contemplating buying a mazdaspeed6, would like input

[qweakers]

first would like it say hi to all

second i've been eyeballing this 06 mazdaspeed6 grand touring at a dealership and have tried to do a lot of reading on here regarding them and still have some questions that hopefully i can get some unbiased answers to

being that the cars are pushing 3-4 years old, how reliable are they. talking in stock form right now?

is there any potential issues to be aware of, like items breaking prematurely?

how mod friendly are they and what are the limits?

seen the whole ecu issue with the 06's which i guess we don't have to worry about either way because of cobb, and the whole rear diff mount bolts (how to fix that?)

and lastly in your guys honest opinion should i just get a evo or subby

thanks all for your help

 

[markspd6]

if you wanna hit the dirt? get a subie.. but, if you want a nice powerful stealthy car thats good for the street and family these are very nice. i also have an impreza.. and for some reason, the MS6 insurance is much cheaper.. I guess less accidents etc.. I like my MS6.. but, theyre not evos.. so be realistic..

 

[OJ Bartley]

It really depends what you want the car for. Like Mark said, if you want a car to slam around in the dirt, and something a little racier, go with the Evo/WRX. If you want more of a GT car that's nicer inside, still has power for the highway, and can occasionally rip from a stoplight or on a track visit, go with the Speed6.

If you want something to mod heavily, just save yourself some agony and stick with one of the other 2 cars though. It seems that the Speed is responsive to mild bolt-ons, but you're not going to be getting 400 HP out of it.

 

[qweakers]

this is pretty much what i'm after

"nice powerful stealthy car that's good for the street and family"
"nicer inside, still has power for the highway, and can occasionally rip from a stoplight or on a track visit"

i also want reliability and some upgradeability, so what are the problems with the motors i keep hearing about and the rearend breaking it's mounts or mounting points.

what is the problem with getting 400hp out of it, the motor and/or the drivetrain can't take it. all cars have their weakspots just a matter of finding them and addressing them. i know the evos it's the tranny, and subbies once you start pushing power it can be the motor and/or tranny depending on what subby it is

should i be worried about the motor being that the car has somewhere around 46k on it

just happend to se the MS6 at a dealer and thought that is different, looks great, and is AWD, seemed like a good deal, then i started researching it and found some issues

 

[markspd6]

apparently our car uses a second hand Volvo AWD set-up?? and its probably too heavy and sucks power out hard!! my local tuner says the engine is fine.. but the power just doesnt hit the wheels like an Evo. every car has its problems.. but, mine have been minimal.. but, im not looking for 500 to the wheel.. and even with 300-350 this car is plenty fast.. i race very fast cars all the time.. i dont win every time.. but, fun is had..

 

[mysleeper6]

The first hurdle on the way to 400 hp seems to be mounts. Most people replace the rear motor mount (many recommend this as a first mod), others take it farther and replace the rear diff mounts. After that the problem seems to be fueling. The stock fuel pump has had some problems keeping up with anyone who has done all the breathing mods, but there are options there as well. Once that is addressed, the ECU in these cars is very complex, and people are running into a load cap; some people are using Cobb's ATR to work around it, others are saying CPE has the solution. And during this entire process, you have to be careful with any tuning that adds to the car's low end torque; the rods tend to bend and knock holes in the block.

All that being said (and, admittedly by someone who has not confronted these problems), the car does respond well to minor modifications and can be a very reliable car, and offers a combination of performance and comfort that is hard to beat for the money. All of the above problems have occured, but following a forum is kind of like watching your local news when they report violence from all around the country: you end up thinking this stuff happens all the time, where the reality of it is most people never have any problems.

 

[Blendercloud]

...the car does respond well to minor modifications and can be a very reliable car, and offers a combination of performance and comfort that is hard to beat for the money. All of the above problems have occured, but following a forum is kind of like watching your local news when they report violence from all around the country: you end up thinking this stuff happens all the time, where the reality of it is most people never have any problems.

This is a great explanation. The vast majority of people who own these cars are not on any forums. They drive their car every day without issue. So the testimonies you'll find online are greatly skewed by this. This is a great every day car, especially for the money. It sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for, too!

 

[qweakers]

i realize that probably not alot of people who drive cars are on any forum. and when you start asking for more power things can go wrong, trying to avoid that when it comes time.

so basically the rods are the weak point and pushing for more power will have a tendency to bend them, what about the block what is it's limit and what is the drivetrains limit

assuming there are fuel pump upgrades out?

 

[Blendercloud]

i realize that probably not alot of people who drive cars are on any forum. and when you start asking for more power things can go wrong, trying to avoid that when it comes time.

so basically the rods are the weak point and pushing for more power will have a tendency to bend them, what about the block what is it's limit and what is the drivetrains limit

assuming there are fuel pump upgrades out?

There are upgraded fuel pump internals out there for about $300 and an upgraded fuel pump (complete) for about $950. With simple bolt-ons like an intake, turbo inlet pipe, and some better mounts you should be completely fine and never really have a problem.

Yes, the rods are the weak point on the engine, but really... they're the weak point on any engine. On an overhead cam engine the weakest point will just about always be the connecting rods. On a pushrod engine the weakest point will just about always be the pushrods (sometimes rocker arms). Long story short, I wouldn't be worried about buying the car if I were you. If you use it for what you previously said you were going to use it for you have a very small chance of issues.

The two things holding the rear differential in place are a rear diff mount and a rear diff brace. The rear diff mount is prone to breaking due to launching and in a lot of cases mistreatment. It isn't the greatest design either though. The rear diff brace is known for shearing the bolts off that connect it to the rear differential itself. As said previously, in a lot of cases it's due to launching and/or mistreatment.

 

[qweakers]

agree with the rods being a weak point, sort of, there are some stock rods out there that can take more abuse then others. for sake of argument what i want to know is at what power level with x part fail.

rods i'm guessing could go at 300+.
what about the block being that it seems to be an aluminum block with sleeves cast into it. is it closed or open or semi-closed.
drivetrain what could it take, what could be done to beef it up, like cryo treating the gears, etc..

i know it sounds like i'm getting of course from my original intent i have for the car but i always like to think a couple of years in the future when the car had some miles on it and get something else and decide to possible go mod happy on the ms6

would much rather not go evo or subby route if that matters, and like the fact that the ms6 is something else besides the norm

 

[Blendercloud]

Honestly, I wouldn't give the rods much more potential than stock power levels. The block, for all intensive purposes is good to probably 400whp (conservative). I know there are cars out there making that on a factory block and I've never heard any sort of issue with deck or cylinder distortion. I would say the crank is probably sufficient for the same 400whp you're going to get out of the block (again, conservative).

The clutch is a pretty strong OEM clutch, but once you start adding large amounts of torque, you can expect the stocker to have troubles retaining grip. I honestly don't know much about transmissions on these import cars, so I can't answer that. CV Joints are known issues when adding power and launching; especially in the rear. Like I said previously, with minor bolt-ons you should have very little issue. You'll probably be right around 300 flywheel horsepower, too.

 

[qweakers]

i appreciate all the input from you guys, keep it coming

 

[ms6DiGi]

I've had mine for almost 3 years. I don't know everything there is to know about cars but I slowly/safely modded it to where it's at now (Mazdaspeed cold air intake, Mazdaspeed coilover suspension, Corksport catback exhaust, TWM short shifter... etc, ETS TMIC on the way) and I have never had any problems. Love the car for how rare it is, the nice interior, and its fun factor.

But as long as I tried to deny myself, everytime I see and Evo IX on the road I wish it was mine instead of the MS6.

But that's totally me, and everyone is different.
Good luck!

 

[qweakers]

lol, don't know how the compare to the VIII, but after riding in a friends it's like blah

 

[coyfish]

This car has an awesome balance of power, looks, and comfort. But it will never be an sti or evo. At this point the tuning community is still trying to figure out how to extract all the power this motor has to offer. So if you want a comfortable ~300whp AWD car then the speed 6 is for you. If you want more power than you should look elsewhere.