Pros: factory turbo = more HP and torque;
beefier clutch, brakes, suspension
Cons: small car = exposure to 5000 pound behemoths driven by soccer moms & dads
The Bottom Line: A sports car with kick. An incredible second car and a fine toy. The rating I have to give for roominess is moronic, it's a sports car. I LOVE it.
mcsstokes's Full Review: 2004 Mazda Mazdaspeed MX5 Miata
I haven't written an Epinion in a long time. My most popular review was the one I wrote several years ago on my 95 Honda del Sol...it still gets a lot of hits three years later.
Well, I've sold that del Sol and bought myself a MazdaSpeed Miata to replace it. WooHOO! So glad I got this car, now let me explain why.
Background
I had thought of getting a Miata since 2000, one year after they did the redesign of the car. For 1999, they made the car a lot more aggressive looking in style. I believe it also got a boost in HP. I drove the car for the first time and loved it. I was ready to buy. But I held off...and held off...and held off. Since 2000, I did the following: changed jobs, got engaged to my girlfriend, got married, bought a house. All of these things put the Miata on the back burner. However, last year with the del Sol needing clutch work, and the decision made with my wife to work on starting a family, I decided it I'm going to get a Miata, I needed to do it now. So I did.
The Test Drive
When we went to the dealer I didn't even know there was such a thing as a MazdaSpeed Miata (MSM). But I saw there were a lot of them on the lot. Two colors, Velocity Red and Titanium Grey. I read the window sticker and I was intrigued. A turbo? Beefier clutch? Better suspension? Bigger breaks? Nifty colors? Way cool seats? Hmmmm. It was kind of pricey at $26,050 compared to the Base model I thought I'd get...but what the heck, I may as well drive it.
Big mistake, the test drive. Why? Well, the first time I hit 4000 rpm and felt the car JUMP FORWARD, I knew there was no way I was getting anything BUT an MSM. Base model? Uh uh, not going to happen. Sorry. No thanks.
My wife was along for the test drive, so I couldn't overdo it. But I had a grin on my face. An actual grin...I never had a grin during a test drive. I saw an opportunity to take a left turn on the backroad we were on. I took it, punched it, felt the back of the car break loose and slide around, I counter-steered and corrected w/ almost no effort, stepped on the gas, felt the turbo, took it to third, felt the turbo, took it to fourth, continued to unwind the engine, felt the turbo...and then my wife yelled at me.
"Holy #%&@, you're doing almost 70! Slow Down!"
I looked at the speedometer, indeed I was. I was flying on this back road and that little MX-5 was just begging me to keep going. It WANTED me to unwind her all the way to 6 and give her turbo the chance to whine right up to redline. She wanted to show me what she could do.
I relented and backed off. It didn't matter, I was sold.
The Negotiation
My wife wasn't down with $26k for a new Miata. Especially since the Base was only stickering for around 21k or so. I contacted several dealers and started the work of pitting them against each other. Several weeks later, I had my final sales price -- $21,800 excluding tax & tags for a Titanium MSM with cloth interior and vinyl top. That broke down as follows: $1500 owner loyalty (my dad has a 93 Miata), $1500 customer cash, $1250 dealer discount of a sticker of $26050. Sold.
Options
The MSM comes in two colors for 04. Velocity Red and Titanium Grey. There is also an option for leather seats, which includes a cloth top. I like the cloth top but didn't want black leather seats - too hot with the top down and the cloth holds you in place. I really liked the cloth seats, and that is what I got. There are few extras you can get but they're not worth mentioning...car alarm and the like.
Standard Upgrades
The MSM has the following upgrades as standard: turbo, 6 speed manual transmission, beefier clutch, bigger brakes, ABS, limited slip, racing suspension, lower suspension, stronger bracing/sway bars, special alloy wheels with special Toyo racing tires, leather wrapped wheel, stick, and emergency brake handle, aluminum pedals, spruced up interior (namely red inserts on the doors and seats), Bose stereo with in-dash 6 CD changer, and a few little extra items as well.
Bottom Line
The car's HP has been increased to 178 at the crank and the torque has been increased dramatically as well. The turbo has been tuned to give smooth power delivery with the boost coming on around 3800 rpm. Yes, people have been modding Miatas for years and getting more HP and more Boost than the MSM has with aftermarket equipment. But this comes with a 4 year, 50k mile warranty. Not bad for a Forced Induction car.
Driving Impressions
The car has a stiff ride, I don't care. It's a sports car not a luxury SUV. It's meant to be driven by a person that loves the connection to the car and the road, not the person that wants to yap on a cell phone with a soft suspenstion that induces rolls...but prevents you from feeling the dog you ran over at 65 mph cause you were on cruise and fussing with the kids in the back seat. You will feel every bump in the MSM.
The car's power is not overdone. This isn't a mini-mustang. It feels like a Miata and the power increase has been carefully controlled to ensure it stays that way. The designers said they could have easily gotten more power, but they didn't want to get away from the feel of the roadster. They didn't want a muscle car. They didn't end up with one, the car's fantastic.
The car is not for the tall. I'm 5'8" and it fits like a glove. My friend is 6'2" and his head was sticking out over the windshield. The car feels claustrophobic with the top up, I solve this by leaving the top down. Dropping the top is a matter of pulling two handles and lowering it. I can raise and lower the top while sitting in the car. With the windblocker up, the interior is not that noisy top down and windows down. It's actually noisier with the top up and the windows down.
The car runs rich. My tailpipe is black. I can generate backfires if I shift just as the turbo is about to kick in and the computer has already started to dump fuel in anticipation of the boost. Instead, it burns off in the exhaust pipe and 'pops'. Probably not good for the life of the catalytic converter, but delightful to listen to. British roadster indeed.
Daily Life with the MSM
Couldn't use this car as my daily driver...I drive 110 miles roundtrip on the highway to get to work in heavy traffic. I drive a Sentra daily for 34 mph. The MSM is averaging about 25 mph. It's listed as 19 to 26 mpg. I take it to work less than once a week and instead save it for weekends and evening drives.
The trunk has enough room for two soft travel bags. Or my golf clubs and shoes. Or a couple bags of groceries. The spare tire has been moved into a well below the trunk so it's better than what it was. Who cares? I didn't buy the car to transport stuff. I bought it to transport me when I had no place in particular to go, and I desired to get there as quickly as I could taking the most circuitous route I could think of.
MSM Quirks
I already mentioned the backfire. The car runs HOT. My garage is easily heated by 10F or so after I park it and close the doors. The turbo generates a lot of heat. You need to let the car idle for 30 seconds or so after a hard drive before you turn it off so you don't fry the turbo. It's detailed in the owners manual. I try to drive it gently after a hard drive during the last few miles to let it cool down.
The car doesn't come with a grill guard...leaving the coolers open to road debris. I cut a Home Depot gutter guard down to size and put it in place with wire tires. Looks fine, problem solved.
The car can be fickle and take longer than normal to crank over sometimes. Others have reported this, not sure if it's going to be an issue.
The car redlines at only 6500 rpms. In a 6 speed, this means you'll shift a lot. Fortunately, I love to shift this car. No big deal. Would I prefer a higher redline? Yes. There's a hard fuel cut-off if you hit the rev limiter - been there done that. Bummer.
Sport suspension + rear wheel drive + turbo + 52:48 weight distribution = FUN. But take it easy if you're new to these things as you can oversteer the car easily in a turn. Fun to do and easy to correct if you're alone on a road and comfortable in the car. Get familiar with it in a deserted parking lot or an autocross.
Interior
Small controls, but well placed. Good fit & finish. Quality Japanese build. More than 5'9" tall, expect a tight fit. Loud interior in heavy traffic...solve this by staying on twisty country roads where off road SUVs don't venture or creep along as they're afraid to roll over in a turn.
Exterior
Simple lines, rear spoiler, large front air dam. Very nice. Looks better with top down than up. Consider adding a roll bar.
Road Stability
VERY stable at most speeds. Speed sensitive steering changes turning ratio of the steering wheel. Top speed is...127 mph I think? Never gone over 90...very solid at this speed. Others have reported good stability at max speed. This isn't a race car, though, it's a sports car. Take it through a turn at a healthy clip and see how it responds.
Safety
Yes, this is a small car. Don't try to play chicken with a Semi...or an SUV...or a Caddie. You'll lose in the battle of mass. However, if you learn to DRIVE your car...you should be able to drive around and avoid the types of situations that induce rolloever, plowing, and general loss of control in larger vehicles.
This is a driver's car. You can do HARD maneuvering and the MSM will respond. Learn the car and get confident in it. The unexpected can kill you no matter what car your in. You're more exposed in this car, but you also have greater control of your vehicle.
Negatives
With the top there are some blind spots out the rear you need to be aware of. The mirrors are too far back on the door, this makes it difficult to get a proper viewing angle out the sides. There is a lot of waste heat coming from the transmission tunnel (center console) and over the firewall (down at your feet). This kinda bites in the hot weather, but it's common to Miatas. The seats should sit just a little bit lower. No tilt steering (Miatas don't) and no cruise control (not enough room under the MSM hood for it).
Final Thoughts
For the money, what a buy. Why even get an LS (the upgrade from the Base that adds leather and creature comforts)? For a few hundred more, you get a factory turbo and more stuff where it counts. This is what a sports car is all about. The MSM is it. Hope it's as reliable as my 156k mile del Sol. I'm looking forward to finding out.
[UPDATE}
So it's December and I've put my MSM away for the winter. I got 5000 miles on it. How much do I miss it? I test drove another MSM the other week just to get a fix. I felt bad for the saleskid that went with me. Not because I knew he wasn't getting a sale, but because I knew he was in for a *spirited* drive.
Since getting my MSM I've learned the joy of throttle induced oversteer on a 50/50 balanced RWD car. FANTASTIC. This car handles like a go-kart. I've never owned a car before that allows me to slide the back end so effortlessly through a turn and then counter-steer and throttle my way right back out with just the right amount of fish-tail. This car is FLAT through the turns. For fun I sometimes go to an empty parking lot and just accelerate into HUGE oversteer or a full spin-out.
I've adjusted to the "rough" ride. I wouldn't trade the suspension on this car for anything. If you don't like the suspension, you don't like sports cars, period.
The rush of the turbo has warn off a bit. I've gotten used to the kick at 3800 rpms. Yes, it's a shame they lowered the redline to 6500 rpms, versus the normally aspirated Miatas which sit at 7200 rpms. No biggie.
More updates to come! I wish it were SPRING!!
[end update]
[update]
If you're thinking of getting a MSM, now is the time to do it. The NC will be on the showroom floors soon (the next gen Miata). I have spoken with people that have paid LESS THAN $19,000 including TT&L for their 04 MSMs! The prices on these cars are incredible, down from a sticker of 26K. Why on EARTH would you buy a Base or LS Miata when you're getting so much more for this price??? Don't listen to any dealer that wants you to pay over 20K for an 04 MSM, even the 05s can be had for screaming deals.
[end update]
[update 3/06]
Since getting the MSM I've spent a fair amount of time at the mazda-speed website...a site that is devoted entirely to the MSM. It's not a tacky, "LOL, this car ROXORZ and OWNZ all LOL!!!" type site...it's got a lot of well informed people with exceptional technical information and is partly sponsored by the fine folks at FlyinMiata (FM).
After carefully considering what others have gotten in the way of results, I've decided to do a bit of upgrading, also known as aftermarket modification.
One of the complaints about the MSM is that the power delivery is a bit peaky...namely around 3500 rpms and again at 5700 rpms. I never considered it to be a big deal myself but looked at what FM was releasing in the way of power related upgrades. What FM found was that the MSM was very conservatively tuned from the factory. In stock form it produces 178 HP at the crank and about 150-153 HP at the wheels (WHP). The guys at FM started fooling around with the exhaust setup as well as the intake. It was quickly realized that significant power gains could be had relatively cheaply and safely.
Now, any aftermarket modfication you do runs the risk of voiding a warranty. Some mods are more likely than others to do this. The first mod I went with was a replacement downpipe...the pipe that connects the exhaust manifold off of the engine to the midpipe (after the midpipe is the muffler). This was one of the most recommended modifications that other owners were making. And I can see why. Horsepower gains? Umm, maybe a few...hard to say w/o doing an actualy dyno check. However, the power delivery has been smoothed out considerably...much more linear. Very nice. And that made it worthwhile though the install was a bit tricky.
The other mod which I've purchased but not yet installed is a revised air intake. This sort of mod is something that is popular with the younger, uninformed crowd. On a normally aspirated car, increasing air flow or decreasing air intake temperature will have only marginal impact on the car. On a turbocharged car, however, the gains can be a bit more impressive. On the MSM, however, the gains are quite dramatic...this is mainly due to the conservative tuning by Mazda.
The FM intake when coupled with their downpipe has shown proven gains of anywhere from 30 to 40 hp at the wheels. Those are documented dyno numbers. Now, replacing the intake is much more likely to void a warranty so proceed with caution.
The one snafu is that the higher air flow is resulting in some confusion on the part of the MSM's engine management system. Namely, in 5th and 6th gear at 5K rpms the car is cutting fuel (it redlines at 6.5k rpms). Why is it doing this? Because the car's turbo is generating more boost that the computer was programmed to deal with. Additional aftermarket fixes (also by FM) are easily added (namely a mechanical boost controller to limit boost) but do require some additional work. And since the car has a tendency to run very rich, there have been no problems with air/fuel ratios at these higher power levels.
However, the point is that 30 to 40 hp gains are achievable for less than about $1000 worth of aftermarket modifications. That means the car is putting down close to 190 whp which corresponds to engine output of near 215 HP based on applying the drivetrain losses observed on stock MSMs.
That's a lot of grunt for a 2500 pound car.
[end update]
[update]
Right, so I installed the FlyinMiata Intake. I also purchased FlyinMiata's manual boost controller and installed that as well.
Power gains? I'm terrible at seat of pants feel, I really am. But yes, I'd say the little beastie has a good bit more power. I can chirp the tires in second gear. Interesting. The dyno charts from FlyinMiata show around 190 whp for these mods as I said, which ups the crank HP from 178 hp stock per Mazda to about 218 hp. Nice.
I don't yet have a boost guage which makes setting the manual boost controller a little tricky. Basically you drive, adjust, drive, adjust, etc. If it's set too aggressive, you'll get the nasty boost cut or some choppy engine revving if you let off the throttle at certain rpms. Set properly, you're running great.
Install was pretty easy. I now get a massive "WHOOOSH" from under the hood each time I lift the throttle under boost. The all stainless intake really transmits the sound of the bypass valve venting excess boost. There is some lag now that the intake is on. Mazda's engine management flaws really show through when the car is making more power. It's back to it's "all stock" peaky feel that it had before. You learn to drive around it as I'm not interested in cutting wires to install the electronic fix that FM has come up with. It's not a big deal at the end of the day.
[end update]
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 21800
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: MazdaSpeed
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