cheap operation a complete contrast to the sp20 which is a tunners dream as there are a unlimited number aftermarket mods avaible
lastly the sp20 is a car that is the result of years of r&d the reason why it is such a great car is because mazda have had time to develope a premium model which has all the best stuff mazda have to offer on the other hand the sp23 is a last thought by mazda as they were trying to fill the gap between the mazda 2 and the mazda 6 and had replace the hugely popular but dating 323
the mazda sp23 will be a great car after mazda have time to learn the car like they had to do with sp20. from experiance with my family who are always buying new cars you never buy the first of the model because the will be teething problems and design floors and if posible you buy the last of the model like the sp20 beacuse it has a proven track record and it is the best manufacturer
Besides the sp20 is a classic shape that will never age because of its aggressive shape and classy interior which other models and companies will stuggle to better at a simular price
I agree that the mz3 is too high for a sports model - the syling?? European styling was mazda's objective! mazda is a japanese manufactured vehicle, but the interior isn't dull like typical Japanese interiors..
IMO the seats are fine.. they offer sufficient support and are very comfortable for those long drives.. The system upgrade yet challenging and limiting is still very do-able...
I have a 15" JL sub, 16cm midrange pioneer front spilts powered by a blaukplunkt 4 channel amp... All i need now is a EQ/SQL tuner which can be installed in our huge glove box... which is good in a way... cos potential thieves would never know that i have this equipment installed... Here's a link to my cardomain site...
http://members.cardomain.com/malebastard
The exhaust note sounds crap??? What do you expect from the stock system??? have you heard sound clips of the mz3 with an autoexe exhaust and air filter? Heres the
link for the airfilter and here's the
link for the exhaust...
And plastic exhaust manifold???? Where did you get that from???
How can you computerise a car to make it hard to modify?? The car has a learning ECU that will modify itself to the way you drive and additional add ons..
The aftermarket mods avail for a 04' production car is quite impressive, the parts avail now are exhaust, air intakes - SRI/CAI, lowering springs, body kits.. What more do you need for now??
It looks like you've driven the mz6 and not the mz3 so how can you be in the position to judge?? So far there have been no flaws at all!!! and i have already done 5000kms on it..
You may like the sp20 better than the sp23, and thats fine... But like i said... I'm just clearing up the incorrect facts stated here...
