Mazda 6 MPS (2007)
Discussion
Hello and welcome to my Reader's car thread for my recently purchased Mazda 6 MPS.
I was very happy with my last car, a Subaru Impreza WRX, but as I'd had it nearly 8 years from new and it had over 136,000 miles on it, it was time for it to go on sale
I've been looking for something similar, but a bit more "grown up" and the more understated Mazda fitted the bill.
So, after looking on PH and at local dealers for a while, I found a clean and tidy one on ebay, 2007 with 30K miles. I bid a max of £5950 but didnt hit the reserve so I emailed the seller to find out what the reserve was... it was £7500 which was over my budget, However after the auction ended I was still the high bidder and the seller emailed me to say I could have the car for the £5950 I bid! Wow! a 2007 30K car for under six K. Absolute bargain
The seller was a pleasure to deal with and I collected the car this week. As always with a s/h car you find good things and bad things once you have had it a day or two.
Good stuff
- It has a 20Gb HDD built into the Bose stereo
Bad stuff
- hasn't been serviced for 13000 miles (and was low on oil)
- Rear tyres are Nankangs, Fronts are Bridgestones - should be interesting
- No tax and it costs £425 a year (but then I knew that)
I'll put some pics up at the weekend.
I was very happy with my last car, a Subaru Impreza WRX, but as I'd had it nearly 8 years from new and it had over 136,000 miles on it, it was time for it to go on sale
I've been looking for something similar, but a bit more "grown up" and the more understated Mazda fitted the bill.
So, after looking on PH and at local dealers for a while, I found a clean and tidy one on ebay, 2007 with 30K miles. I bid a max of £5950 but didnt hit the reserve so I emailed the seller to find out what the reserve was... it was £7500 which was over my budget, However after the auction ended I was still the high bidder and the seller emailed me to say I could have the car for the £5950 I bid! Wow! a 2007 30K car for under six K. Absolute bargain
The seller was a pleasure to deal with and I collected the car this week. As always with a s/h car you find good things and bad things once you have had it a day or two.
Good stuff
- It has a 20Gb HDD built into the Bose stereo
Bad stuff
- hasn't been serviced for 13000 miles (and was low on oil)
- Rear tyres are Nankangs, Fronts are Bridgestones - should be interesting
- No tax and it costs £425 a year (but then I knew that)
I'll put some pics up at the weekend.
It's still pretty good so far although I've found another couple of niggles...
- The electric window switches on the drivers door for the other three windows don't work. Hopefully that's just a fuse, they work OK on the door itself.
- the menu system on the stereo that allows you to edit and delete tracks from the HDD doesn't seem to do anything, looks like I'm stuck with the previous owner's music tastes. Good job he liked Kings of Leon and not Celine Dion.
And the good stuff...
It has a sunroof! I hadn't even noticed until someone pointed it out.
27K (4000 miles late) service is booked for next week.
- The electric window switches on the drivers door for the other three windows don't work. Hopefully that's just a fuse, they work OK on the door itself.
- the menu system on the stereo that allows you to edit and delete tracks from the HDD doesn't seem to do anything, looks like I'm stuck with the previous owner's music tastes. Good job he liked Kings of Leon and not Celine Dion.
And the good stuff...
It has a sunroof! I hadn't even noticed until someone pointed it out.
27K (4000 miles late) service is booked for next week.
Caulkhead said:
...lots of useful stuff
Cheers, I'll give that window procedure a try (I knew I shoulda bought Caterham!)Re the Audio system, I'll try disconnecting the battery (after making sure I have the security code) and see if that will reset it, and if that doesn't work I'll get the dealer to check it out next week.
Yeah the window procedure worked, thanks for that.
First tank of fuel got me 335 miles with the range info showing I had 2 miles left, but actually only got 54.3 litres into the 60 litre tank so in reality there would have been about 30 more miles to empty.
MPG works out at 28, which is a bit disappointing considering I was on cruise control at 80 for most of the journeys.
And for the doubters ;-)
First tank of fuel got me 335 miles with the range info showing I had 2 miles left, but actually only got 54.3 litres into the 60 litre tank so in reality there would have been about 30 more miles to empty.
MPG works out at 28, which is a bit disappointing considering I was on cruise control at 80 for most of the journeys.
And for the doubters ;-)
S3000 said:
how does the driving compared to impreza ?
The car is much heavier (about 250kg) and you can really feel that, but it is a quieter and a more comfortable ride. Then again, my impreza had the prodrive spring kit so it was a very firm ride with fantastic handling. The Mazda is more compliant over bumps and potholes but it does wallow more, especially when you floor the throttle - the front lifts and the rear squats down whereas the scoob would stay flat.I do a lot of long motorway stuff so the comfort, the cruise control, the great stereo and the ride are more than compensation for the lack of B-road hooning ability that the scoob was so good at.
I'm planning to get a remap from Litchfield Imports which should make the bhp/ton of the Mazda closer to that of the scoob, so I'll post about that when I do it.
The 27K service was completed this week by JCT600 in Leeds, total cost was £218 which isn't too bad for Oil, Oil Filter and Air filter. I was also informed that mt stereo would cost at least £400 to fix as it needed a new hard drive. Sod that, I'll get an iPod Adaptor
I was also told that one of the side indicator repeater bulbs was blown and would cost about £20. Thinking it was just the bulb I said I'd fix that myself, but after buying a 501A(amber) bulb set I find that the repeater is one sealed unit and you have to replace the whole thing. They could have told me that!
I was also told that one of the side indicator repeater bulbs was blown and would cost about £20. Thinking it was just the bulb I said I'd fix that myself, but after buying a 501A(amber) bulb set I find that the repeater is one sealed unit and you have to replace the whole thing. They could have told me that!
I went to Litchfield Imports a couple of weeks ago to have them fettle the MPS. First impressions were that it is a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, but once through the gates it looks like a very professional place indeed with more Nissan GT-R's and Subaru STi's than you can shake a stick at. They even had a Bugatti EB110 in the workshop.
Coming from the Subaru community as I do, I know Iain Litchfield is highly rated as a tuner so I was happy to hand over my car to him. The car is totally standard at the moment as I don't have the big money to spend on exhausts & CAIs
After verifying the model year and the correct map for my car he took the car out for 30 minutes or so to do the remapping and then showed me the traces on the laptop of the boost pressure and air flow which indicated I now had about 290-295bhp under my right foot.
Handing over nearly £600 for 30 minutes work seems a lot but I know the Ecutek licence is a large part of that, plus the expertise of developing the maps in the first place.
On the short trip back to the motorway the car felt much more lively and urgent. The massive weight of the 6 MPS was less apparent going through the gears.
The map doen't seem to have affected economy, I got over 33MPG on a long motorway run at 75-80 ish.
So, time will tell how reliable the map is, but my initial experience is very positive and I recommend it. Now to find some roads where I can really open it up and give the car a damn good thrashing.
Coming from the Subaru community as I do, I know Iain Litchfield is highly rated as a tuner so I was happy to hand over my car to him. The car is totally standard at the moment as I don't have the big money to spend on exhausts & CAIs
After verifying the model year and the correct map for my car he took the car out for 30 minutes or so to do the remapping and then showed me the traces on the laptop of the boost pressure and air flow which indicated I now had about 290-295bhp under my right foot.
Handing over nearly £600 for 30 minutes work seems a lot but I know the Ecutek licence is a large part of that, plus the expertise of developing the maps in the first place.
On the short trip back to the motorway the car felt much more lively and urgent. The massive weight of the 6 MPS was less apparent going through the gears.
The map doen't seem to have affected economy, I got over 33MPG on a long motorway run at 75-80 ish.
So, time will tell how reliable the map is, but my initial experience is very positive and I recommend it. Now to find some roads where I can really open it up and give the car a damn good thrashing.
winstonfrnk5 said:
I am taking my 6 mps to Litchfield for a remap and have a few questions.
i) Are you still happy with the remap.
ii) On another forum there was some debate that your car hit max bhp at too high revs, (6.5 ish I think). Did you get anywhere with this point.
i) Yes I'm still happy with the remap but most of my driving has been motorway so I haven't had a chance to have a run on some good B roads yet. On the motorway it pulls nicely in 6th gear - plenty of torque at around 3000rpm.i) Are you still happy with the remap.
ii) On another forum there was some debate that your car hit max bhp at too high revs, (6.5 ish I think). Did you get anywhere with this point.
ii) I don't remember any debate about my car bhp/rpm - have you a link to the thread or maybe you're thinking of someone else?
Time for an update.
Since buying the car in March, I have done 10,000 miles and the car has been great. The mileage at motorway speeds is around 32 MPG using Tesco Momentum 99.
Additional running expenses have been:
- Xcarlink iPod adaptor was about £80 and was a doddle to fit. I never bothered to get the Bose HDD fixed as the cost was too high.
- 4 new tyres. The MPS has an odd tyre size 215/45R18 XL and the best value seemed to be Kumho KU31 from Camskill at £90 per corner. So, these were bought and fitted. However it turns out that as they are not XL rated, they have a more flexible sidewall which makes the steering even more vague. On the plus side, motorway cruising is quieter and smoother.
- 36K service - Major service including change of Oil & Filter, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid. Cost was reasonable at £313 from JCT600 in Leeds and the car was returned washed and vacuumed.
Expenses coming up...
- 12 months tax - £425 Ouch!
- Front brake discs need replacing, JCT600 has quoted £240 incl parts labour & VAT. I was considering doing this job myself but then heard on the MPSOC forum that the old discs can be a pig to remove, and I'd be spending £150 on parts anyway.
So, all in all I'm still very happy with the car. If you compare the equivalent Audi with 300bhp and 4WD I reckon it would be easily twice the price to buy and in servicing costs.
Downsides? No one knows I'm a petrolhead car nut anymore. When I used to have a WRX people would like to talk cars, turbos, trackdays etc but now when I say I have a Mazda 6, the usual response is something like "Oh yeah I had the diesel one, it was ok I suppose"
Since buying the car in March, I have done 10,000 miles and the car has been great. The mileage at motorway speeds is around 32 MPG using Tesco Momentum 99.
Additional running expenses have been:
- Xcarlink iPod adaptor was about £80 and was a doddle to fit. I never bothered to get the Bose HDD fixed as the cost was too high.
- 4 new tyres. The MPS has an odd tyre size 215/45R18 XL and the best value seemed to be Kumho KU31 from Camskill at £90 per corner. So, these were bought and fitted. However it turns out that as they are not XL rated, they have a more flexible sidewall which makes the steering even more vague. On the plus side, motorway cruising is quieter and smoother.
- 36K service - Major service including change of Oil & Filter, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid. Cost was reasonable at £313 from JCT600 in Leeds and the car was returned washed and vacuumed.
Expenses coming up...
- 12 months tax - £425 Ouch!
- Front brake discs need replacing, JCT600 has quoted £240 incl parts labour & VAT. I was considering doing this job myself but then heard on the MPSOC forum that the old discs can be a pig to remove, and I'd be spending £150 on parts anyway.
So, all in all I'm still very happy with the car. If you compare the equivalent Audi with 300bhp and 4WD I reckon it would be easily twice the price to buy and in servicing costs.
Downsides? No one knows I'm a petrolhead car nut anymore. When I used to have a WRX people would like to talk cars, turbos, trackdays etc but now when I say I have a Mazda 6, the usual response is something like "Oh yeah I had the diesel one, it was ok I suppose"
I got the Xcarlink direct from the seller - http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/
JCT600 are the main Mazda dealer in Leeds, but the prices seem OK for standard servicing. The trouble with a rare and complex car like the MPS is that you wouldn't want an indy to do something like a clutch change, but a main dealer would charge an arm and a leg.
I think at least 95% of my mileage is motorway, so that's how I get low-30's MPG. I'd probably be low-20's like you if it was town driving.
Where do you get 1K for STi brakes? £73 at Camskill.co.uk for STi front discs and pads are under £50. I think the MPS brakes are OK, certainly not as good as the WRX ut it is a much heavier car to stop.
JCT600 are the main Mazda dealer in Leeds, but the prices seem OK for standard servicing. The trouble with a rare and complex car like the MPS is that you wouldn't want an indy to do something like a clutch change, but a main dealer would charge an arm and a leg.
I think at least 95% of my mileage is motorway, so that's how I get low-30's MPG. I'd probably be low-20's like you if it was town driving.
Where do you get 1K for STi brakes? £73 at Camskill.co.uk for STi front discs and pads are under £50. I think the MPS brakes are OK, certainly not as good as the WRX ut it is a much heavier car to stop.
Well the car has just passed 50K miles, so that's approx 20K in 9 months.
I'm averaging about 29 MPG running on super, mainly motorway driving.
Main costs have been
- Tax at £445 / 12 months
- 3 services - 9K interval.
- 27K - £218
- 36K - £313
- 45K - £290
- new brake discs (old ones were below minimum thickness) £240 supplied & fitted
- new spark plugs (£20 each!)
- 4 new tyres (Kumhos at £95 each from Camskill)
- Wheel alignment - £40
Reliability has been 100% perfect.
I'm averaging about 29 MPG running on super, mainly motorway driving.
Main costs have been
- Tax at £445 / 12 months
- 3 services - 9K interval.
- 27K - £218
- 36K - £313
- 45K - £290
- new brake discs (old ones were below minimum thickness) £240 supplied & fitted
- new spark plugs (£20 each!)
- 4 new tyres (Kumhos at £95 each from Camskill)
- Wheel alignment - £40
Reliability has been 100% perfect.
Edited by garycat on Wednesday 14th December 14:07
Since I had it mapped I always use Super and the fuel cap says 98RON.
From my experience with my previous car (WRX PPP) I found that I could get up to 10% more MPG with super than with normal so it works out cheaper to run on super anyway.
I think turbo cars are much more able to make use of super as they have more sophisticated knock-sensors in the ECU.
And yes they are great value, mainly because of the price of the tax I think - no one wants to pay that rate so it knocks the resales value.
From my experience with my previous car (WRX PPP) I found that I could get up to 10% more MPG with super than with normal so it works out cheaper to run on super anyway.
I think turbo cars are much more able to make use of super as they have more sophisticated knock-sensors in the ECU.
And yes they are great value, mainly because of the price of the tax I think - no one wants to pay that rate so it knocks the resales value.
Installing a DAB Radio
As I do about 24K miles a year and like to listen to radio, I bought a Pure Highway DAB Receiver. Unfortunately the aerial that is supplied with the unit is an internal windscreen mount and is therefore useless in all but the strongest reception areas.
So, after a quick google I found a replacement external aerial which handles FM as well as DAB. This DAB Aerial with the 5 metre DAB extention and the Pure Adaptor. The dabonwheels people provided good quick service for the order, even though it was over Christmas.
1. The first job was to undo the standard aerial connection which is easy to get to by undo'ing the three push-fit pins at the reat of the roof headlining. The existing aerial uses an ISO connector.
2. The new aerial had three trailing leads for power (it is amplified), DAB and FM. Replacement was to simply tighten the nut, but you may need another person to hold the aerial steady. I also recommend some silicone sealant around the hole as it leaked badly on first fitting.
3. The FM connector is a very unusual Hirshmann Male connection which my local electronic bits shop had never heard of, and there was nothing in Maplin, so I just had to cut a co-axial cable, thread the pin of the connector down the centre of the coax and wrap the braid around the outside.
4. The new aerial is amplified so requires a power connection. For this I threaded a wire down the side of the rear window, behind the seat cushion into the boot and then used a scotchlock connector to take a tap from the subwoofer amp power.
5. The DAB cable was run along the plastic panels at the edge of the carpet and tucked up inside. After removing the centre storage compartment I drilled a 12mm hole in the back and then threaded the cables through. I had to remove the radio in order to get the cables out, running them between the front vents as there is no access behind the storage compartment.
6. I used a spare USB to mini USB lead which plugs into the cigarette lighter power adaptor. I already have the Xcarlink iPod adaptor so I can use a 3.5mm stereo cable to connect to that but that only seems to work when an iPod is not connected. Normally the Pure Highway broadcasts on a spare FM frequency and you tune your radio to it.
7. Finally, I connect all the cables switch on and Yeah... rock out to some Planet Rock. Sound quality is excellent and I have 5 bars of signal strength.
As I do about 24K miles a year and like to listen to radio, I bought a Pure Highway DAB Receiver. Unfortunately the aerial that is supplied with the unit is an internal windscreen mount and is therefore useless in all but the strongest reception areas.
So, after a quick google I found a replacement external aerial which handles FM as well as DAB. This DAB Aerial with the 5 metre DAB extention and the Pure Adaptor. The dabonwheels people provided good quick service for the order, even though it was over Christmas.
1. The first job was to undo the standard aerial connection which is easy to get to by undo'ing the three push-fit pins at the reat of the roof headlining. The existing aerial uses an ISO connector.
2. The new aerial had three trailing leads for power (it is amplified), DAB and FM. Replacement was to simply tighten the nut, but you may need another person to hold the aerial steady. I also recommend some silicone sealant around the hole as it leaked badly on first fitting.
3. The FM connector is a very unusual Hirshmann Male connection which my local electronic bits shop had never heard of, and there was nothing in Maplin, so I just had to cut a co-axial cable, thread the pin of the connector down the centre of the coax and wrap the braid around the outside.
4. The new aerial is amplified so requires a power connection. For this I threaded a wire down the side of the rear window, behind the seat cushion into the boot and then used a scotchlock connector to take a tap from the subwoofer amp power.
5. The DAB cable was run along the plastic panels at the edge of the carpet and tucked up inside. After removing the centre storage compartment I drilled a 12mm hole in the back and then threaded the cables through. I had to remove the radio in order to get the cables out, running them between the front vents as there is no access behind the storage compartment.
6. I used a spare USB to mini USB lead which plugs into the cigarette lighter power adaptor. I already have the Xcarlink iPod adaptor so I can use a 3.5mm stereo cable to connect to that but that only seems to work when an iPod is not connected. Normally the Pure Highway broadcasts on a spare FM frequency and you tune your radio to it.
7. Finally, I connect all the cables switch on and Yeah... rock out to some Planet Rock. Sound quality is excellent and I have 5 bars of signal strength.
Edited by garycat on Monday 2nd January 21:47
Quick update - after having a nasty rattle when warm idling this was diagnosed to be the VVT actuator and a stretched timing chain. This was also affecting performance as the chain noise was creating a "phantom knock" and causing the ECU to back off the power.
I was quoted between £1200 (BBR) and £1800 (Mazda) to fix it but with help from mpsowners forum I found that Edge Motorsport in the US do a kit which can be delivered for approx £300 + £30 customs.
http://www.edgeautosport.com/mzr-vvt-replacement-k...
This was fitted by the excellent people at FCM in Bristol for just under £400 (8 hours work)
http://www.fcmmotorsport.co.uk/
Car is now happy again.
I was quoted between £1200 (BBR) and £1800 (Mazda) to fix it but with help from mpsowners forum I found that Edge Motorsport in the US do a kit which can be delivered for approx £300 + £30 customs.
http://www.edgeautosport.com/mzr-vvt-replacement-k...
This was fitted by the excellent people at FCM in Bristol for just under £400 (8 hours work)
http://www.fcmmotorsport.co.uk/
Car is now happy again.
pimpchez said:
I am suprised mazda quoted so much tbh ,usually around the 1200 mark .
I see the modding bug hasnt caught you like the rest of us on the forum then
To be honest, that's how much BBR said Mazda would charge.I see the modding bug hasnt caught you like the rest of us on the forum then
It has been modded with a Ecutek remap and that made a difference until the VVT problem started. Now that is fixed I might take it back to Powerstation and put it on the rolling road again. It only made 266bhp and it should be nearer 290bhp.
Other costs - about a year ago the air con failed. It is a common problem with one of the pipes getting a hole worn in it where it goes through a bracket near the nearside headlight. £230 to fix by a top bloke at http://www.gocool.co.uk/index2.html
pimpchez said:
Technically no physical garage , you want a etune. You then road map the car yourself , this way you learn abit more and can see whats going on with your car if anything. Plus you can have as many revisions as you can afford until the tune is where you want it/safe.
EDIT to say :
it goes like this.
install cobb
download a map to suit your mods from cobb archive .
do a "log" which is 4th gear 2500rpm to redline x2 .
Send the log off to the mapper
He/she sends it back , you save a copy to your pc and flash it to the car
When you say "Install Cobb" don't you mean buy Cobb? It was about 400 last time I looked.EDIT to say :
it goes like this.
install cobb
download a map to suit your mods from cobb archive .
do a "log" which is 4th gear 2500rpm to redline x2 .
Send the log off to the mapper
He/she sends it back , you save a copy to your pc and flash it to the car
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