I've had my car for almost a year now and I've really been enjoying taking it on dirt roads in my area. I have plans to keep this car for as long as possible and I'm interested in investing into performance upgrades. I'm not on a huge budget at the moment but I'm looking for some direction on where I should start.

 

Short of buying another car, there really isn't much you can do to improve the performance.

 

Not sure I would totally agree with Shipo, the Mazda 3 uses the same 2 litre skyactiv engine as the more powerful 150BHP Mazda6 and the MX5 but in a detuned form to produce just 120BHP. Looks like there's 25% more power to be had from the same hardware. Is there something obvious I am missing here?

 

Ummm, no, here the 2.0 puts out 150(ish), the Mazda6 uses the 2.5 liter engine exclusively, and I do not believe the MX-5 uses even remotely the same engine.

 

And yet in UK Mazda put the same engine into the 3 , the 6 and the MX5 2.0litre skyactive but for some reason or other the 3 gets a power cut to 120 BHP whilst the others are at 150 BHP. The latest 2 litre skyactive x is even better @ 185BHP due to more clever Mazda-isms. I hadnt realised that UK got the decafinated 3 whereas everyone else got full strength! Must be something to do with the water!

 

Keep in mind, the 2.0 SkyActiv X is a complete clean-sheet, ground-up redesign; absolutely zero commonality with the SkyActiv-G.

 

Isaaclong1 is you Mazda 3 the last of the 2nd generation BL series or the first of the 3 generation BM series?

Also, in some Markets, the 2013 Mazda 6 came in 2.0 (152.8 hp) & 2.5 petrol and 2.2 diesel.

The BL Skyactiv 2.0ltr came with 151.5 HP in Japan

The BM Mazda 3 2.0ltr (152.8 hp )

 

it all goes to show that Mazda isnt standing still on development! That's very encouraging.

 

The last of the 2nd generation Bl series
@grim_reaper