The search has begun

[ttbennett14]

I've been looking hard for a legit Mazdaspeed and have found a couple but mostly all of them have 100K +, or been beat on, for $8,000 and up...Which I think is way too over priced from what I've read here on the forums. I think I found a pretty legit deal. 90Kmiles for 5,900? Only had two owners and both of them were adult. I'm only 18, but I don't plan on beating the car up. I just want to enjoy the ZoomZoom. What do you guys thinks? Any comments or opinions are more than welcome.

 

[oaklandopen]

Ms3. Im not biased at all

 

[hornsfan10609]

Any MSP you buy is going to need some work, which is exactly what I wanted. Buy one, replace the WGA, exhaust mani gasket and studs, new timing/accessory belts, motor mounts, rear sway bay bushings, etc, then start modding. MS3s are very fast, comfortable and reliable, but for what I paid for my MSP and how it performs I am very happy with it, I can't afford an MS3 for a DD. FWIW I ran against a 2010 and an 08 MS3, the 08 was the fastest with a rear MM and RAI and still didn't catch up (and blow past) my mostly stock MSP until she hit 3rd, in all three passes.

 

[ttbennett14]

And that's exactly what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a car that I need to put some work into, but not drop a whole down payment on a house. I'm looking for a fun car that I'll need to put some effort into and still maintain it as a DD. For the price that I've been finding them at, you really cant beat it. I wouldnt be caught dead driving a SRT4(braindead)...and the newer SE-R's are just ugly IMO. The newer Mazdaspeed's are well out of my price range right now...unfortunately, or I would have a garage full of them. But wouldnt we all? (yes) I found another deal for 89,000 for $6000. All the right deals seem to be popping up, now.

 

[Preferio]

Any MSP you buy is going to need some work, which is exactly what I wanted. Buy one, replace the WGA, exhaust mani gasket and studs, new timing/accessory belts, motor mounts, rear sway bay bushings, etc, then start modding. MS3s are very fast, comfortable and reliable, but for what I paid for my MSP and how it performs I am very happy with it, I can't afford an MS3 for a DD. FWIW I ran against a 2010 and an 08 MS3, the 08 was the fastest with a rear MM and RAI and still didn't catch up (and blow past) my mostly stock MSP until she hit 3rd, in all three passes.

LOL- Check, check, check, and check... That's exactly what I did. I looked and looked for an MSP for a while. Had to drive out of state to get it. I also wanted one that hadn't been hacked to pieces and wanted it all stock. The price range was insane for the cars- $8k on average as high as $14k. The only local one I found was a low mileage (~60k) 2003.5 blue at the Mazda dealership, but they wanted $11k for it. No thanks. I love MSP's, but I wasn't going to drop that much on one because I could get a MS3 for that. I finally found one in Georgia about 250 miles away from me at a used car lot. I then had them take it to the local Mazda dealership for a PPI, and it checked out fairly well for a car that had 153k. I was also able to find the previous owner via this forum and was able to get a service/repair history on the vehicle. I was also looking at other Mazdas, and actually opted for the MSP over an RX8. They wanted $6k for the car and I ended up getting it for $5k because the exhaust from the cat back was missing/CEL was on so I waved $5k in front of them which made them change their mind. I had $9k to spend, but decided to get this car with 150k miles for $3k less than what people were asking for a car with 90k on it. As soon as I got back home, I brought it to my shop, fixed the CEL (charge pipes leaking), put an exhaust on it, timing belt, plugs/wires, sway bar links/bushings, and motor mounts and was good to go. It's different when you have an entire brand-new shop at your disposal and the knowledge to do everything yourself. I don't regret for one second opting to buy this car over the RX8. I had originally wanted to put the MSP set up on my P5, but decided it was too expensive to do so buying pieces here and there from forum members when it would never handle like the MSP which is what I wanted- the handling aspect.

 

[ogsp5]

I found MSP's here in FT laud. 1-blk the other yellow. I am going to look at them again tomorrow. If you are interested I will let you know how they look.

 

[Preferio]

I found MSP's here in FT laud. 1-blk the other yellow. I am going to look at them again tomorrow. If you are interested I will let you know how they look.

I found a black one in Fort Lauderdale when I was looking, but it was ragged out. I mean the guy only wanted $3k for it, but it wasn't worth the hassle plus it was 600 miles away.

 

[ttbennett14]

I plan on leaving the engine stock, but upgrading the little things like the exhaust mani gasket, new timing/accessory belts, motor mounts, rear sway bay bushings, etc. and then enjoying the ride. It would just cost too much money to make a normal protege into an MSP and for the price he's asking for is counting pretty nice right about now. I looked into a few RX8's but they just dont really catch my eye too much. I love the look of the Mazdaspeed's and want a car that I can enjoy working on and seeing the result out of. I've been looking for a couple weeks now and im pretty sure I've found one. The guy wants to trade with me for my 03' DX + $2,000 cash. He has ankle problems and wants to get better gas mileage. lol. I think it's a pretty fair trade and everything seems to be checking out. I'm going to take a look at the car on sunday. I know I should check the boost level but is there anything else that you guys would check?

 

[jdmdikk]

I have a 39k original miles msp that I might consider selling. I highly doubt that u are located anywhere near me but it's worth a try. I am from CT. It's a black mica 2003 and has alot of goodies on it. Has no rust and never involved in any accidents.my price won't be cheap but it reflects the miles,goodies,etc so its a fair price that I have in mind.pm me of anything.

 

[ttbennett14]

Soo, I went to go check out the car and DAMN is it in mint condition...the only thing that I saw wrong was the window motors in the back were burnt out and the previous owner took the factory sub out of it. He also replaced the motor because the previous owner shot a piston rod out of the hood. The engine only has about 20K miles on it. The rims are a little scratched here and there and one of the sideskirts are cracked. The BOV sounded clean and it spooled up really nice. He was running stock PSI and has never played around with any aftermarket parts. He owned a normal protege before his Mazdaspeed and said he wanted to get out of the turbo cars because he's starting a family. He offered me a trade for my Protege DX + $2,000 but I think I could talk him down on the price and the MSP will be mine (thumb)

 

[jbrewer4639]

that sounds awesome!

 

[ttbennett14]

I'm pretty sure I'm obsessed with these cars now. lol. I've been scanning the forums non-stop to learn as much as I can, looking at websites for parts, looking at all the different things you can do to the body, all of it. I'm definitely excited for it.