Oh the agony of words used these days...

 

Actually I meant NA... but not MSRP. When I think of actually buying, I think in terms of what I can likely bargain a dealer for. The 2005/2006 Mustang GT isn't getting any incentives and dealers aren't having trouble getting rid of them. You're paying close to MSRP in most, if not all markets... at least this is what people say on the Mustang forums. On the other hand... the GM is discounting the GTO like crazy and used it goes pretty cheap. The RX-8 is the same. It also helps with the RX-8 that I would never get the GT package since I need the extra headroom from not having a sunroof.

If you talk JDM prices... **** gets crazy. The last Mustang GT was like $35k and the Cobra was $45k-ish. The RX-8 is $25k-30k. no GTO here. I am not sure of the price of the Skyline GT350 (G35c). The WRX is about $25k.

It looks like you can walk away with RX-8's for cheap if you shop well and at the right time of year...

Sport package + aftermarket leather... under $25k.

GTO's are similar... http://motors.search.ebay.com/ebaymo...&fsoo=1&samey=

About $28k for a new 2005.

The Legacy and MS6 are likely going to be around $28k also. The WRX... not sure, but MSRP is going to run around the same (with leather interior).

I know the G35c is the most expensive, but it is one of my favorites.

 

las night I saw my first ms6, we were in an evo and let me tell you the evo looks like crap along side the ms6 is really good looking car, I even like the hood it give the car a more agresive look without going over board like the sti.

 

OK Ike and Steiner... don't take it personal now.... its just his personal opinion on aesthetics... we all know this has nothing to do with judging what a car gives back to the driver and the task at hand so just relax and enjoy your vehicles :D

 

I like my ugly Evo.

 

let me make my self clear, I love the evo its been avalible here for about 10 years now and still is the best ban for the buck out there in my opinion, you get four seats great power and 4wd, a couple of mods and your car turns to a monster.

but this ms6 its really sexy, I did not think it was going to be so good looking, the thing looks fast even when park.

I hope they let me drive the thing

 

I like your ugly Evo as well. Anyhow, I've got a dealer calling me as soon as they get the MS6 in. I'll probably decide in the next few weeks if I trade my car in for an Evo, STI, MS6, '06 WRX, or keep it and mod the bejezzus out of it.

 

Ike and a MS6 wow! The Evo's are the most expensive to maintain out of those--well I don't know about the MS6 yet.

 

Curious where you're getting that information? My EVO's first set of tires and brake pads needed to be replaced after 20k miles but I haven't had any other out of pocket expenses. I assume the STi's are no different.

 

Long term test in magazines (Autoweek in particular) I suppose, brake jobs and other miscellaneous they found to be $$. I should qualify that and say "supposedly they are the most expensive to maintain"

 

You track your car? Just curious due to brake/tire replacement vs mileage. Not being mean spirited or anything.

 

on turbo lag, the combination of high-ish compression (9.5:1), direct injection, and small turbo makes for a near-zero lag powerplant. It achieves full 15.6 psi of boost at about 2500 rpm thus the torque peak at 3000 rpm.

 

Thats quite a wide selection there Ike..... Evos and STIs are a a different league than the MS6 and you pay for that too.

If you are looking for pure performance you wont pick an MS6 over an STI or an EVO..... Its true what many articles said... the MS6 is for the enthusiast thats beginning to move on from the STI/EVO look but still got a love-jones for AWD turbos The trade off being lesser (yet still admirable) performance.

 

Which is probably why I won't buy the MS6, but I think it's worth a testdrive just to be sure. I testdrove the Legacy GT and was prettysure I'd be ready to trade in my WRX after I did so. I wasn't and I was a bit disappointed, it's a great car but was a little too much of a family sedan for my tastes. I did the whole more refined and less performance oriented thing for a few years and I don't see going back to that any time soon. I just don't care about things like a quieter cabin, softer ride, or more atractively molded plastic interiors.

 

Here, here. What the hell happened to having some fun when driving? Too many sissies running around.

 

I'd rather have my head slammed into the back of the seat then have a button on my seat to warm my *** up. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford both.

 

It's really hard to have your cake and eat it too. I do think based on my mazda6 test drive awhile back that the car really handles great for being a mid-sized car. Add to that awd and turbo, this will be hard to pass up for anyone in the market for a nicely equipped vehicle that will throw you back in your seat. I sure hope mazda delivers when the ms8 comes around or I might have to grab me an ms6.

 

The biggest problem the mps 6 is parts costs. All the speciality parts for the MPS 6 are crazy expensive. Just the front bumper is almost 50% more expensive then a standard 6's. (Limited production = much higher cost).

This combined with the extremely low amount of inital cars (around 3,000) in the US means the aftermarket is going to be rather pitiful at least initally. Were hoping mazda will do a second batch with about double to triple the number of cars, but then it gets close to overlapping with the MPS3 release next year. By contrast, a 600 dollar reflash nets the legacy another 20-30 whp and ft/lbs, pushing it right past the MPS 6 numbers.

From day to day ownership, some owners have mentioned that there is turbo lag, its just not very noticable compared to similar cars (like the legacy). It starts to show its face once the car gets heated up, which is something you really wouldn't see on a test drive, but would in stop n go traffic when the intercooler gets rather heatsoaked.

The hood also appears rediculously heavy, so getting rid of that TMIC and going FMIC would allow you to use some of the 15 lb CF hoods on the market right now (probably shave 40 lbs off the front end), which would help a bit with the weight.

The base models also appear to be lighter then initally thought. One member had his base sports (no options/cloth) weighed, and it came in at 3441 lbs. That means to get all those fancy wiz/bang features on the GT model, you jack another 150 lbs of curb weight on the thing.

I've been scanning the technical highlights booklet for the car and putting it up on 6tech if anyone is interested. I'm not done yet (still have to do the transmission/DSC chapters), but its over there if you want to read more about the car and its feature set. I'm not going to link to it directly because its not done, and because I don't want alot of cross-forum linking going to it...to try and avoid unnecessary attention.

One interesting thing vs the standard 6i engine, is this one has oil jets spraying on the underside of the pistons...the transfer case is also water cooled.

 

This car is going to be really nice. It not a sports sports car, it more like a sports grocery carrier witha mean *** look. I work at Open Road Honda/ Mazda and we should be gettin a few in this comming week. Should be fun to try them out. Even for the weight its still fast enough for me .

 

The limited numbers thing is a joke, Mazda will make as many as people want to buy.

 

I wanted to wait until my warrenty ran out before I did any track events or modifications. so, no, I haven't tracked the car yet. Can't wait though. I'll probably see about getting some lessons first because this is way more car than my abilties can handle.

 

I agree somewhat. But at least initally, the numbers are quite limited. ie. People shouldn't buy an MPS 6 expecting there to be an aftermarket waiting to shower them with available parts, its just not going to happen.

If thats what you expect, your better off going with a legacy GT, which has an aftermarket waiting to shower you with parts .

 

Oh, I agree there, there will proabably never be much of an aftermarket for the the Mazdaspeed 6.

 

Or for any mazda other than the rotary goodness. The legacy gets showered because it's directly related to the wrx sti. It still would be nice to see what kind of results the ms6 can have with some mods.

 

I predict there will be a lot of aftermarket for the speed6 and that someone will exceed 400 hp within the first 9 months.
Paul.