Hah, I'm the first and only one for Subie. Even though I have an Evo, I just love the sound of what the Subie makes and their boxer motors. Although they're harder to work on, it'll be a great learning experience with it. Dropping the tranny will be easy though.

If he's getting an Evo though, be sure to tell him not to launch the car until he knows how. He could end up with a broken t-case or burn out the clutch and doing the clutch is a pain on these cars. Getting someone else to do it too will cost him plenty.

As for Mazda themselves, I highly urge him not to get a Mazda if he's worried about maintenance. Lately, I haven't heard good things about them when it comes to warranty. What kind of maintenance is he worried about anyways? Right after I changed my clutch, all I did was change the diff, tranny and t-case fluids along with the engine. It's been 3-4 months since then and only thing I changed was the engine oil and filter. Costed me $40. Will be the same with the Mazda too.

 

depends on how he drive actually
i would say
if he drive aggressively
of cuz the transmission will have gone....
depends on how gd of a driver he is i would say
there are ppl that use the stock transmission for over 100k without any slipping or problems...

 

Wow an EVO is at the top of the list on a EVo forum.....who'dve thunk it.


Better off asking this question on a community forum that serves all types of cars not just one....less biased responses.

 

if he drives the evo and sti i bet he will like the sti. thats what you will get out of just driving both of them once. i have owned both, i love both cars but when it comes down to it, the evo OWWWNNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!!

 

hehe, asking a question like this on the evo forums
I vote evo, what's the point of having 200+ hp on a FWD anyway. Its pointless.
Subaru wouldn't be a bad choice too

 

evo all the way no doubt about it

 

I say let him get the Mazda S3, if everything works out, be happy for him but if anything goes wrong let him live in regret and you'll get to say " I told you so!!".

 

hah, i just got done reading this same post on m3f (im txmica). being that ive done a ton of work with the mazda's (my own car and speeds as well) as well has driven all of them, i think it was summarized best by merlin on page1.

comparing the speed3 to the evo solely, the speed3 imo is a more comfortable car with more "comfort" features. however if performance is what your looking for, dont expect anymore than 350whp on those cars without heavy modification.

they are fwd, which is one of the main reasons i sold mine to get an evo, and once again like merlin stated earlier, the aftermarket support just plain sucks with mazda. ive never seen such terrible companies to do business with, its plain stupid.

it really just depends on what he wants. no car is cheap to maintain unless you buy a f*in 1.8L honda, lets face it. he needs to drive all of them though.

coming from a guy who just sold a built mazda motor, transmission, clutch, and custom turbo kit for an evo, you wont see me buying a mazda anytime soon.

 

either an 05 evo or 05 sti, not any of the previous years.

personally i chose the evo because it seemed more responsive and the drive was more pleasurable. But i do feel that the sti is more reliable and a better built car.

good luck. prices have fallen a lot since last year.

 

 

just keep us posted as to when he gets the ms3 - he won't even give the evo/sti time of the day, so y bother? at least have him consider the srt-4 as well...since he does have 'low' standards!

 

if it was atleast the ms6 but the ms3, por que!!

are the ms3 realy fwd. because i know the ms6 and mazda cx-7 have the same engine as the ms3 and those are both awd.
i was really in the market for the ms6 but i choose the evo because you feel in control the whole time, with the mazda's there more for daily driving, more luxurys. dont get it wrong those engine can be modified very well. the block can take a real beating but i know mazda has had problems with the vvti. I would say if its point A to B and a little bit of zoom zoom go for it. but the reason i choose the evo, was because i wanted to gun it from A and challenge the road all the way to B. hope that helps

 

I just bought a mazdaspeed 3 and have had it for 4 months. If I could do it again I would get an evo or wrx, awd is the best.

 

Hmm, not responding to power, fun factor, or aftermarket parts availability...
Well there is more room in the EVO... My kids won't fit in the MS3 or the WRX

 

curse you sti!