- You might think it's the holders.
It's not actually the holder at all.
It's the...
(coughs)
(chuckles) This is, this is screen cleaner (chuckles).
I thought it was perfume.
Every once in a while, we get a little bit surprised
at just like something that happens in the world
like when will Smith literally slapped Chris rock
in the face on national TV?
You didn't really know how to take it.
When you saw Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
playing a not funny role, you lost yourself a little bit.
And when you drive a 2013 Mazda Speed 3,
you're not sure what to expect, but whatever it is
that you were thinking about it, you were probably wrong.
This is Rachel's 2013 Mazda Speed 3.
And in today's episode of Behind the Wheel,
we're gonna be taking a look
on if it's actually worth dealing
with the atrocious under steer, the somewhat shotty paint
depending on where you look.
And nevertheless, the biggest thing of all,
the fact that almost all of these
come absolutely brutally modified
to the point to where they're about to explode.
Let's take a look and see if a Mazda Speed 3
is still a good car to actually buy.
(upbeat music)
Now, obviously the big thing with Rachel's car
besides the fact that it's,
like it's shiny in some places and it's not shiny in others.
Rachel actually has been taking pretty decent care
of this car.
Okay, first things first.
So she did modify it a little bit.
She went with the ESR RF15s.
These are 18 by 8 and a half plus 30.
You got some continental tires on it.
And then she's got some Neomax coilovers.
So, kind of tidies the whole thing up.
She's also got a down pipe
and a couple things for the exhaust.
But outside of that, there's really nothing else done
to this Mazda Speed 3, outside sometimes
the foggy headlights
and occasional lack of actually getting it washed,
which is fine because we're up in Wisconsin.
And what else are you gonna do in April
when weather is 32 degrees, all the way up to 60 degrees.
And then back to 30 degrees.
I'm drinking coffee at 2 o'clock in the afternoon
because I don't know what the temperature is outside,
but I still wanna be warm.
So the first thing to remember before anything else,
when it comes to getting in one of these...
Cup holders, not a only is there one size cup holder
there's two size cup holders.
You wanna know why?
Cause this car wasn't made by a European car manufacturer
like BMW or Audi, who doesn't know
how to make cup holders to save their life.
It was made by Mazda zoom, zoom bitch.
It was the most reliable car manufacturer
literally to come out with fun cars
that didn't cost an absolute million dollars
and they know how to make some cup holders
which is very exciting.
Now the second best thing about this car,
is that it is,
surprisingly clean.
I feel like it may have been staged.
All right, let's go for a drive.
Now the first thing to remember
before you get into a new car
ladies and gentlemen is not to adjust the seat.
It is not to change the climate control.
It is not to press the outdated touch screen
that's gonna exist in any car
from the late mid 2000s.
It is to immediately check the quality
of the button thingy on the e-brake.
Hmm, you can definitely tell
where the quality has a tendency
to maybe escape the Mazda Speed 3.
Now, before we actually do what we're supposed to do
which is give you a review on the car
let's make sure we're in the right gear.
That's neutral.
Gonna just do it one more time.
All right.
And we're off.
Okay, going into a Mazda Speed 3,
probably just right out of the bat.
You're not gonna have a bad time.
Mazda speed 3s, when they came out,
way back and I believe it was 2007.
They had two major portions, 2007 to 2009
which was their gen one.
And then they had 2010, to I believe, 2013 as a gen two.
And they were great cars.
I mean, when these cars came out,
they were extremely popular in the modification scene.
Like the aftermarket community loved these cars.
Still do.
A lot of people will still say
that these are fantastic cars.
They came with a little bit above, about 280 ish,
I think horsepower, 260 ish foot pounds of torque,
right about that, which gave it a lot of good power.
Gen one suffered from some issues.
A lot of that had to do with heat soak, some VVT stuff.
You had the turbo seals go out pretty regularly
on the cars because they got pretty warm.
They had some reliability issues in the long run
because they were really trying to produces much power
in this tiny little four cylinder turbo, as possible.
That was in the first gen.
Then the second gen came out, which is this one.
This is one of the, you know, soonest,
one of the freshest, one of the best versions
of a Mazda speed 3 that you can actually get,
is this one, 2013, Mazda speed 3, six speed manual.
I actually do love the color of this car too.
And Mazda Speed 3s, solid, solid, solid, solid cars.
The real question is, are they still any good
with solving their under steer issue?
And for those that are wondering, this is front wheel drive
it's not all wheel drive.
It is front wheel drive, it is wrong wheel drive.
It is whatever joke you wanna make.
It is using the power of its limited slip differential
to try and keep the car going in a straight direction,
using its front wheels.
Rachel said I can do this, so we're gonna do it.
(engine revs)
It's really not that bad,
but we should turn traction control off
and see if we go into a ditch, or talk to a cow.
First initial impressions.
I've been in a Mazda Speed 3 before,
actually, Rachel has a significant other
who also has, or had one.
It was black, we did a review on it
and we compared it to a mini Cooper
very similar interior.
I mean, it's not bad in any way, shape or form.
Mazda's always done a really good job
with kind of like Keeping everything balanced in the car.
They put a little bit of money into the engine.
They put a little bit of money into the reliability.
They put a little bit of money all over.
So you don't really notice if they slouched on something.
That's why you gotta do the old e-brake finger test
because then you can see if it's metal or not metal.
Now, I do like the way this thing sounds,
I do love the way that it drives.
Sure, you know, it's a 2013.
Sometimes people get a little weird about that.
Cause when you think about it,
that's nine years old now.
But it pulls pretty nice.
It's, you know,
you gotta get used to the fact that it's front wheel drive.
I gotta turn this down, where's the button?
You get your little boost gauge
right in the middle of the instrument cluster.
Right now I'm at no boost.
Oh God, (mumbles).
Zero, we're turning hard Steve, buckle up.
That's my favorite part
about a front wheel drive car though.
Oh, is that feeling.
Sure, there's a little bit of under steer
But is it really that big of a deal?
I don't think so.
There's just a little bit of that edge in the way
that Mazda builds their cars,
which does make it a very fun car to drive.
It's not boring.
Which Volkswagen does have a tendency to suffer from.
Even when we drove the Golf R just a couple episodes ago.
it was fun, but it was still, controlled.
It still feels like it's not trying
to make you sad or shocked.
It's just trying to still be a car.
Mazda still has a really good time with their cars
to try and make you feel like it's living and breathing.
And it's trying to take you off the road
'cause the power's going to the wrong fricking wheels.
I don't know what BSM or AFS is.
(engine revs)
You thought I was turning (chuckles).
Don't tell Rachel,
that part always hurts and I don't care how much
of a car enthusiast you are, when you hear that,
it still just hits something in your soul
that makes you feel a certain way.
It is a little odd that the icon for trash control,
looks smooshed.
Like it legitimately looks like somebody was in Photoshop
and took the image of traction control being off
and made it just a little bit too stubby.
Let's try it again.
(engine revs)
That was a test.
You can smell the tire.
Don't tell Rachel.
(upbeat music plays)
With the Mazda Speed 3,
the best thing that you're gonna get out of the car
is bang for buck, Mazda Speed 3s,
fantastic bang for buck cars.
You can't go wrong with them.
They're great power.
They're a lot of fun.
The hatch is actually really good.
You get a good chunk of space.
And in addition to that, you get a good amount
of space for your back passenger seats.
The seats are also really nice.
So I don't think there's anything wrong with that either.
I would say the biggest thing that I'm having a little bit
of a tough time with quite honestly is just,
that dang front wheel drive like platform.
It's just different.
So what about the Mazda 3 Speed thing makes it so good?
Well, I mean, it is a really good car in all the right ways
but when you compare it to some of the newer stuff,
sometimes it just doesn't fit the bill.
It's close in almost everything.
That's why we gave it a six on the interior
a five on the exterior,
a five on performance and a four on modification,
specifically, again, to this car
that gives us a 20 out of 40.
And if the car was a movie
it would be Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.
And if the car was a one liner
it would be your older brother that's been to jail.
The car itself is a fantastic platform
and this specific one is likely
under modified and clean because of it.
And if you go into going something crazy
with the Mazda Speed 3, it can probably do it for you.
You just have to be careful
with the fact that it is front wheel drive
and all the power that you throw at it,
sometimes starts to lose grip,
literally and figuratively, as you climb up that range.
But let us know what you think
about the Mazda Speed 3 in the comment section below.
And of course, if you're looking for wheels,
tires and suspension, be sure to check us out
over at fitmentindustries.com.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
And if anything else, please don't tell Rachel
we will see you later.
Peace.