Review: 2010 Mazdaspeed3 is sitting on the bubble

[armthehomeless]

Filed under: Performance, Japan, Hatchback, Mazda, Reviews

2010 Mazdaspeed3 - Click above for high-res image gallery

Last summer, our man Damon Lavrinc drove the then-brand-new 2010 Mazdaspeed3 around California's legendary Laguna Seca Raceway and then Caramel Valley's world-class back roads. And he loved it. I mention this because we're sure that under similar, near-ideal conditions, I would have been nearly as smitten. But reality has a funny way of tossing monkey wrenches at even the most lovely picnics. To wit: I had the Speed3 in Los Angeles during the recent torrential downpour/tornado warnings, then drove to Phoenix through a monsoon the same day/night that Russo and Steele got their tents blown across a freeway. Ideal? Hardly. Informative? Keep reading and decide for yourself.


Gallery: Review: 2010 Mazdaspeed3



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Review: 2010 Mazdaspeed3 is sitting on the bubble originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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[DISIMS3]

We've heard all this before haven't we?....Granted the MPS takes a little getting used to but come on....grow some freakin balls.... or buy a WRX if it makes you feel better. Just don't act suprised when your subie can't keep up with my Mazda

[lucifuge]

The latest WRX's with 195kw are quoted as 5.3 seconds 0-100kph.

Stock for stock, I can't see that trailing an MPS3.

[Jmac]

The latest WRX's with 195kw are quoted as 5.3 seconds 0-100kph.

Stock for stock, I can't see that trailing an MPS3.

Might be quoted.. though bear in mind that it is at the fly, not the wheels.. and its AWD which equals more power loss...

Ive test driven the new WRX and was not too impressed.

[kagerou]

sure, a wrx is tested as running a 5.3sec 0-100km/hr sprint, but you have to be really brutal with the clutch to do so, otherwise you bog down and get a bad launch

i had a wrx, and after launching it "properly" once, there was no way i was ever going to do it again with the factory gearbox, the sound the drivetrain made was horrible, and would definitely have shortened its life

unless the wrx driver launches properly, i know that an mps is quicker to 400m, and several car lengths by 1km. true story

[Nirvandan]

Wow the new MPS took a beating in that review!

Seriously Im starting to question MPS drivers.... are we that crazy? why is that I fail to understand the torque steer that these journos are talking about. Like its something impossible to handle?... and this coming from a Gen 1 owner which is by the way a real animal. Drove the Gen 2 on the weekend and gave it some stick reving almost to the redline and I could have fall sleep, harly could notice any pull or torque whatsoever!

Im so confused!

[Jmac]

Motoring journos are a product of their environment..
They must drive that many cars that unless its RWD and they can make the arse swing out they are bored as bat ..

And because of this, when they drive a FWD and get some steering tug they dont like it...

Sure ive just made all that up but it sounds plausible, and my theory - so im sticking to it :P

[MISSMPS]

Motoring journos are a product of their environment..
They must drive that many cars that unless its RWD and they can make the arse swing out they are bored as bat ..

And because of this, when they drive a FWD and get some steering tug they dont like it...

Sure ive just made all that up but it sounds plausible, and my theory - so im sticking to it :P

Sounds about right to me...

[DISIMS3]

The latest WRX's with 195kw are quoted as 5.3 seconds 0-100kph.

Stock for stock, I can't see that trailing an MPS3.

I didn't say stock for stock + i'm being patriotic + MPS owners are better drivers

[MPShiv]

I love that my car gets a grilling from the motoring journalists, absolutely.

So it scares off all the pussies who think "torque steer" will kill them just by touching the wheel.Amatuers of an MPS and drive a camry.

I ALWAYS feel safe in my car, dry or wet conditions because if i drive to the conditions i can still cover ground at immense speeds comfortably. Like hell i am going to go the ragged edge of handling or clutch dump and flat shift my daily driver.

I would love to see a 20 run 0 - 400m shoot out between an MPS and WRX, after about run 7-9 the wrx clutch would be fried and i could do a 18 second pass and still win haha.

"A mazda 3 mps is a muscle car for the new generation of drivers, A car with brawn and muscle born from the fires of hell itself"

That's my definition and if i like such a car then i must be the devils right hand man.

Shibbs

[DISIMS3]

I love that my car gets a grilling from the motoring journalists, absolutely.

So it scares off all the pussies who think "torque steer" will kill them just by touching the wheel.Amatuers of an MPS and drive a camry.

I ALWAYS feel safe in my car, dry or wet conditions because if i drive to the conditions i can still cover ground at immense speeds comfortably. Like hell i am going to go the ragged edge of handling or clutch dump and flat shift my daily driver.

I would love to see a 20 run 0 - 400m shoot out between an MPS and WRX, after about run 7-9 the wrx clutch would be fried and i could do a 18 second pass and still win haha.

"A mazda 3 mps is a muscle car for the new generation of drivers, A car with brawn and muscle born from the fires of hell itself"

That's my definition and if i like such a car then i must be the devils right hand man.

Shibbs

You should be in advertising Shiv. "Born from the fires of hell itself". LOVE IT

[shakespeare]

Motoring journos are a product of their environment..
They must drive that many cars that unless its RWD and they can make the arse swing out they are bored as bat ..

And because of this, when they drive a FWD and get some steering tug they dont like it...

Sure ive just made all that up but it sounds plausible, and my theory - so im sticking to it :P

Couldn't have said it better

When I test drove the 3 MPS Gen I the only time I got a little concerned with torque steer was when it was wet and the roads were slick as! (DSC off) Not really a problem, then again in a RWD car in the wet when you get into a power oversteer, I'd buy one if I was replacing the 6! just don't be crazy on the wrong roads/conditions and it'll be fine

[LILZLR]

Motoring journos are a product of their environment..
They must drive that many cars that unless its RWD and they can make the arse swing out they are bored as bat ..

And because of this, when they drive a FWD and get some steering tug they dont like it...

Sure ive just made all that up but it sounds plausible, and my theory - so im sticking to it :P

Couldnt have said it any better

[Nirvandan]

I could have, just dont wan to

[TheJunglist]

Motoring journos are a product of their environment..
They must drive that many cars that unless its RWD and they can make the arse swing out they are bored as bat ..

And because of this, when they drive a FWD and get some steering tug they dont like it...

Sure ive just made all that up but it sounds plausible, and my theory - so im sticking to it :P

hahaha so true

[Jmac]

Pussies!!

[bd581]

I was so worried the first time I drove mine, but I drove it like I normally would on the test and found it no different to my sp23. Bought the car and had to do a little bit of peak hour Sydney driving, gave me a bit of experience in the car, but still no hard acceleration, though I did get a couple of tiny squirts.
Finally on the way home I got to hit it coming onto the expressway.
3rd gear, 3/4 throttle, 1 hand on the wheel, other ready to change gears. Yes it pulled left, but not nearly as bad as a lot of lower powered FWD cars I've driven.
From that point on I realised both hands on steering wheel if acceleration in anything but a straight line, or at least, expect some torque steer, so hold on a bit tighter
no issues with it anymore

I think my sp23 torque steered worse, mainly because to say get across an intersection in whatever time, you had to push the sp harder to do the same ting as the mps

even let my brother drive it the other day with dsc and traction control off, he gave it a relatively hard take off (nothing too hard on the car) and even he was very suprised. Didn't think it was much worse than his current model 2.4ltr vrx lancer

I've had an argument with the guy from our local repco who reads too much. He carried on about how bad the torque steer is, and how bad the Mazda suspension and diff is because it torque steers much worse than all it's competitors.
Simple reason for that is, it has more torque than the others.

But let's just face it. Who cares about off the line performance, in daily use it's not required and way to hard on the car, mid range acceleration (80-120km/h) is the true test of performance I believe. It's the most important test for real world driving.
And that is something nobody has ever complained that the mps lacks

even my biased BF GT 302kw falcon driving boss is increadibly impressed

[philbie13]

I love that my car gets a grilling from the motoring journalists, absolutely.

So it scares off all the pussies who think "torque steer" will kill them just by touching the wheel.Amatuers of an MPS and drive a camry.

I ALWAYS feel safe in my car, dry or wet conditions because if i drive to the conditions i can still cover ground at immense speeds comfortably. Like hell i am going to go the ragged edge of handling or clutch dump and flat shift my daily driver.

I would love to see a 20 run 0 - 400m shoot out between an MPS and WRX, after about run 7-9 the wrx clutch would be fried and i could do a 18 second pass and still win haha.

"A mazda 3 mps is a muscle car for the new generation of drivers, A car with brawn and muscle born from the fires of hell itself"

That's my definition and if i like such a car then i must be the devils right hand man.

Shibbs

i did about 17 runs 1n my 3mps in one night problems at all running 14's to 13.5 clutch never gave up lol.

[YOU LOSE]

Motor jurno;s are a weird bunch im sure they actually believe what they write .My only brush with one was when I handed him the keys to madaz he broke out in a cold sweat ,went dry in the mouth and mumbled something like these cars could kill you .If that's the reputation they have conjured up after watching the multiple roll over at Bathurst to many times then so be it as Shiv said I'm glad the mps has them all sweaty in the palms bunch of numnuts

Col

[steve7680768]

The latest version is very cool.... And its price is also very low...