Mazda 3 mps full#

Check the oil was changed every 9000 or so miles and if the initial 3000-mile service was done. If the engine is tuned, the credibility of the company that did the work is more important than the claimed power gain. Check for worn turbo seals by allowing the engine to idle for 15 minutes before booting the loud pedal and looking for smoke. If the chain rattles at 2000rpm, have it inspected. Listen for the VVT actuator rattling or a loud ticking immediately after engine start-up. We’ve got two cars, both in black, for sale at the moment: a 2006 Mk1 with the aero kit and 70,000 miles for £6495, and a 2010 Mk2 with 48,000 miles for £10,995.” The turbo doesn’t give any trouble and we’ve never known any timing chain issues. Being a Mazda, they’re extremely reliable. They’re terrific cars - extremely fast but very comfortable, too. “We’ve been a Mazda specialist for more than 15 years and have sold a few MPSs. It’s a nice twist and shows just how single-minded Mazda can be – a trait that has, at various times, rewarded it richly and cost it dearly. However, where Ford’s hot hatch, the ST, had a blown 2.5-litre five-cylinder Volvo engine to grind its beans, the 3 MPS used a homegrown Mazda 2.3-litre four, again with forced induction. If you didn’t know that Ford once owned a third of Mazda shares, you might be surprised to hear the 3 MPS shares its platform with the Ford Focus.

Mazda 3 mps full#

Prices begin at about £2000 for high-mileage, private-sale 2006 cars before accelerating as quickly as the car itself (5.9sec to 60mph, for the record) to around £4500 for tidy 2007 cars with full history, before speeding north beyond £8000 (nice 2010 cars) to as much as £12,000 for the last 20 examples. Still, one purist’s overcooked orphan is another’s overlooked bargain. True, there’s a mechanical limited-slip diff and a steering-anglesensitive throttle damping system that aims to rein in power when you turn the wheel but, even so, torque steer remains a problem that leaves the car feeling unresolved. Whereas the R32 and S3 were both four-wheel drive, the Mazda was two-wheel drive, and those driven wheels were the fronts.

Buy them before we do: second-hand picks for 29 MarchĪnd therein lies the reason the 3 MPS is so invisible.

Hot Mazda 3 on the cards to take on VW Golf GTI.

Under the skin: How Mazda is changing internal combustion.

New Mazda 3: UK prices for Skyactiv-X variants announced.