Mazda 3 diesel

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:59 pm

Drove one today. Nice once under way. Quite a lot of torque steer and what feels like axle tramp on hard low speed acceleration out of tight corners. No doubt you'd drive around it, but it is there, in a way that it cleverly isn't in the petrol cars. Roll on an AWD 2.5 petrol turbo!

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:02 pm

davekmoore wrote: Roll on an AWD 2.5 petrol turbo!

Yes please! Im waiting for them to release a new Mazda 3 mps. Iv heard the speculation about the AWD 2.5 turbo so hopefully something is in the pipelines

MVZOOM · Postby **MVZOOM** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 4:34 pm

I have a 242kw MPS3, with mods to support the power (ie...engine and gearbox mounts, bars, suspension etc). I'd dearly love 4wd to get the power down!

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 6:00 pm

That must be a handful, Iv dríven a few stock mps3's and they pull like a train so I could only imagine what yours would be like. :lol:

Great cars too.

MVZOOM · Postby **MVZOOM** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 6:38 pm

Yeah I really can't fathom the guys that get big power from theirs - I think anything more than mine is nearly undrivable. They need the tricky Focus RS revo-knuckle in the front end. Like most cars though, you sort of get used to it. To a degree...

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:58 pm

Do you still have the boost limit in first and second gear or get it removed? I could see that frying the tires even in 3rd probably haha. Obviously you would have some sticky tyres fitted of some sort but still. Would be lots of fun. Ever taken it to the drags or track?

MVZOOM · Postby **MVZOOM** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:41 pm

Yep, there's also a steering angle limiter (lowers torx at steering tolerance) and top speed limiter removed. I have not turned the ESP off and dumped it yet, but will do before getting new tyres. Running Toyo Proxes R3 at the moment. Funnily I used to get more wear running Yoko A539 and C-drives on my MX5.

It's still running 16psi but a different turbo. It will spin third, 20mins after I picked it up I accidentally nailed it on the M4 and the traction control kicked in.

To be honest though, it can be dríven sedately. I got 600km from a tank last week, going on holiday. If I pushed it any harder, it would get loud, hot and breaky. Happy where it's at.. people just dont expect a Mazda3 to rock up and blow their doors off!

First track day before Christmas. Got a mate with a WRX that needs attending to.

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:39 pm

Haha nice. Is 16 psi the stock boost level or near enough? Thats one thing I like about them, they look pretty sedate on the outside so the unassuming would think its just another mazda 3 until you leave it for dead. It would have so much torque you could putt around town off boost going about your business then when the mood takes you go fry some tyres and have an absolute ball.

It would take so nursing of the go pedal but it would put down a very good time at the drags and at the track even better. Interesting to see if you swoop past the wrx.

I so hope mazda bring out another mps3 especially with the current shape.

speed freak · Postby **speed freak** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 8:09 pm

Is your power level on an internally stock engine?

MVZOOM · Postby **MVZOOM** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 1:09 pm

Yeah, boost is pretty much stock, hits and holds 16.2psi. Internals are stock - the advice I had and research that I did lead me to believe that you really need to upgrade the rods with more boost. The rods are powder forged and the weak link of the engine, when more boost is applied, torque builds at lower revs which bends the rods because there isn't enough piston speed to compensate.

I think that's probably where most of the horror stories about these 2.3L engines failing is. You hear it often around the web where people plant the foot at 1800rpm and the engine pops. I've heard of it happening with cruise control enabled etc. Quite scary! Mine is also mapped to run very rich at WOT, which is a good thing - but it absolutely blows a cloud of black smoke when you give it the welly.

My friend in the aforementioned Rex was behind me the other day and I gave it a stomp - even with the traction control on, once it hit boost it spun all the way through second gear (TC kept cutting fuel and then released fuel but boost held) and then also flashed TC light in third. It's a hilarious car.

TTT · Postby **TTT** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:21 pm

MVZOOM wrote:(TC kept cutting fuel and then released fuel but boost held)

How does this not equal ping ping ping pop?

MVZOOM · Postby **MVZOOM** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:53 pm

TTT wrote:
MVZOOM wrote:(TC kept cutting fuel and then released fuel but boost held)

How does this not equal ping ping ping pop?

Probably my ignorance! Must cut spark too - haven't really thought about how the TC works! Given it's a factory feature and the ECUTek retains its functions, I'd assume it's a safe way of retarding power. The point is that it still maintains boost, so if you keep the pedal down, the TC is almost useless!

wasabi · Postby **wasabi** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:05 pm

On paper, if you were looking for a nice car to drive around (Not a sports car by any means) the diesel is my pick.

The new 3 is a bloody nice thing I have to admit.