New owner of a MS3

[Epower8725]

Hey guys, whats up? So on monday I went to my local mazda dealership and traded in my 05 RX-8, for a 09 MS3. I test drove it once and fell in love! I have a few questions for you guys, first the car was certified with a 7 year 100,000 mile warrenty, if I would make any mods to it such as an intake to start off would that void the warrenty right away? Or if my car breaks down would they have to prove the intake caused the damage? This is also the first car I owned that has a turbo, is there anything i really need to look out for?

Mod wise: I would really like to start off with an intake and exhaust system, my very first car I had was a 97 eclipse and it had a AEM short ram intake on it and sounded awesome and had a evo 2 greddy cat back. Both sounded and performed great. So i guess my question is, what brands would you guys prefer and also if you were in my shoes what would you do first?

Thanks

[adamgrant]

I hear www.corksport.com will help you out with what you want.... they deal with Mazdas and will recommend the best brands.

[Epower8725]

Thanks for that website. I picked up my MS3 this weekend and love it! and like I said im new to turbos so my next question is lag related, ive noticed that it spools up to about 6000 rpms then seems to just stop, is that normal in a stock turbo car? or is there something I can do to fix that? I do have the full powertrain warrenty on it so if something is up I can just take it into mazda.

Thanks

[adamgrant]

Its normal operation.

[Greenblurr93]

Originally Posted by Epower8725

Thanks for that website. I picked up my MS3 this weekend and love it! and like I said im new to turbos so my next question is lag related, ive noticed that it spools up to about 6000 rpms then seems to just stop, is that normal in a stock turbo car? or is there something I can do to fix that? I do have the full powertrain warrenty on it so if something is up I can just take it into mazda.

Thanks

Most times the factory will put on a smaller turbo so it spools up a lot quicker. But the drawback is that it 'runs out of air' in the upper RPM range..


and yes, ANY mods done to your drivetrain/intake/exh.. etc will void your warranty.. I had Mazda try and tell me my non factory tires caused my rear diff in my rx8 to blow (they were factory size)...

Your best bet is to find a 'mod friendly' dealership to do your work, since they wont care about any mods you preform..

[ItsPat16]

Just got a 2007 Mazdaspeed3 last month, Love mine as well. Used to own a Mazdaspeed Protege.

Corksport.com and Streetunit.com are some great places to start for parts. Street Unit has awesome customer service. Never dealt with Corksport but I hear nothing but positive things about them.

As far as turbo questions. Something else you will notice is that you dont have as much boost in first (and I think second as well) gear. The boost is electronically limited in first gear to cut down on Torque Steer.