Talking to Lawyer

[girth]

regular proteges probably dont have problems because they have been in production for a lot longer, parts are tried and true, go buy a 1st year production of any generation and it WILL have a shitload of problems, garunteed, why do you think prudent consumers wait for second year production? they are always better and all the kinks are worked out, come to find out, MSP's were produced what, 1 year, there really was no afterthought to produce a more solid car, like blkzoom has already pointed out, they ARE making upgraded parts to fix the problems, which WOULD have gone on the next year production vehicles had there been any, but there aren't...

Not true. The MSP was essentially in production for 2 years before it was released. It is an MP3 with a turbo on it. The suspension had issues known from the release of the MP3 but Mazda STILL hasn't fixed them. Same goes for the bad stero and subwoofer. Stereo flips out, subwoofer either blows or rattles. Oh and the windshield cracks if a spec of sand touches it.

But yeah the even worse part is basically everything "new" that Mazda put on it has given a lot of people problems -- the new coolant routing + engine heat has caused me to be in for coolant leaks FOUR (4!) times and it still isn't totally fixed. My turbo is starting to make a LOT more noise in cold weather - probably due to the oil starvation so many others have had. The LSD is a new part - that breaks way too easily too. Lets see what else is new........oh, the shifter - that's new and many peoples's shifters squeek and/or have problems going into 2nd. The rotors/callipers are bigger, and many people have had problems with warped rotors. The skirting on the 03.5's is new, that falls off for many. The exhaust is new, that either cracks at the muffler or welds break near the cat. The alarm is new - problem there is the alarm is retarded and leaves the parking lights on. The inake is new - problem there is many people had their intake elbow just fall off! The ECU is new - and God knows how "well" that thing works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man it makes me wonder if Mazda successfully added ANY new parts at all!(smash)

 

[Spooled]

the new coolant routing + engine heat has caused me to be in for coolant leaks FOUR (4!) times and it still isn't totally fixed.

That alone makes your car a lemon by MI law. 4 times for the same issue, especially something major like a coolant leak, is rediculous.

 

[Dexter]

girth BURN YOURS ALREADY STFU

 

[gboromsp]

Sure we all have our complaints with the car. Why don't all of you people who are complaining about it just go trade it in on a Kia that costs 9k brand new. You should be able to afford that and have fun with your 100k warranty.

 

[irr5302]

purchase all the swaybar bushings from and rear 30usd in total

from mazdaformance .com

and put in your car or paid for that and this solve your problem

 

[Tito1]

sorry to have started another MSP complaint thread...my intentions are to update the community on what happens. Sure not everyone will go this route (I'll check out some bushings myself), but simply the process has some interest to this forum.

TIto

 

[Hellnightkid]

U guys complaint the MSP and Mazda, y dont u guys look at those stupid Service dealers. If the dealers fix the sht without any BS , i will buy two more MSPs.As long as they fix it.

 

[girth]

girth BURN YOURS ALREADY STFU

Burning it will give me no satisfaction. The only recourse I have right now is to deter potential buyers from getting a Mazda, and that is the intent of my complaints. Seeing Mazda buy my car back from me at a high price or seeing Mazda lose business because of their bad service is the only thing that will satisfy me at this point.

 

[spacemonkey]

I dont have problem at all..I just been back to the dealer once for a reflash and a few oil changes and flat tire.

I dont drive like a maniac in boost 24/7 so my car is super reliable...hasnt failed me once. I dont dump my clutch or do burn outs so no worries about my LSD. I dont go full boost to redline everday...no worries about blown engine here.

i jsut drove all around Miami for 4 days in my brothers golf...I miss my car so damn much. its so much funner to drive. Just the instant response and feed back of one of the best stock suspention on the market. I could care less if its under powered...its about the driving experience not a dyno queen.

How unfortunate...move to warmer weather. Or how many miles do you have? I'll trade my MSP with you. Klunk I barely hear since its warm nearly 24/7 here in florida. I only hear the klunk and sqeek form the motor mounts when its cold. Most of the time nothing or my stero drowns it out.

Maybe im jsut lucky...blown subs arent a problem because I set my settigns up right through the head unit. as in you have to tell it how big your sub is or they think its like a 12 inch sub. and my radio got stuck maybe twice but I just use a pen and hit the reset button and its good to go. Nothing has been wrong with my car at all and overall im super happy with my buy. I <3 my MSP

 

[JHew84]

all i hear is "blah blah b**** moan complain blah, i should have bought a BMW because i expect way to much out of my affordable sports sedan blah b**** blah blah"...

come on guys, you paid 20K or less for a car that handles better than anything on the market at the time for the price range and style, and hell its pretty quick to, did you expect perfection? because you shouldn't have, you want perfect, pay the big bucks, until then, accept the fact that the lesser car manufacturers just dont have the same quality standards as bigger names, i.e. mercedes, bmw, there is a reason they cost more and mazdas cost less, QUALITY and comfort, you dont want squeeks and creeks, get a beemer, you dont want to take the car in for warranty work, get a beemer, until then, STFU and be happy with what you have, seriously, all car companys have problems, you all make it seem like there is some huge corporate scandal going on inside mazda to screw you all over, get real, s*** BREAKS, all the time, find me a car that throughout its entire production run had zero recalls, i dare you, even the more expensive manufacturers i mentioned have recalls and problems, IT HAPPENS, GET OVER IT... i paid out the ass, and basically all the money i pull in monthly goes to my car payments and rent, sometimes i have to borrow from the parental units for grocerys etc, so dont take this as a "that kid can afford to have a broke down car", because i can't, but i also realize that when you pay a lot less for a car, you get a lot less, even tho we got more than most people get when they pay 20K dollars for a new car... not to mention, mazda DOES make an effort to fix these problems, and more often than not i read about peoples cars getting fixed correctly from the replacement parts, so a few of you are unlucky, or maybe you were a prick to the counter guy and he told them to install the same bushings so 1k miles later you'll be squeeking again, who knows, but everything you complain about is NORMAL, whether you choose to beleive it or not, if you want proof, go read ANY forum, you'll quickly realize that everyone bitchs about their cars just as much as you guys do...

[drops mic]
[steps off soap box]

 

[mspdfreak]

I dont have problem at all..I just been back to the dealer once for a reflash and a few oil changes and flat tire.

I dont drive like a maniac in boost 24/7 so my car is super reliable...hasnt failed me once. I dont dump my clutch or do burn outs so no worries about my LSD. I dont go full boost to redline everday...no worries about blown engine here.

i jsut drove all around Miami for 4 days in my brothers golf...I miss my car so damn much. its so much funner to drive. Just the instant response and feed back of one of the best stock suspention on the market. I could care less if its under powered...its about the driving experience not a dyno queen.

How unfortunate...move to warmer weather. Or how many miles do you have? I'll trade my MSP with you. Klunk I barely hear since its warm nearly 24/7 here in florida. I only hear the klunk and sqeek form the motor mounts when its cold. Most of the time nothing or my stero drowns it out.

Maybe im jsut lucky...blown subs arent a problem because I set my settigns up right through the head unit. as in you have to tell it how big your sub is or they think its like a 12 inch sub. and my radio got stuck maybe twice but I just use a pen and hit the reset button and its good to go. Nothing has been wrong with my car at all and overall im super happy with my buy. I <3 my MSP

werd...

 

[ZenProtege]

I think one of the reasons we find so many problems w/ our cars is not that its any worse than another car its just that we are a specific group of ppl and we demand and want more out of our cars than most ppl. So problems big and small are found by us alot more bc we just care more than most ppl

 

[spacemonkey]

Thats true for a 20K car its hard to get perfection. car was designed for stock use anyways. What else is within this range that is better? a impreza 2.5rs? Civic? Sentra? Maybe a SRT-4 but when I bought my car it was the 2003 model which I didnt like. the fact that they wanted $23K while Mazda offered me $3K off it was a no brainer.

Plus I figured SRT-4 would be really popular as in alot of people will buy them and I check insurence and it was alot more. I do like it when i get looks like "nice car I never seen it before. its stock?" And crash test rating for the neon chasis isnt that promissing. The worst by the insurence crash test institute. the B-pillar snaped in half in a T-bone to simulate a SUV/truck crash. I mean all performed pretty poor but the Neon was the worst.

Most of the time you buy a $XX,XXX car you get $XX,XXX car. It all depends on how the dealer spreads the cost. wether to put a better sound sytem, better saftey and looks or a better engine or whatever. Most manufatuers dont want to lose money on a production car. I dont think mazda had any other engine to use. and surely the designers of the FS-DE designed it to be NA and would never see 250 hp NA from stock components. The suspention I dont really know but to my knowledge its just the bushings and racing beat is behind it. You could probally replace it with a better AWR unit and get rid of the klunk (I think).

 

[Tito1]

Jhew & Spacemonkey- I totally dissagree with you. No matter how much the vehicle costs, once it is put on the showroom floor, the car company is passing on assumptions regarding qualtity, saftey and operation. Hence the ability to invoke lemon law.

You may choose to live with the problems (which may not be the same as mine), but having them on a $20k vs a $60 car changes nothing in the law about how reliable the car is supposed to be.

Tito

 

[J dragon]

Didn't Mazda win an award like in 2002 or 2003 as the most reliable car of that Year?...

 

[noclue119]

Didn't Mazda win an award like in 2002 or 2003 as the most reliable car of that Year?...

ya in germany. where there is no mazdaspeed. I like my car.. Warranty is nice.

 

[yashooa]

I am at 65k miles running 12PSI for 63k of it and every problem was factory repaired.
The head unit did die but I refused the repair. They would have installed a refurb but I declined. Mazda did not create the head unit Kenwood did.
Yes, I know they installed it and they would warranty it but down the road it would break again so I just bought a different radio. My car has driven so well for so long I almost take it's talents for granted. It is a splended little car.
I never leave a curve without a grin.

 

[JHew84]

Jhew & Spacemonkey- I totally dissagree with you. No matter how much the vehicle costs, once it is put on the showroom floor, the car company is passing on assumptions regarding qualtity, saftey and operation. Hence the ability to invoke lemon law.

You may choose to live with the problems (which may not be the same as mine), but having them on a $20k vs a $60 car changes nothing in the law about how reliable the car is supposed to be.

Tito

its not about living with the problems, its about accepting the fact that if you want something that is above standard quality, you are going to pay for it, you need to sit down and realize that you paid 20K (or less) for a car, i already asked for anyone to provide me with info on an affordable sports car for under 20K that had zero recalls, and that is even giving you guys a little leway, i could have asked for a sports car that is factory modified as much as the MSP that doesn't have any recalls, you wont find one, reason? because when you buy an affordable car, you get the problems that come along with them, if you want to buy a car that has had so much development put into it that the small things are a non-issue, you are going to pay a lot more for it, you seem to think that these prices aren't based on anything, that every car company should produce a rock solid car and that the price is contingent on name brand or model level, that is not the truth at all, price of cars is derived from quality, mercedes/lexus/bmw, they all cost more because you GET more, more quality, more customer service (which isn't even true in all cases), etc, so if you want MORE quality, BETTER customer service, you should not be looking to mazda who is providing you an affordable car that is just as normal as the rest, you should be looking to one of the more expensive manufacturers, because until you spend the money, you are not going to get the quality you are looking for, thats just the way business works...

bottom line, if you want better quality, less recalls, less things that you have to "just live with", you shouldn't have purchased an affordable car, if you can't afford a more expensive car seems like you are SOL, that is just the nature of the beast, whether or not it is acceptable is irrelevant, that is just the way business works, you get what you pay for... and thats not even covering the fact that MSP's are not even hardly as repair prone as some of you are trying to make them seem, i've heard far worse from many different car owners, we do not have it that bad...

 

[spacemonkey]

I think the Lemon law is if the car has some kind of serious defective form the factory meaning you bought a broken car or a car with some sort serious problem. The definition of borken part is subjective and I think that will be up to the courts to decide or whatever. its to protect the consumer. If you bought a car drove it stock and then engine fell out damn sure its a lemon. I found that my headlight amber color things were dented in from the factory and I didnt call lemon on the car.

a 20K car isnt going to have great reliability, economy, safety, power, comfort, looks and handling all under 20K. New Cars under 20K at the time would be? Civic? Sentra? Impreza RS? Kia? Hyundai? MSP? Toyota Corrola? VW golf GLS?

out of those which one would you want? A kia? It lacks in power and handling compared to a MSP but theres reliability and economy. Which just tells you that you cant expect the best quality form a 20K car.

You can expect the best quality from a $500,000 car like the Pagani Zonda roadster where you can choose over 180 different interior color and material including ostrach hide. Get a pair of racing shoes made by the same guy that taylors the pope. and matching lugage. Every car has its problems for 20K. Some are more apparent then others. You think a SRT-4 is a great buy...try looking at the crash test results and the interior. For some reason a klunk can be bared with but in a T-bone crash with a SUV you may not be so lucky in a Neon. A civic...yes its a reliable car but not much power.

I agree with the above statment...you want a better car you pay more for it. You think the MSP has problems. My brother's $15K VW Golf GLS has its shares of recalls and problem...window regulators went out...common problem with Golfs. Would you call that a lemon? Now if his engine blew when he drove it off from the dealer then sure its a lemon. If because of a broken or defective window regulator the car is deemed a lemon, then probally nearly all Jettas and Golfs are lemons. But just becasue some part broke or is sort of defective doesnt neccesarly mean its a lemon. And now people are claiming that airbags go off due to a sensor problem in the Golfs/Jetta (20/20 did a specail on it) and here we are bitching about a klunk noise comming form a suspention. Dodge Dekota tucks jsut got issued a recall because the rear hubs could come loose. One of the biggest recalls since Diamler/Chrysler merged and we are complaing about a bushing that goes on the sway bar? Ford Explorers had one of the biggest recalls due to firestone tires...I owned a ford explorer at the time...should I have called "lemon" on the car since it came with defective tires rom the factory where the tred could seperate? And Do you want me to go into the entry level neon that my uncle drives? The blown head gaskets...STOCK?

 

[JHew84]

ya, not to mention the recal on the last gen before the newest dakotas, i can't remember how many but a BUNCH of dakota owners had the balljoints (or a-arm, something to do with that whole assembly) just sheer right off and the whole assembly would go tumbling down the road, THAT my friends is a safety hazard, not some silly clunk that can easily be repaired if it is a problem...

and SRT-4's, their differentials are s*** to apparently, BUT in the second year production they fixed it, note* second year*, and theres a few other recalls on that car that are slipping from my mind right now...

again, affordable cars WILL have problems, especially ones that are performance oriented, its just the nature of the beast, car companys CANNOT afford to fool proof every car for the price they provide them at, it is just financially impossible, they would go out of business faster than a virgin on prom nite, if every car company were to put in the time/effort/production that you seem to expect, they would all cost as much as the higher end cars...

i will admit, some affordable cars are decently reliable, but they are slow econo-boxes, what do you want? quick with a couple problems, slow as hell no fun, but damn it just works, take your pick...