Mazda6 MPS or alternatives

[billy2shots]

I owned a mazda 6MPS for just over a year untill last month. Right where to start?

Good Points-

New these cars were circa £25k but they are a used bargain now having dropped like a stone. Good examples can be had for around £8k.

Standard kit is awesome. Full leather, electric drivers seat with 3 memory functions. Some had heated seats as standard (some didn't)

Xenon lights

Bose sound system which is one of the best standard systems ive heard.

Cruise control

6 cd Multichanger (some have a hard drive aswell).

Look up the word "sleeper" in the old English dictionairy and there will be a picture of this car

AWD last winter in all that snow this was a god send.


Bad Points

As has been said Road Tax is huge unless you buy an early car and it is this and the petrol cost that hit its value hard. Those that can afford to tax and run the MPS can afford to buy a "better car".

AWD it steals space from the boot. The back seats dont fold down unless you modify them.

MPG wise 27mpg on a run, 23 combined.

Tyres. I can not stress about the tyres. They are a rare size and cost nearly £300rrp a pop.

Hard to mod but options are coming all the time from the states.


All in all a good car and i would rate it up there with my old mk5 R32, the reason i sold was the Pirelli Gti i have got now is more fun for the town driving i do 99% of the time. If you cover a few miles and for the price a 6MPS is hard to beat.

If you want more info or a link to a good forum then give me a shout.

[Janner_Sy]

ive already been searching around.  i noticed the tyres were a strange size, 215/45R18s iirc.  id be changing the alloys anyway for a something with a wider tyre though like a 225 which would have much more availability.  and according to tyre comparison websites, changing the asect ratio rom 45 to 40 ould only change the speed at 70mmp by about 1-2 mph.  so id fit 225/40R18s which re ceap as chips

[Sunglasses Ron]

ill give you that,  maybe destroy is the wrong word but id be confident of it coming out in front(just).  

the biggest deal for me though after having my vRS with good tyres and all the chassis mods was how easy it was to spin away the power off the mark especially in the wet as well as in the bends.  this put down similar performance even in the wet

those would have been std.  1/4 mile in stock form is the low 14's

Depends which website you look at mate..  
 
http://www.fastestlaps.com/comparisons/45c81efb18f1d-vs-46767cd391964.html

But TBH I never take these sites as gosbel and always pay more attention to the likes of Autocar and Evo mag when they do independent tests against the clock.

i believe you should re-read which car wins that mate.  however thats the 3 MPS.  Im not interested in that.  the 6 would be a more even match with the extra weight and more similar power to weight ratios etc

I was looking at the 0-100mph (0-160kph) time TBH mate which I think is a good indication of a cars performance for me (0-60 is a waste of time).  The 1/4 mile time doesn't make sense either, 0-100 in 14.5, yet 1/4 mile in 14.2 @ 100mph  . Work that one out.. This is the reason I prefer to go off independent real tests, rather than figures snatched from brochures etc.
The 6 MPS would be better in the wet, no doubt. But with a power/weight of 156bhp/tonne I wouldn't expect it to be scaldingly fast. The 3 would be a decent amount quicker once rolling. But as an all rounder, both are nice, well specced (as standard) cars that are often dismissed..

Oh and the MPS' in the vids are modded mate..
White one :-
 
Mazda 3 MPS Aero - Crystal White Mica Pearl
Turbosmart BOV
HPS Induction
Stage 2 re-map
COBB downpipe w/cat
HKS cat back
Met Grey RX8 Alloys

Silver one :-

Non-aero,
volk CE28 18" Alloys,
HKS D1 gear knob,
Greddy Ti-c exhaust,
Forge FMIC,
Forge CAI,
Carbonetic 4 puck blade clutch,
COBB downpipe,
Sanspeed re-map,
aero spoiler,
eibach lowering springs,
Cobb ARB'S,cp-e gauge pod + gauges,
SU rear engine mount.

They may say they do low 14 1/4's, but on paper and on track can be two different things and after seeing many run at Pod, I have never seen a standard one get close to low 14's yet.

[Janner_Sy]

The 6 MPS would be better in the wet, no doubt. But with a power/weight of 156bhp/tonne I wouldn't expect it to be scaldingly fast.

I've wanted stage 2+ k04 power for a long time, but ive driven quite a few of the stage 2+ k04s now and in the wet its to much power to get down effectively.  thats including VWRs red temptress which has  every mod you could throw at it, and even that was really skittish in the wet trying to search for the grip.

this is why im lookin into AWD.  Id love the S3.  but its another £6k on top of the price of the same age/mileage Mazda 6mps.  My aim is to be making over 200Hp/ton when im finished with what ever car i end up with

[markc]

dont know much about them mate, dont look very nice though, as for destroying ed 30, 260bhp awd in a big car like that, cant see it been any faster than a 230bhp hot hatch. but diff to usual sti, evo etc

(The 3 not awd mate, its fwd.  The 6 is awd.)   

I like everyones opinions here on this, but, .......  I was alongside the 3 MPS,   I 'know' what happened running 300bhp in my ED30.  With 230 ?  I would have lost.

[Sunglasses Ron]

dont know much about them mate, dont look very nice though, as for destroying ed 30, 260bhp awd in a big car like that, cant see it been any faster than a 230bhp hot hatch. but diff to usual sti, evo etc

(The 3 not awd mate, its fwd.  The 6 is awd.)  

I like everyones opinions here on this, but, .......  I was alongside the 3 MPS,   I 'know' what happened running 300bhp in my ED30.  With 230 ?  I would have lost.

http://www.bsm.co.uk/  

[jhtrophy]

i thught we were taliking about the 6? which i thought was 260bhp and awd?

[Janner_Sy]

we were, the 6MPS is 260PS which is 256Hp.  Identical engine as the 3MPS though. 

[markc]

i thught we were taliking about the 6? which i thought was 260bhp and awd?

Read back JH, my comment was regarding the 3 which you picked up on.  Looks like things are becoming confusing here now, I maybe shouldnt have mentioned the drag against the 3 MPS    Ah well, ye live and learn........... 

[Chris]

What you also need to take into account with all these new mazda's is that a proportion of them are Ford bits

The Mazda 2 is based on a Fiesta, the 3 is based on a focus and the 6 on a mondeo

[Janner_Sy]

it got one up on the ford in the TG review and on track   ad rinsed the vectra VXR by 3 seconds lol.

top gear track times

mondeo ST220  1:34.5
mazda 6 MPS    1:32.2
vectra VXR        1:35.3

So in between the 2 most recent R32 models which id be happy with to be honest
Mk V Golf R32   1.30.4   and Mk IV Golf R32   1.33.2

[Janner_Sy]

just had someone mention a what about an audi a4 quattro 2.0TFSI  Hmmmm. but then i looked at an S4 bi turbo  arhhhhh

[markc]

dont know much about them mate, dont look very nice though, as for destroying ed 30, 260bhp awd in a big car like that, cant see it been any faster than a 230bhp hot hatch. but diff to usual sti, evo etc

(The 3 not awd mate, its fwd.  The 6 is awd.)  

I like everyones opinions here on this, but, .......  I was alongside the 3 MPS,   I 'know' what happened running 300bhp in my ED30.  With 230 ?  I would have lost.

http://www.bsm.co.uk/  

Strange boy 

[Hurdy]

I've driven both the 6MPS and the 3 MPS in the past and the 6MPS impressed me more even though it is heavier. The gearing was a little frantic, but the shifting was really smooth and slick, so I didn't mind mixing the box. The 3MPS FELT gruntier than a stock ED30, but against a DSG stock ED30 the 3 and 6 would both struggle due to the aforemention busy manual box.  All IMHO of course

Just to add - stock mine did a 14.32 1/4 mile completely stock and also did 5.66 0-60 completely stock. 

[markc]

Well, my experience is based on real world driving, normal roads, cold(ish) tyres and being out of the correct gear as when I was almost at a stop in 2nd, (not expecting a 'race' if you like), the MPS hammered away, no point me forcing first gear in (non DSG) while rolling.  I got rid of the MPS when I actually got some traction in 3rd.  I was also coming back from a 14hr fishing day and was pretty tired/out of sorts etc.  Maybe a stock manual ED30 could do better than I thought ?   Who knows ? All I know is, I was glad I was mapped !!
 
(Your also the second person to mention an MPS feels gruntier/quicker than a stock ED30 though).