by "Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
Published 06/16/2017 at 10:10
by "Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
Published 06/16/2017 at 10:10
No Tags
STARS: 9
I’m not exactly a frequent poster, but some of you might remember this post about a Mazda 6 MPS (or Mazdaspeed 6 as it’s known in the US). I had been to view it, found out some strange details but was still interested in making it work. Most of you recommended to leave it. So guess what I bought...
I went back today and had the car checked out by a local Mazda dealer (at my expense). Turns out it is in pretty decent shape for a 12 year old turbo AWD sedan. It’s not rusted away like a lot of Mazdas do, and the only issues found in the check seem fairly minor and within the budget of what I’m willing to put in to this car. A few seals need replacing, the second catalytic converter supposedly has a minor leak which can be fixed with a small weld and some other issues, mostly cosmetic.
So I decided to gamble. I got the price down a bit, and they will throw in a new battery since that was also dead. Time will tell if it was a wise choice, but since it is my first car... If it sucks I will write it off as a life lesson and buy something economical and probably boring. Signing the paperwork tomorrow and driving it back to my place (it’s located about a 2-hour drive away... think I’ll take the back roads though, so probably 3-hour drive :P).
"FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem" (fuelstratifiedinjection)
06/16/2017 at 10:14, STARS: 1
Congrats! Good to know that it turned out to be decent. I’m weeks away from my first car.
"random001" (random001)
06/16/2017 at 10:16, STARS: 2
I always did like these. Never had a chance to drive one, though.
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
06/16/2017 at 10:17, STARS: 1
awesome!
"gawdzillla" (gawdzillla)
06/16/2017 at 10:30, STARS: 1
if it passed the stealership check i’ll probably be ok with it too
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
06/16/2017 at 10:32, STARS: 1
Awesome, congrats on buying your first car!
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
06/16/2017 at 10:32, STARS: 1
I had one of these, same color and everything. I got rid of it in 2013 because it was rusting in the rear wheel wells, front strut towers, inside a couple of the doors, and around the windshield frame. The interior also rattled like crazy.
Looks like this one has an aftermarket exhaust and studded snow tires.
The handling is overall solid on the stock suspension. The one main negative thing is because it’s raised compared to the regular 6, but has the same control arms and whatnot, doesn’t have nearly enough negative camber in the front. You can make a huge improvement just by adding camber adjusters to get a proper alignment dialed in.
Or you can go with the assorted performance shocks, springs, coilovers, etc and lowering will get you more negative camber as well. I had lowered mine with AutoExe springs and also added camber adjusters.
"MrFurzzy" (mrfurzzy1)
06/16/2017 at 10:37, STARS: 1
Congrats! That is one of my realistic dream cars to own. I fear that they will all be rusted away by the time I could justify owning one though. It does give me hope that I’ve seen the average price on them in my area drop significantly since I’ve started looking at them though.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
06/16/2017 at 10:40, STARS: 1
Awesome, keep us updated.
I nearly bought an MS6 the last time I was shopping, it was great to drive and I was even willing to gamble on the questionable mods.
But the seller wouldn’t deal, and I found a Legacy GT with less questionable mods. Still wonder what the MS6 would have been like to live with.
"Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
06/16/2017 at 10:44, STARS: 0
Yeah, the studded snow tires will have to go since they are basically illegal in summer here. Any good suggestions for summer rubber?
It has a tiny bit of rust in the driver side rear wheel well, and also a tiny bit on the inside of the driver door. I asked the dealer to specifically check for rust and they found no serious rust issues at all otherwise.
I’ll first see about fixing the issues it has now before the next yearly check, it’s due again in December so I have some time. If it holds up OK, I’ll start looking into mods and adjustments. For the moment it’s got more power and acceleration than any other car I’ve driven, so I think I’ll be satisfied until that time.
"Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
06/16/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 1
It’s just one of those cars for me... design held up pretty well in my opinion and it has the right mix of practicality and power I guess. I used to crave an Lancer Evo before but now the older ones look like boy racer cars and the more mature looking Evo X is just way too pricey. So alternatives like this Mazda are very appealing.
"Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
06/16/2017 at 10:53, STARS: 2
Will do!
It won’t be a daily driver for me. My commute is about 6 minutes by bus or 25-30 minutes on foot and soon I will even have a tram connection that will also basically be 5-10 minutes. There is no point whatsoever driving to work. So the Mazda will be for sunny/snowy evening, day off, weekend driving etc.
I myself wonder how it will be as well, haha :)
"MrFurzzy" (mrfurzzy1)
06/16/2017 at 11:28, STARS: 3
I totally agree. I think the car is absolutely stunning, especially in the velocity red. There is/was a guy in Iceland that had one repainted a very nice blue as well. I still get very excited whenever I see one driving around. I love that it looks fairly aggressive, but it is still subtle enough that the average person will have no idea what it actually is.
"awmaster10" (awmaster10)
06/16/2017 at 11:51, STARS: 0
Very jealous, let us know how it works out
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
06/16/2017 at 13:40, STARS: 0
Glad to checked out! :D
Keep up the maintenance and hopefully the rust stays away and you’ll be good. Enjoy it, I know actually OWNING my first car was a pretty life-changing experience for this petrolhead! :)
"Moltenburn" (ryanroland)
06/16/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 2
Skip Summer tires and just get a set of good All seasons for year round driving. Unless you plan on tracking the car summer performance rubber is over rated for day in and out regular driving. Good luck on the car and post updates of fixes and mods you do. Cheers
"Moltenburn" (ryanroland)
06/16/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 1
oh and can I get un-greyed. I am good for the main site.
"Jetstreamer" (jetstreamer)
06/16/2017 at 16:26, STARS: 0
Winter weather here can get pretty bad and snow/winter tires are legally required from 1st of December until the 1st of May... so no escaping the swapping, might as well go for full on summer tires then.
I’m clueless about brands but there seem to be some well liked Falken ZE914s available... not the cheapest but also not the most expensive.
Don’t know how to get you out of the grey for the main site though, I think there’s an article from way way back to comment on if you want to be able to publish to OPPO and I believe that also entails not being grey around here.