New Mazda 3 owner - LOVE this car!

[Scoobydooby]

Hey All!

New Member.. found this forum while searching for mods threads (reading several threads here in the process) and decided to join the community, so.. hello!

Little bit about me, I'm a 30 year old IT Consultant from Vancouver BC. Bought a 2011 Mazda 3 Hatchback (grey mica) almost a year ago after I've long had a liking toward Mazda.
My version is the GX comfort.

So far I've tinted the back windows and just yesterday I installed the shark fin antenna to replace the stock one.
I LOVE this car.. like OMG. In my city there is a litany of BMW, Mercedes, Audi as well as Mazda. Call me crazy but I like how the Mazdas look way better (unless we're talking Audi R8.. that is another story .. hnnnggg!)

That said, every time I walk toward my Mazda when I go to work I get that feeling.. that feeling like the shot of Maverick as he walks to his jet in Top Gun (I dunno why.. the Mazda 3 looks so stunning to me I guess.. this shot is what I mean:



Currently I've done a couple mods in the year I've owned it.

1) Tinted back five windows
2) Installed the Shark Antenna
3) I have a qualir aftermarket DVD headunit on order.. will install myself ( will install sub later)


I'm looking at doing a lot of different mods on this brilliant machine and am wondering what you all would believe to be the best investments. I would like to do perfomance mods on it, but for starters I want to do more simpler, cost effective mods.

The ones I'm thinking of currently:

1) Frosting the lights
2) Tinting front windows very lightly (its actually illegal here in BC )
3) Adding rain covers
4) Possible plastidip on the back (not sure about this and how it would look with the grey mica)
5) New wheels (Very undecided here as I'm not sure what would look good with Grey Mica)

For performance my list goes:

1) Aftermarket springs (would like to lower the car around 1-1.5" - have read of the issues with using aftermarket springs on stock shocks.. not sure about this)

2) Cold air intake (have heard it could yield a decent amount of hp upgrade)

3) Tires? (how much would this effect handling, if any)


Please be advised that when it comes to cars I am a TOTAL noob.. if we're talking computers and servers and gaming I'm in my element, but for cars I know little. However this Mazda has really picqued my interested and as far as mods are concerned it seems like a great machine to trick out.. i'm always looking at it thinking of ways to improve it.


What do you all think? What would be some mods that would be the best looking, offer the best performance gains, and be interesting and fun projects to do on this vehicle? After seeing some of the work people have done on their mazdas and also on this forum, it would appear that the sky's the limit..

Would love to hear what some of you think about this Thanks in advance for any replies!

[thejeans]

welcome to the forums!

and to answer a few questions you asked
1) you can drop the car on stock shocks/struts and will ride ok, and you will have them last you a little bit of time BUT the ride is much better with upgraded shocks/struts as
well as they last alot longer. I have driven on stock shocks/struts with a drop for almost a year and a half to two years before my stock shocks/struts starting dying

2) cold air intake will help a little, power gains best case scenario its 2-3whp and thats not really a noticeable difference that you can "feel" it. i feel that if you can stay out
of the throttle a cold air should help get a little better mpg's

3) tires can definitely improve handling, but it depends on how you approach it
my personal preference is to run a sticky summer summer tire and then a 2nd set of wheels with dedicated winter tires on them.


if you have any other questions feel free to ask more questions, we have a couple knowledgeable guys in the 3 section

[mnsnwta]

is the speed3 suspension any shorter then the stock 3 suspension?

[Tungsten6]

Speed 3 suspension would stiffen your car, but would not make it any lower (would probably raise it to be honest)
Its made to support a car that is a good bit heavier than yours.

Welcome to the forums!

[mnsnwta]

alrighty, thanks