You'll recall that I was all excited about going for one last drive in our long-term 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 over the Thanksgiving holidays. Well, I'm happy to report that I did indeed make the drive to Mt Palomar in San Diego County, California, and that readers stovt001 (2006 MX-5 Miata Sport) and liquoredonlife (2010 Mazdspeed 3 in Liquid Silver) were able to join us. Another reader and Miata owner, rdryder, had planned to drive with us but ran into a scheduling conflict due to my last-minute planning. Sorry, Mark. Randomly, we ran into another Liquid Silver MS3 on the mountain.
It was a cool day, but Mt Palomar is only about 5,500 feet at its summit so the roads (Highways S6 and S7) up to it were clear of snow, with just a hint of white stuff at the top. The S6 (aka, Palomar Mountain Road) is pretty much non-stop curves for 7 miles from California Highway 76 to the S7. It's not as tight and technical as our local playground, Glendora Mountain Road, so in a Mazdaspeed 3, you can pretty much use 3rd gear the whole way.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
I looked at the clipboard yesterday, and lo (and also, behold), they're coming for the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 on Monday. That only leaves me five days to give the 'Speed a proper send-off. Any ideas? A track day is probably out of the question for lack of planning, but there's ample time for a drive on back roads. Perhaps Mt. Palomar, or the squiggly ribbon of road known as the Cerro Noroeste north of Frazier Park, California...well, assuming recent snows haven't closed the road.
So ideas, please. And if there's anything we somehow haven't covered that you'd like to know, post any questions here. Do not expect me to give dry, neutral opinions on the Mazdaspeed 3 -- I like this car, the good, the bad, the big torque, the bad clutch, everything, so above all, I plan to have to fun this weekend.
Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 22,862 miles
P.S. Just a reminder that the MS3 is still running around on its original P225/40R18 88Y Dunlop SP Sport 2050 tires, which have thus far protected every one of its pretty wheels from curb rash.
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
A while back I noted that our Mazdaspeed 3's navigation screen lacked contrast at night. At the time, I couldn't find an adjustment for brightness/contrast, only a night and day setting. I was stuck in stop and go traffic last night and while stationary, I found the elusive brightness/contrast sliders in the information preferences menu, not under the nav menus. Adjusting the screen for night driving, however, isn't as intuitive as I thought.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
No caption contest today. But in the tradition of "It was a dark and stormy night," please feel free to make up a story about this photo in 50 words or less. Poems are welcome, too.
I look forward to seeing how creative you can be.
Thanks and have a nice weekend.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Looks like somebody in Mazda's interior design studio has a thing for Op Art. This form of art and fashion took place primarily in the 1960s -- no wonder considering its hallucinogenic vibe.
Though I generally like the MS3, I'm not a big fan of its styling nor the groovy upholstery. And no, there is no other option (such as leather). So if you don't dig it you either have to suck it up and accept the Age of Aquarius vibe or scratch the MS3 off your list of potential sport compacts.
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor @ 21, 340 miles
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
I couldn't resist the urge to dress up the Mazdaspeed 3 for Halloween. Abetted by my crafty neighbor, we made cardboard fangs and a tongue, and toyed with the idea of dipping the teeth in a little transmission fluid as a special effect, but decided to keep it simple.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Last night, the streets and highways around our Santa Monica offices were a mess. A truck driver had a medical emergency at the wheel and plowed into 18 cars on the 405 Freeway. On the other side of the same highway, there was yet another pileup. Surface streets were clogged as a result and I was stuck in the Mazdaspeed 3. Back in March, I noted how I disliked the MS3's touchy clutch, but I'd like to revise my position on this particular subject.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
I haven't driven the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 enough to understand all the things that make it so happy all the time, but I can tell you one thing that puts a smile on my face: Driving a manual transmission again after years of automatics.
I forgot how much fun it is to drive a manual (particularly one with a six-speed transmission). I forgot how it keeps a driver engaged. As I got the feel of the gears last night in speeding and slowing rush-hour traffic, I found I wasn't as bored as I sometimes am. I didn't even shake my fist as traffic crawled through the South Bay Curve.
Maybe the joy of shift would wear off in time. After a few years of driving my manual-transmission Toyota Corolla, clutch tedium definitely kicked in. But in a car like the Mazdaspeed 3, I think it would take a long time for my smile to fade.
Carroll Lachnit, Features Editor @ 21,038 miles
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
I hereby dub the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3's horn the lamest currently in our longterm fleet. The 'Speed 3's meek, projectionless one-note horn is the last thing you expect once you've sampled the car's thuggish power delivery and hair-trigger clutch.
Its horn is totally weaksauce, and it's a cultural thing.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Like Senor Jacquot, one of the first things I do when I get in most cars is turn off the nanny nonsense. And as in the Z06, doing so in our longterm 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 requires but one quick touch of the 'DSC Off' button.
I dig that.
The indicator light is a little shy, though.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Boost! One thing I really enjoy about our Mazdaspeed 3 is the swell of mid-range torque it's got on tap when you're on the freeway. Unlike a regular economy hatchback, there's no need to shift to pass a slow-moving vehicle. Just floor the throttle, wait a half beat for the little bars on the boost gauge rise up and -- whoosh -- the MS3 squirts ahead. I checked Jay's dyno test post from a couple weeks ago; the engine is making its peak torque between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm. That's a perfect sweetspot, especially if the air is cool and turbo-friendly, as it was when I took the above picture.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Like editor Erin Riches, I really like the soothing blue ambient light that shines down on the center console of our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. It's just bright enough to give you an idea of where you put your phone, wallet, parking card but not so bright that it distracts you or ruins your nighttime vision...although red lighting probably would have been better in that case. Regardless, it's purty.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
A few posts ago somebody commented on how our Speed 3's exhaust tips were looking really dirty. I had actually noticed that, too, and planned to clean them up. I finally got around to doing it yesterday. See, all nice and shiny now.
I tried Eagle One Never Dull for the first time. It was super easy to use and worked great. The bumper's exhaust cutouts are still a bit dirty, but we can probably get that taken care of at the next wash.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Fall is here. That means no more driving home when the sun is still out. After I hopped into our Mazdaspeed 3 last night for the journey home, I decided to give the navigation a run through. My biggest complaint: the monitor itself.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
367.9 miles to a tank with 5 miles showing on the DTE calculator. 367.9! This wasn't hypermiling and while it was a lot of highway driving, this wasn't a highway exclusive trip. And when I was on the highway, I wasn't loafing about. I changed gears, I passed people and the AC was on.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3,2010 Volkswagen GTI
Last Friday I took our Mazdaspeed 3 in for its 20,000-mile oil change and tire rotation service. The resulting blog post was pretty routine until the post's comments section where I answered a question about whether we used regular oil or synthetic. I wrote synthetic and "5W20," which was listed on the service invoice. Well, liquoredonlife and ms3fun both caught this as the incorrect recommended oil for a Speed 3.
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Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
We cleared 20,000 miles in the Mazdaspeed 3 last week. Today it was time to take care of the 20,000-mile service interval. This required an oil change and tire rotation. I had a scheduled appointment at Lithia Mazda/Suzuki of Fresno, Calif.; service was prompt and courteous, and I was back in the car in about an hour. Total cost: 75.72.
Remember that you can write and read reviews of dealership experiences using Edmunds' dealer ratings service. This functionality is also part of our new iPhone app.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
You might have noticed in my last two posts that that the Speed 3 was looking a bit grungy. Basically, it was a combination of rain and a missed opportunity for a car wash. For a while, though, I was actually enjoying the look of the brake-dust-covered wheels. Sure, up close they looked terrible, but from 20 feet away they just looked like grey-painted wheels. It gave the car a bit of an understated look that you don't otherwise get with the regular, clean-and-shiny wheels. Since the factory wheels are pretty nice to begin with, it'd be cool if Mazda offered a set of grey-painted ones as an option.
But now the Speed 3 is clean and back to its regular sparkly self.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Over the weekend I took our Mazdaspeed 3 out to the countryside to visit a rural pumpkin patch with my three-year-old daughter. It was mildly amusing to pull up in the Speed 3 when all the other parked cars at the pumpkin patch were SUVs and vans. Unlike getting a Christmas tree, pumpkins don't exactly require much in the way of cargo space. But admittedly it would have been nice to have some sort of cargo net or the forethought to bring a box; the pumpkins I bought kept rolling around in the Mazda's trunk on the way home.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor @ 20,223 miles
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
Our MS3 has surpassed 20,000 miles! (Queue the sound of Riswick blowing one of those coiled-up birthday party kazoos.) The mildly momentous occasion occurred about 20 miles east of Bakersfield, Calif., on a rural stretch of Highway 58. To celebrate, I stopped at Murray Family Farms, a 360-acre farm where you can buy seasonal fruit direct as well as pick your own. I had never been there before; this month in particular looks like a fun month to visit for familes as there are a lot of Halloween-oriented activities for kids.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Categories: 2010 Mazdaspeed 3
