2009 New York Auto Show: Mazdaspeed 3

Not to bash the new mazdaspeed 3 but im having a hard time getting over the front end. I haven't seen it in person so i will save my judgement for the auto show.

Attack of the smiley Mazdas!

Say cheeeeeeese. *snap*

Okay you can stop now.

Really. You can stop.

Mommy, make it stop smiling!

Don't mess with success! The current setup is more than fine. No wonder it can't stop smiling. :D

Upon closer inspection, the face on this car looks more predatory than the regular 3s. I might just be biased by knowing what lies beneath, though.

Caution! Unpopular comment time....

Are they going to introduce an automatic with this? Maybe a paddle-shifter-enabled one? Potentially something like the DSG on the GTI -- it actually improves the performance according to VW's numbers....

autoberator, you beat me to it.

Sticking with manual only severely limits their market.

Looks to me like Mater's little brother (CARS).

Loving the posts. THIS should have been the "You Write the caption" instead of the X5.

i think it looks better than the old one. not that the old one was ugly tho.

Very WRX STi looking to my eyes

bankerdannny: that is because the WRX STI was trying to copy that look. Mazda 3 is built on the Euro Focus platform and all the successful WRC cars are hatchbacks. the Mazdaspeed 3 is far better looking than the STI.

i really like it but why do we need so much power in a FWD??? lets make it AWD so the car actually has a thing called traction. im making due with only 200hp in my GTI and i spin my tires like crazy powering out of corners with esp off, with it on the traction control kills the power like crazy. lets move on already... FWD wars are so 10 years ago... sheesh!

I also think they need an automatic transmission option... i see no problems with the current slushbox auto's they have...

I am not sold on this new look, but the rising beltline does somehow make the car appear more compact and agile compared to the old.

I'm just trying to be positive her, as I don't really like visibility being reduced for styling expressions.

I'm not interested in expanding the market.
Frankly I'm glad that the STI and MS3 are manual trans. only. Keeps them more exclusive and attracts only purists.

I think I'll go for a used 08 or 09 MS3. Vastly better exterior, insignificantly lesser interior, and similar performance for thousands less? That's the route for me. Maybe if they realize their error and fix the front end for next year, I'll bite. Other than the styling, great job Mazda! Keep it up, please.

I actually really like the look of it :X

But I do wish it had AWD like the MS6 did

but then it'd be getting perilously close to the WRX/WRX STi

is it just me or does it look... "heavy". high beltline and smallish-looking wheels... might just be the angle of the shot.

That is the saddest smile I've ever seen. Got a chance to see a new 3 on the dealer lot earlier this week. I think it might actually look even worse in person!

I love the MS3...I better because I own one. Not a huge fan of the new scoop, but I do like the effort to make it more aggressive looking. However, I'm sad that the engine isn't more potent. It definitely punches, but it could be stronger as I've gotten a little bored with the power (even with a CAI) and the transmission and shifter could be much smoother. They are so balky before a decent warmup.

Actually, I just found an article elsewhere stating that there will be revisions to the transmission making the ratios wider (thank goodness). While the ratios help going around town, they really hurt the acceleration times.

It's ugly. No doubt about it. Too bad Mazda doesn't take the money spent on this abortion and try and get better quality. J.D. Powers ranked it in the bottom five. I think Suzuki and Land Rover were only worse.

Mazda needs go go back and find a better suit to put over the outside of this beast. I'll take the design of my 2009 over this boy racer look any day.

Ok, enough with the automatic transmission requests... if you can't drive a manual transmission then you don't deserve to own a performance car period!

Now I know Ferraris and the like have paddle shifters but that's because there is a reason behind that, they shift in milliseconds and they are expensive... Mazda is not going to put those transmissions on their cars so adding an auto to this car is just to satisfy the crowd who can't get past shifting into "D" and that's is not what this car is for.

Also AWD will add cosiderably more weight to a car that can eat a WRX on a track anyday with FWD... so I see no need to add weight and more rotational mass, trust me, I own a speed6 and off the line is good but then the speed3 just pulls away (mind you the speed6 has higher power numbers)