In the market for a 6 MPS

Hi everyone,

Decided it's time to move on from my 98 Prelude VTI-R and get something a bit new and a bit faster. The 6 MPS is high on my list of vehicles to look at (if not the top), I love the look they present as great value for money

So with that in mind I'll be spending the next few weeks perusing the forums. Unfortunately the only ones for sale are in Sydney (I live in Newcastle) I'm not ready to buy until my Prelude says and I don't like to waste people's time.

If there's anyone in Newcastle I'd be happy to pay for the pleasure of being taken for a drive, maybe buy you lunch or a few beers perhaps?

Anyway glad to be here! Thanks everyone!

Welcome. If you would like to own the best 6MPS currently for sale in this country, flights to Perth are available for under $200. Then you can drive it home or freight it, and still be in front in terms of cost compared to many less well-equipped 6MPS's on the market.

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/membe...h001-sale.html

I am in Newcastle and will sell you mine if you would like

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Originally Posted by kmh001

Welcome. If you would like to own the best 6MPS currently for sale in this country, flights to Perth are available for under $200. Then you can drive it home or freight it, and still be in front in terms of cost compared to many less well-equipped 6MPS's on the market.

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/membe...h001-sale.html

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Have to admit u will not be disappointed and for 18k its a steal, faster than an evo/v8 and way more comfy. This car has similar mods to mine and probs making around 240kw atw. If i was in market for MPS i would buy this car.

I'd love a 200+ atw 6 but I've always been iffy about modified cars, especially turbos. It's nothing personal.

But Andy B I'm interested and would like to know more about your car.

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Originally Posted by son of eevil

I'd love a 200+ atw 6 but I've always been iffy about modified cars, especially turbos. It's nothing personal.

But Andy B I'm interested and would like to know more about your car.

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Lol, you can't fight the inevitable - the fact you are on this forum means sooner or later you will end up doing mods to your car! :woot:

If I knew when I bought mine (only mod was lowering) what I know now I would have seriously looked for a modified one, the cost of the parts for kmh001's car would be in the thousands at least I would have thought.

I do understand the iffy bit, I was the same and only wanted an unmodified one as I was under the impression that modified = thrashed, but the more time you spend on the forum and get into cars, the more you realise that it's the opposite - people here take great pride in their cars and have spent a fair amount of time and money to modify them, plus if you buy from a forum member get the benefit of a full forum history lol.

That's my 2 cents, either way best of luck with the search for a 6, always good to see another owner! :2thumb:

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Originally Posted by Fully6mps

Lol, you can't fight the inevitable - the fact you are on this forum means sooner or later you will end up doing mods to your car! :woot:

If I knew when I bought mine (only mod was lowering) what I know now I would have seriously looked for a modified one, the cost of the parts for kmh001's car would be in the thousands at least I would have thought.

I do understand the iffy bit, I was the same and only wanted an unmodified one as I was under the impression that modified = thrashed, but the more time you spend on the forum and get into cars, the more you realise that it's the opposite - people here take great pride in their cars and have spent a fair amount of time and money to modify them, plus if you buy from a forum member get the benefit of a full forum history lol.

That's my 2 cents, either way best of luck with the search for a 6, always good to see another owner! :2thumb:

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Oh I know all too well the pride "most" people take in their car who are forum members, but I've seen plenty of dodgies as well.

It all boils down to this for me, if someone said to me I spent $5,000 on this car and it's perfect and it will run for 300,000K's I'd probably believe them but is someone asked me to get $20,000 on it I'd have to bow out and for me that's kind of what it's like saying.

Went around all the local dealers, no one had an MPS, only ones for sale in NSW are private sales. I have no issues dropping $200-$300 on a ticket anywhere in the country and taking a couple of days off work to drive back on a $20,000 car. I just haven't driven an MPS yet so I don't know if I'll like how they drive and I'd hate to spend a few hundred get there and then not enjoy how the 6 MPS drives and feels, even worse is not knowing how they should drive/feel.

I think a trip to sydney in the coming weeks is on the cards.

Anyone in Sydney feel like taking me for a spin? As I said above happy to buy you lunch + fuel or maybe some beers or something?

Yeah that's fair enough. Good luck with the search, I'm sure something will pop up locally for you. Have you sussed out any auction places? I think they might sell ones coming out of novated leases?

Whatever you find, I'd definately pay the odd $200 it costs to get the car assessed by RACV/NRMA or equivalent. It's a thorough test. Same as you, I bought an MPS3 which looked great, but was really wary, but really happy I got the assessment as they confirmed it was babied all its life and in excellent order.

Some good advice from Fully6mps. You'd be doing yourself a disservice assuming some of the cars here are modded in the same sense as a pimply faced kid would mod a car. Let me explain.

As you read through these forums, particularly the early years, you'll see that these cars had some real issues in stock form. Some mods were developped simply to correct what were expensive and ongoing problems. Another thing to consider is that these were 50-odd thousand dollar cars when new and most of the original owners like me were old enough and experienced enough to have done mods that I would describe as tasteful and sensible improvements.

Of course I'm biased, but I feel one of the best selling points of my car is that it incorporates seven years of collective experience in terms of addressing the shortcomings of the design. My secondary objective was to make a series of improvements to access the cars full potential and I'm confident I achieved that in a subtle and cohesive way. Except for the wheels and lower stance the exterior looks original, the interior is completely original, it even sounds stock with the original mufflers still in place - so no droning and no unwanted attention. I think it's better than a new 6MPS and in better-than-new condition with no wheel alignment problems, no flimsy diff mounts, no risk of broken axles, no hesitation after each gear change, no worying when the turbo is going to take up smoking, etc etc etc

Anyway, I hope you get the opportunity to drive both a stock and improved MPS. They'll likely feel like very different cars, particularly because the stock MPS has pretty ordinary handling due to having no front camber (which is not adjustable). Don't be too quick to dismiss an MPS with the right mods because frankly a stock 6MPS with an original turbo and suspension (read high tyre wear) is going to represent more expense than you're going to want.

Good luck with the search, I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun and enjoyment in an MPS.

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Originally Posted by kmh001

Some good advice from Fully6mps. You'd be doing yourself a disservice assuming some of the cars here are modded in the same sense as a pimply faced kid would mod a car. Let me explain.

As you read through these forums, particularly the early years, you'll see that these cars had some real issues in stock form. Some mods were developped simply to correct what were expensive and ongoing problems. Another thing to consider is that these were 50-odd thousand dollar cars when new and most of the original owners like me were old enough and experienced enough to have done mods that I would describe as tasteful and sensible improvements.

Of course I'm biased, but I feel one of the best selling points of my car is that it incorporates seven years of collective experience in terms of addressing the shortcomings of the design. My secondary objective was to make a series of improvements to access the cars full potential and I'm confident I achieved that in a subtle and cohesive way. Except for the wheels and lower stance the exterior looks original, the interior is completely original, it even sounds stock with the original mufflers still in place - so no droning and no unwanted attention. I think it's better than a new 6MPS and in better-than-new condition with no wheel alignment problems, no flimsy diff mounts, no risk of broken axles, no hesitation after each gear change, no worying when the turbo is going to take up smoking, etc etc etc

Anyway, I hope you get the opportunity to drive both a stock and improved MPS. They'll likely feel like very different cars, particularly because the stock MPS has pretty ordinary handling due to having no front camber (which is not adjustable). Don't be too quick to dismiss an MPS with the right mods because frankly a stock 6MPS with an original turbo and suspension (read high tyre wear) is going to represent more expense than you're going to want.

Good luck with the search, I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun and enjoyment in an MPS.

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If you're car is still for sale when I get serious and by serious I mean, my car has to get sold first. I've got a friend in Perth I could send around as an emissary to check it out if you were cool with that. Perth also means about a week off work to drive back. Actually looking into it from Newcastle to Perth is 43 hours and 4,000K's, so around $800 in fuel so around $1,000 to fly there and drive back add on another 1,000 for NSW rego. not a cheap affair to by from Perth, QLD or Vic is a bit different though.

Just wanted to add at son of eevil, I hope my post didn't come across as aggressive to convince you into buying kmh001's car, I don't actually know kmh001 so no hidden agenda from me, just trying to pass on lessons I have learnt myself over the last 2 years of mps ownership.

Based on my own independent research his list of mods matched what I am aiming for eventually (tasteful, reliable, functional) to the point I now use his car as a benchmark/reference point, and having bought all my parts brand new to date it has not been cheap (plus add in the labour costs for installing said parts). I seriously wish I had my current knowledge 2 years ago, with his car up for sale at the current price.

But definitely get yourself into a stock 6, hopefully it will show you enough to make you want to buy one (if you can, try and find a leather pack option one), then you can think about getting into a modified one (maybe kmh001's) and see how Mazda should have made them from factory :smiley:

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Originally Posted by son of eevil

I've got a friend in Perth I could send around as an emissary to check it out if you were cool with that. Perth also means about a week off work to drive back.

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Yeah I'm cool with that. If we ever get to that stage and time off work is a problem it may be worth looking at transporting. When we brought our cars to Perth from Sydney a couple of years ago it only cost about $1500 for each car which is about the same as it would have cost in fuel and accommodation to drive over.

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Originally Posted by kmh001

Yeah I'm cool with that. If we ever get to that stage and time off work is a problem it may be worth looking at transporting. When we brought our cars to Perth from Sydney a couple of years ago it only cost about $1500 for each car which is about the same as it would have cost in fuel and accommodation to drive over.

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Shit, I didn't even think of accommodation. But yeah transport for $1,000 for the price I just got which means that it'd be about $1,400 to fly there check it out fly back and then have it transported. Not saying it's out of the picture but between rego/flights/transport it adds about $2,500 to the price then I've got to start looking at what I can do to a stock 6 with $2,500.

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Originally Posted by son of eevil

Shit, I didn't even think of accommodation. But yeah transport for $1,000 for the price I just got which means that it'd be about $1,400 to fly there check it out fly back and then have it transported. Not saying it's out of the picture but between rego/flights/transport it adds about $2,500 to the price then I've got to start looking at what I can do to a stock 6 with $2,500.

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Wouldnt be close to the mods that kmh001 has. but depends ow far you want to go with the mods i guess

That's an interesting question, I've never looked at how much I've spent on these improvements. But a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation comes to $12,740. That doesn't include routine things like tyres and brakes, and I did a lot of the work myself which saved on labour costs.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

Wouldnt be close to the mods that kmh001 has. but depends ow far you want to go with the mods i guess

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Oh I'm not looking to spend huge on a car (by huge I mean $5,000 +). I've never really been in to car modifying, always planned to but never have, never really had the money, but I do now days but I wouldn't want to do more then exhaust, maybe suspension/chassis work, rims and a good set of tyres.

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Originally Posted by kmh001

That's an interesting question, I've never looked at how much I've spent on these improvements. But a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation comes to $12,740. That doesn't include routine things like tyres and brakes, and I did a lot of the work myself which saved on labour costs.

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That's a lot of work.

hey SOE! glad to hear you're considering an MPS! on a stock 6 MPS, for around a $1,000-$1,500 you can get yourself a full exhaust and downpipe and for another $1,500 you can get yourself an Ecutek tune to take your car from ~147 awKW to around 190 awKW, so you definitely don't need to spend heaps upgrading the turbo to get plenty more power out of the car if that's what you're after, alternatively instead of the Ecutek, you can get the Cobb Access Port if you know how to tune a car yourself, they're around $500 for the unit and you can tinker around with settings to make the car perform how you want it to :) but definitely drive a stock one first, you'll love it for sure! the jump from my Prelude to the 6 was a pretty big one, the power was almost too much to handle at first :p the AWD feels a bit weird at first too, but you can feel it sort of pushing you around the corners, instead of dragging you like you might feel in the Prelude, the 6 does feel a bit soft and rolly to start with too, so i was a bit weary of throwing it into corners at first, but once you have it sussed, you'll find you can take corners well over 10+ kmph faster than you would dare to in the Prelude and still have no tire squeal or anything, but lowering it just on king springs you can feel it's alot better and that only cost maybe $500 for the springs + install, so if you got a stock one, for a couple of grand you can do quite a bit for increased power and improved handling, if i can say one bad thing about owning my MPS 6 over my old 97 Prelude is that i kind of miss the sports car look, but that's overcome by that it's not an attention seeker so no problems from police or dickheads trying to race you all the time, not that my Prelude ever gave me problems with police

I'm in Sydney and I'm selling mine :) Very mildly modded :)

If you're interested, I can even drive up half way to Newcastle or something, or if you come down to Sydney when you are serious about actually purchasing one, I'm more than happy to take you on a test drive.

http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/membe...ocity-red.html

I am VERY interested the only issue being that I can't buy until my current car sells.

So I wouldn't want to waste your time unless I had the money to buy.