I had heard about people who had these cars and their compliments and complaints about it, but I have to say... i'm pretty impressed with the car overall. For 23K you get a lot of options, a decent amount of power, great brakes, etc. On the flipside the torque steer would be a huge issue for me, the OE tires that came on her car (an 09) are the RE50's which are HORRIBLE in the rain and hydroplane in even small puddles, something I never had an issue with with my stock advans. I don't know the power potential of these cars, but getting the power to the ground would be the biggest problem... the car is no Evo, but it is a great value for money car.

 

They are fun but can be much more tedious and just down right difficult to mod compared to an EVO. This motor is a strange one too, it's pretty strong but not well balanced with the k04 Mazda put under the hood. It's easy to push 320 fully bolted, but my understanding is that there are several people pushing 400 and above with gt3071's.

 

^^^
On a mustang dyno i've never seen a stock car read about above 300 full bolted. With the k04upgrade from protege garage are pushing 330.
I was the first ms3 with a built motor and big turbo (3076), ms3guy22 if you want to look it up. I spend so much and it look so much time to build. When it was finally complete I was having issues even the product developers couldn't fix. the car had horrible boost cut for absoultey no reason.

The car has a throttle plate that closes on its own.

Based on where your point the steering wheel it could limit the boost.

The only tunning system out there is piggy back system from cp-e, and a variation ofseveral flashes that allow you run a bigger MAF, differnt map sensor, and full control(which controls the throttle plate. It like a 1000 dollar concuction, that is still limited.

The engine absolutely suck to rebuild, you could **** it horrible even if your experianced.

The head has a serious flow issues, a company made a custom set of cams, and gained zero power.

People have blown their motors lightly bolted, while acclerating lightly in traffic. I wouldn't say the motor is strong at all. I've heard but never have seen it, but a guy put a mzr head on the disi block and has reached 500whp
i hate this platform with a passion

 

they're pretty beastly from 60+ though on the highway

 

that it is

 

I don't disagree with you on all of the issues, hence why I don't intend going past this point that I'm at already. There again, I haven't experienced anything that would lead me to believe that this car is just gonna POP one day, but that doesn't mean I'm not worried about it either.

Still a fun car to drive and **** around with the stock and stockish EVOs around here with.

 

^buy a dash hawk and monitor knock and cdfp pressure....you cant go wrong with those

 

Definitely fun cars. Buy her a Cobb Accessport for it, they've been getting some great power out of those engines.

 

I've got a COBB AP and an upgraded CDFP from PtP, fuel pressure is strong, even through this cold weather. Having a friend of mine help me mount my AP where it is clearly visible, that's the best I can do now with limited fundage.

Irregardless, this man should be buying his GF some go fast bits.

 

she doesn't want them... she got the car to just have because she sold her IX MR to get something with more room that was still quick.

 

Love those cars, almost bought a 2010 as a daily driver.

 

Ahh well, fair enough. Shame she had to let go of the MR, but congrats on the purchase!

 

Quick little cars right out of the box. Would be fun with some bolt ons, but they really really struggle to make any bigger power numbers.

They handle great from the factory too, would be a good begginers auto-x car.

 

for value for money as far as performance and having a very nice interior, you really can't beat them. No, they aren't AWD so the torque steer sucks and it doesn't seem like there is much you can do to really get them down into the like high 12's.

 

Autronic SM4 is the answer for the ECU, as long as your capable of installing the wiring harness and the sensors. You can use one to control any engine from rotory to two stroke, 1 cylinder or 16.