I’ve had a few problems with the MS specific parts and yeah, you’re spot on. However the majority of my problems have been 3-specific. For example, my driver’s door stopped opening a month ago. I was able to peel back the interior panel enough to work it from the inside (it’s as difficult as it sounds, but doable…

Mazdas are great to drive: their long-term quality is garbage. I won’t get into the LONG list of problems I’ve had on my MS3, but suffice it to say I won’t be shopping for a Mazda again anytime soon. Also, because of how Mazda part-shares across its lines, a lot of these problems pop up on CX-7s, 5s, and 6s. Until…

If you’re talking about “drift missiles” that amateurs take to the track specifically to destroy then yes, you are 100% correct. This is also why tracks are beginning to crack down on drift missile cars because they all fear something like this happening. However the pro-level cars are something entirely different,…

Driving dream cars? Been a dream. I don’t think I’ve driven a dream car of mine that didn’t meet my expectations. Nissan GT-R (both R32 and R35)? Loved it. Mazda Miata? Loved it. Mazdaspeed 3? Loved it. SR20 swapped 240SX? Loved it. Isuzu VehiCross? Loved it. EVO X? Loved it.

Autoweek hated this thing when it was new. Not all the new reviews were good.

It sure can’t be any worse than a rusty tow truck with spy gadgets...

Sort of? Was thinking more along the lines of the last half of Rush.

Kyle Busch and James Hinchcliffe both suffered serious injuries in the last year, spent months recovering, and then came back with a vengeance (Busch winning the 2015 Sprint Cup, and Hinch winning the Indy 500 pole and possibly winning Dancing With the Stars tonight). I figure Cars 3 will be a story along the same…

My VVT was serviced by the previous owner: in fact it’s one of the reasons I picked that specific car. That said, the repair is out of warranty and it’s beginning to make the dreaded timing chain click. The booster is not a hydraulic part: it does not get air bubbles. What happens is the inner diaphragm tears. This…

In the short-term (i.e. warranty phase), Mazdas seem to be pretty reliable. It’s post warranty that they turn into nightmares. Brittle plastics (in my experience) are the top cause of component failure. However I have also seen plenty of non-plastic failures as well.

I disagree with the idea that the Mazda will be easier and cheaper to maintain. The Infiniti is a 370Z chassis which, while not the most widely used chassis in Nissan’s lineup, is still common enough that parts themselves won’t be horribly priced. I have not owned an Infiniti, but getting one serviced at a Nissan…

It was fun. The opening scene alone had more entertainment and more heart than the entire last season of Top Gear. To be fair to Top Gear, I think a lot of the team went with the trio to Amazon. A new team is always going to have to find their footing. GT definitely has the advantage there. But aside from that,…

I have an Isuzu VehiCross that I was going to replace with my MS3. That is no longer the case. The Isuzu has a lot of dumb design faults, but mechanically it has been rock solid. In fact its first real breakdown in 2 years and 40K miles was last week when the serpentine belt tensioner failed and threw the belt. It…

No. I’ve been working on cars for over a decade and spent plenty of time in FSAE in college. The stud failed when I went to remove the nut (penetrating oil was used and i was very careful. Unlike every other car I’ve worked on the stud is welded to the body, not the top mount. So replacing it requires hammering out…

No, don’t buy it, because Mazda quality is shit. I have a 2008 MS3 with 90k miles and in the last 6 months I’ve had a brake booster fail, the driver’s door handle snapped like a twig (and jammed the door shut), and replacing the shocks had the car down for a month that (first when the upper studs in the rear snapped,…

80's future is best future.

Ron Dennis, like Bernie, is firmly stuck in the past. As much as I respect him and what he did for McLaren, he is not what F1 needs to lead it into the future. His refusal to accept the modern McLaren is why McLaren cannot find new sponsorship. His heavy-handed approach is also why Vodafone, Tag-Heuer, and Hugo…

Variety. The best thing about Clarkson/May/Hammond Top Gear was that you got a bit of everything. Muscle cars, off-roaders, supercars, family cars, tourers, hot hatches...something for everyone. But more than that, you got a wide variety of things to do with cars. Take some beaters and go off-roading in Africa? …

Yeah, because for the most part they were ripped straight from TGUK’s cheap car challenges. It wasn’t until you got to season 3 that you started seeing real, unique ideas.

Well I got an Xbox 1 a couple weeks ago, so Doom and GTA online. Might pop in the copy of Halo 5 that came with the console.