Question to BlackDiamond -

How did youfind outwhere your car is - my dealer will only tell me that my car is "on the water" and claims he will not know anything else until it actually arrives at the port (of Jacksonville). If you believe him, it is overdue by two weeks. Not that I disbelieve him, it is just that ships dont just "disappear" and that Mazda probably has some method of identifying exactly where the ship is and when it is scheduled to arrive. GPS works on water too!

My only disappointment so far has been that the car will arrive without the GPS. I am now researching a portable unit - anyone out there have any experience with portable GPS? The integrated stock unit costs $1700.

Soon to be (??) MS3 owner.

 

The portable ones work great, cost WAY less than the built in ones, and you can moveit to your other car ora friend's car any time you want. I don't know much about built in ones, but for the huge price and portability disadvantage,I don't see why anyone would buy one that way.

 

I'm stupid...that's funny. I'm not the onedriving around in the winter with summer tires on my car. I guess expert drivers like you don't need winter tires though right....

Like I said, you'll find out your own way that you need to get the tires...good luck with that...

 

what do you guys think about heel-toeing with ms3? or with fwd car for that matter?

 

The dealer may be full of crap, but he said that the ship was due into port on the 18th (last Sunday) and that it still showed "on the water." He said that until the car actually hits the dock it doesn't change the status. They gave me a nice loaner so if it is longer I can probably deal with it. I was working with the internet manager and he pulled up the next two MS3s that were scheduled to arrive together. Technically, he has no specific evidence that it has arrived in port. They were going up the chain of command to get the car put on the "hot list" to get it delivered ASAP.

 

If I remember correctly, the purpose of heel-toeing is to keep the RPM up slightly during downshifting to avoid compression from locking up the tires. I'm not sure it would be as critical on the fwd car, but I can't imagine that it would be a bad idea to match the RPM with the lower gear. It should make the gear changes easier on the car I would think.

I talked to a friend of mine today that does auto-cross with his Porsche and he suggested that my wife and I take a class in October. He said it was about $25 each and would allow us to have some supervised laps on the track with a more experienced driver to help us learn. He said he has seen the majority of ladies go from about 30% to over 70% of the cars ability in just one day. I don't really plan on racing my car, but I think it would be excellent for both my wife and I to get some experience pushing the limits in a controlled environment.

 

I think it works well on the street as is. I do it before a big downshift for gear 6 or 5 going to3 or 2, and sometimes double clutch to spin up the tranny internals and save wear on the synchros as well.It allows you toleave the apex of the turn with power on instead of shifting beyond the apex and getting on the gas from there.

In the not too distant future,I'll try it at the track where brake pedal may get pushed lower than the gas pedal, making it tough to reach them both smoothly at the same time. I know someone who had to increase the thickness of the brake pedal on a Boxter S to make the brake/gas pedal geometry work at the track. Based on how it works now under fairly light driving, I would expect to have to do the same on the MS3.

 

Black Diamond,

Just out of curiosity, you say the dealer gave you a "loaner". My dealer offered the same thing to me provided I give him my trade then. I said no - (not that I dont trust dealers, but...) and will keep my car until the MS3 actually arrives - if it arrives....

I asked my insurance company about that situation and they reminded me that I must cancel my insurance on my car when I trade it in and that I should be cautious about a "loaner" unless it comes with full insurance (liability especially) which may cost extra above what the dealer carries.

Good luck on getting your car "off the water"!

 

blackdiamond and vaspeed3 thanks for the info. I will be practicing heel toeing with the car turned off first, (by having the car turn off and pumpin of the gas would I be pumpin gas into ports? cause in the old cars before fuel injection u can flood ur engine.) I dont want to do it on a 90 degree corner like on a stop sign, I might inadvertently press too much gas and slam unto oncoming traffic. I need like a course where they let you go wild. Here in new jersey we have Englishtown race tracks. I dont know if they let you rent time on the tracks. I'm about to find out. I need to practice heel toeing on sharp corners.In the spring there is an autocross event for amateurs, it's heldwhere the Giants and the Jets play, they held it on the parking lot. I'm thinkin of joining. I'll let you guys know how I fair.

 

Hey funky, not sure how your insurance coverage is set up but in my case it was 'transferred' to the new car. They told me when i buy it to just get in soon after to switch it and untill then i'd still be covered under the current policy. I have StateFarm and ironically the day i was goona be able to get into their officeI checked the mail and they'd already billed me the $40 that it went up per 6mo.; compared to the Protege5!!! pretty rockin eh? Never even went in.

Everyone start knocking on wood now. I got my car back tonight. YEAH! No lights, replaced actuator for the intake manifold. Hellz yes! I did'nt realize it was hurting in the power due to the malfunction and my mileage is shooting up on the computer. We'll see on the next fill up in a week or so. The replacment of the transmission fluid was a good thing, it's shifting smoothly now all over the board and i'm feeling like the day I drove it home. I should'nt bore you all with my cheesy storyline so just count me back in on the Happy Speed3 owner tally sheet.

I'm digging getting into a Mazda club. I'm in the Maryland I-70/I-81 area and have a few weeks of vacation to burn!