RE: Mazda 6 MPS: Spotted

RE: Mazda 6 MPS: Spotted

Author
Discussion

culpz

4,881 posts

111 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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dublet said:
Like it! cool It was on my list when I changed cars but it was a bit too common for my liking. jester So I went with a Subaru Legacy 3.0R spec.B. driving Only 87 on the road. biggrin
The Mazda 6 isn't really all that common. I know this MPS version is visually barely any different than the standard car, but they really are quite rare. You'll not see many on the roads or even that many up for sale at any one time.

I do see where you're coming from though and you probably made the right decision in the end.

Torcars

8,056 posts

188 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Ill check out those MPS pages. I assumed, based on my experience, that the engines were more or less bombproof.

Is it mapping and modding them that makes them unreliable?

I have over the years toyed with getting a bit more like out of it but for what it is - a getting on for 11 year old car - the performance to misquote Bentley of years ago, is adequate.

Byker28i

58,831 posts

216 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Gotcha2 said:
Honestly, I am surprised by some of the responses here. The engine won the wards best engine design for many years, one of if not the first direct injection turbo with variable valve timing and the basis of the current Ecoboost range, they do run out of puff at the top end unless you help them breath but that is pretty standard for most turbo cars.

The chassis is a stiffened and balanced Mazda 6 / Mondeo, so already starting from a high point for a big saloon, but with a trick 4WD system and two mechanical diffs. Its not a caterham but contemporary reviews at the time compared it favorably to the Spec D scoobs and that was with the power deficit - a remap makes it a different animal entirely.

As to reliability and having to drive around things, if tuned badly (some bad maps out there) and you use cheap oil then yes they will go pop but I have run many 5-10yr old performance cars and by comparison my 6yrs with the MPS was easy and cheap. Use 98 RON+, change the oil every year and camchains every 4yrs and it should be reliable. I never worried about using full throttle from any revs or gears and mine got to 135k and 11yrs before it went pop.

I'll get off my soapbox in a moment but one last point, the NVH, material quality and build make it feel much more like an Audi than a jap box, jumping into a scoob really does feel like stepping back in time, horses for courses but its a notable difference.
Why surprised. This is PH - loads of people will just suggest a BMW 330D as being the perfect car - everytime.
Some of us want to be let out of junctions though biggrin

marculos

26 posts

190 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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TheAngryDog said:
I was told not to go full throttle below 3500 by several people, and to build the throttle in when in higher gears at lower rpm. Standard ones seem to be the worse for this and modified ones seem to take it a little better.
From everything I have read on the MPS its not a good idea to go full throttle in higher gears from under 3k revs which typically you wouldn't do anyway .. well I wouldn't. During the daily commute I just pootle along and cruise in 5th or 6th off boost no problem just fine. If I want to go fast I just drop a gear then put the pedal to the metal ! A lot of ZZB are due to bad tunes.

markberry85

2 posts

73 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Had mine four years/45k miles and it has never missed a beat! Currently at 110k miles and used as a daily driver, 12-15k miles a year.

Completely standard mechanically, no issues with rust as yet, only required routine maintenance and consumables really. Biggest non-routine expense was a new air-con condenser a couple of years ago, £300 fitted. About to have the timing chain/VVT done, but only as preventative maintenance.

I don't doubt that there are examples that will go pop, just like in any performance oriented car, but with good maintenance and understanding of the major issues, combined with a bit of mechanical sympathy when not caning it, I don't see why it would be any less reliable than most slightly more highly-strung cars of its type!

Upsides - Fast enough day-to-day, rare sight on the road, subtle looks (going to client meetings in an Evo which I also considered just wasn't going to be a good look), comfortable over long distance (been through France in it), great Bose stereo with built in hard drive, pleasant enough cabin (although I agree that more modern cars have come a long way since the mid-noughties)

Downsides - Over £500 to tax (2007 plate), 30mpg is (just) possible on a long cruise but 20-25 is probably average, rear seats are fixed because of the chassis strengthening so long loads are a no-no (unless you take apart the boot lining and manually drop the seats), standard exhaust is a bit weedy, no bluetooth as standard (easy retrofit, it was only £100 and easy to do)

I also put a 7" tablet in the dash-top cubby hole so it could have all the mod-cons like sat-nav, apple music, live OBDII reporting etc.

It does everything I need in a car. Likely selling soon, but only because my work mileage is getting pretty heavy and something a bit more frugal would be good...


TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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marculos said:
TheAngryDog said:
I was told not to go full throttle below 3500 by several people, and to build the throttle in when in higher gears at lower rpm. Standard ones seem to be the worse for this and modified ones seem to take it a little better.
From everything I have read on the MPS its not a good idea to go full throttle in higher gears from under 3k revs which typically you wouldn't do anyway .. well I wouldn't. During the daily commute I just pootle along and cruise in 5th or 6th off boost no problem just fine. If I want to go fast I just drop a gear then put the pedal to the metal ! A lot of ZZB are due to bad tunes.
Seeing as Justin is the main mapper of these in the UK, are you saying that his tunes are bad?

Some have gone pop after cruising and then lightly accelerating. I guess as a V8 owner, being able to accelerate below 3k revs means I am not losing nearly half of my rev range to "meh".

Fastdruid

8,623 posts

151 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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marculos said:
TheAngryDog said:
I was told not to go full throttle below 3500 by several people, and to build the throttle in when in higher gears at lower rpm. Standard ones seem to be the worse for this and modified ones seem to take it a little better.
From everything I have read on the MPS its not a good idea to go full throttle in higher gears from under 3k revs which typically you wouldn't do anyway .. well I wouldn't. During the daily commute I just pootle along and cruise in 5th or 6th off boost no problem just fine. If I want to go fast I just drop a gear then put the pedal to the metal ! A lot of ZZB are due to bad tunes.
Quite. I missed that it was "in higher gears". Regardless of engine giving it full throttle in top at low revs is asking for problems. Exactly the same kind of use that kills DMF's, breaks rods etc on other cars.

Burble through at low throttle openings or change down and hoof it. It's not like there is massive amounts of power down low anyway so it's not like you're missing much.

Fastdruid

8,623 posts

151 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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TheAngryDog said:
Some have gone pop after cruising and then lightly accelerating. I guess as a V8 owner, being able to accelerate below 3k revs means I am not losing nearly half of my rev range to "meh".
It was never going to be an equal to replace your M5. For a start there is no replacement for displacement.

For the money it's awesome...but it was a 24k car new not a 70k car.

TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Fastdruid said:
TheAngryDog said:
Some have gone pop after cruising and then lightly accelerating. I guess as a V8 owner, being able to accelerate below 3k revs means I am not losing nearly half of my rev range to "meh".
It was never going to be an equal to replace your M5. For a start there is no replacement for displacement.

For the money it's awesome...but it was a 24k car new not a 70k car.
It was a poor choice tbh, but I have owned other turbo charged cars that have pulled from low down and I haven't worried about it bending a rod etc.

I don't fully sign up to the no replacement for displacement camp, but bigger n/a or supercharged engines do pull nicely from low down.
value of the car new doesn't really make a difference, a car is more than just its engine.

a7x88

776 posts

147 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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They are no where near as bad as being made out here. Angrydog - I know they aren't your favourite car, and we've both moved onto bug capacity engines instead, But, the majority carry on with little issue.

Issue with the owners group is they tend to be the more 'enthusiastic' of owners and tend to be driven that bit harder (hell - most of the group is solely focused on modifying them to be as fast as possible!)

Other downside is that as they are so cheap they fall into the hands of people who want a quick car but can't or don't necessarily realise the importance of preventative maintenance and frequent good quality oil changes (standard interval is 9k, most drop to 4/5k if driving hard regularly).

Mine did ~70 - 100k miles over 3 years, most of which were reasonably tuned (330ish bhp) before I went big turbo and forged the engine. I didn't go easy on it but I don't (tend!) To drive like a cock socket either - engine itself was fine and when stripped was still in great condition.


TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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a7x88 said:
They are no where near as bad as being made out here. Angrydog - I know they aren't your favourite car, and we've both moved onto bug capacity engines instead, But, the majority carry on with little issue.

Issue with the owners group is they tend to be the more 'enthusiastic' of owners and tend to be driven that bit harder (hell - most of the group is solely focused on modifying them to be as fast as possible!)

Other downside is that as they are so cheap they fall into the hands of people who want a quick car but can't or don't necessarily realise the importance of preventative maintenance and frequent good quality oil changes (standard interval is 9k, most drop to 4/5k if driving hard regularly).

Mine did ~70 - 100k miles over 3 years, most of which were reasonably tuned (330ish bhp) before I went big turbo and forged the engine. I didn't go easy on it but I don't (tend!) To drive like a cock socket either - engine itself was fine and when stripped was still in great condition.
Bigger and much better engines. In the last 2 weeks I have seen 3 engine failures on the MPS pages. That is a lot. Whether it is my favourite car or not, that is a high failure rate. Low mileage isn't a guarantee of preventing failure either. It is a shame as I think the 6 in red is great looking car.
The reason yours didn't fail will have been in part to the tune. Justin's maps take some of the low end out to try and mitigate against the excess torque as you know.

a7x88

776 posts

147 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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I clearly don't spend enough time on there anymore! I saw one in the past couple of weeks that turned out to be someone having a sump/kerb interface!

They may not be the toughest engines out there, but for someone who wants a cheap, quickish 4wd saloon I still think they are a great choice and shouldn't be of major concern

PorkRind

3,053 posts

204 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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Haldex ?!

a7x88

776 posts

147 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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No - they are permanent AWD. Only time the centre clutch is disengaged is when in reverse or the handbrake is on. Otherwise there is always some power going rearwards up to a max of 50%

marculos

26 posts

190 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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TheAngryDog said:
Seeing as Justin is the main mapper of these in the UK, are you saying that his tunes are bad?

Some have gone pop after cruising and then lightly accelerating. I guess as a V8 owner, being able to accelerate below 3k revs means I am not losing nearly half of my rev range to "meh".
Justin is the only person I would trust in the UK to remap my MPS with an etune if I was remapping with Versatube / Cobb. He really does know his stuff. The MPS is supposedly hard to tune and I wouldn't trust anyone other than Justin in the UK.
I don't know the reason why some have gone pop and in the Facebook MPS forum ZZB isn't exactly a daily occurence.

My lovely Moneypit

Edited by marculos on Thursday 1st February 20:40

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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GravelBen said:
They make a 3.6 NA H6 Legacy now, and maybe a 2.5 turbo for some markets. Up to 2009 they were making Legacies with the 2.0 turbo (twinscroll) as well as the 2.5 turbo depending on markets. 280bhp manual, 260bhp auto.
3.6 NA is not available (easily) in UK and Its almost the same performance as the more common H6 plus it has a nasty CVT which will keep any real enthusiasts a mile away

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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culpz said:
The Mazda 6 isn't really all that common. I know this MPS version is visually barely any different than the standard car, but they really are quite rare. You'll not see many on the roads or even that many up for sale at any one time.

I do see where you're coming from though and you probably made the right decision in the end.
Have my Leggy for a few years and its awesome, I have not seen a Legacy facelift saloon in all them years, its nice not being in the same boring crap you see at lights all the time.

Licensed SUBARU LEGACY R SPEC-B

2006 > 8
2007 > 44
2008> 22
2009> 15

kainedog

361 posts

173 months

Thursday 1st February 2018
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My cousin bought one and is never heard of one before , very quick and a handsome understated car , blew up within a week and never made it back on the road shame really

marculos

26 posts

190 months

Friday 2nd February 2018
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Mine hasn't ZZB today .. yet .. touching wood and crossing fingers haha

V8RX7

26,765 posts

262 months

Friday 2nd February 2018
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Fastdruid said:
V8RX7 said:
Fastdruid said:
Struggling to think of anything to replace it with that is as quick but equally decent to drive while also being practical.
Forester STi (or modified XT) or Impreza wagon seem the obvious choices
Forester? It's a compact crossover SUV ffs.

Impreza is off the list due to image problems. Which is somewhat of a shame as on paper it does seem a fairly obvious choice.
Ah the later Forseter is, the XT / STi is essentially a raised Impreza, IIRC it weighs 75kg more.

I bought one because I couldn't live with the Impreza image, I then lowered mine on Impreza suspension (direct fit) and fitted aftermarket Impreza exhaust (direct fit) and Impreza brakes (direct fit) followed by a remap to 275bhp.