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Vs 2013 mazdaspeed3

37K views 86 replies 36 participants last post by  zax 
#1 ·
Do this guy I know says that at stage 2, his mazdaspeed3 will beat my stage 2 wrx in drag....... The track here is horrible so I refuse to go. But really??? Is this even possible??
 
#2 ·
I've had my ex girlfriend tell me when she gets her speed3 her stock speed would be my modded subie. I can see maybe by a numbers game if both are stock...but again only on paper is the speed faster because power being dispoersed to only two wheels rather then all four. But factor in this chick can barely keep an automatic on the road, let alone the wheel hop...and that a current gen stage 2 wrx is above 300hp while a stock speed is 287 I believe.
What's up with these other communities wanting to race anyway... specifically hondas and mazdas
 
#84 ·
Oddly enough i have had a 2007 speed3 and 2013 speed3. Now i have a 2014 WRX and i can guarantee stock to stock the newer gen speed3 would be totally ripped by a wry whether it be in a dig or a pull. This simply being that in the Speed the boost cuts off around the 4800-5K rpm mark and then just slowly climbs speed from 1-3. While in 4th and over 3500 rpm the boost is there and pulls all the way through to redline. Although the 2007 was by far faster and more responsive in turbo response. Nevertheless i would put my money on the Wrx all day. As per HP both the 2007-13 (as i know of) are at 263 whereas the WRX 265. Now two HP won't make a lick of difference. But the ECU limiter is horrible. There is just nothing after 5K in the RPM band...
 
#12 ·
paper racing is no fun. there are so many variables that its kind of pointless to sit here and ponder who would win a drag race. you have a local track. even if you hate it, its there. go use it :)
 
#14 ·
I have a buddy with one and we were doing some spirited back country roads...and he stayed with me pretty easily...

This was stock for stock, MS3 and my 05 STI though...

If he can launch and hook up quickly, no reason why he wouldn't be able to stay with a WRX.
 
#18 ·
Is Zach's car off the road?

The other problem is that, still being newlyweds, Zach has great incentive to let his wife win.
 
#19 ·
:nono: Too many variables for a true scientific test (cause car races are always 100% scientific!)

His car isn't exactly off the road...it isn't exactly tearing the road up either. It's kinda in car purgatory.
 
#23 ·
I spent a whole week test driving both a 2014 speed3, then the 13 WRX.

From my butt testing, the speed3 launches quicker because it has more torque. The speed feels like you are going way faster than you are, and gets squirley under full boost. It feels like it loses a lot of power as rpm's go up.

The WRX is smooth as you already know. But without a stage 1 map, I think the speed3 would take the WRX off the line, and end up losing 1/2-3/4 of the way down the track. With a stage 1 map on the subie, the speed3 would not have a chance.

In the end, I got the WRX and am very happy. :)
 
#32 ·
I test drove a '13 MS3 before buying my '12 WRX. However, our experiences could not have been more OPPOSITE.

I thought the MS3 was RIDICULOUSLY slow at launch. I attributed this to the smaller displacement engine. Then I also found out that the stock tune limits power in the first 3 gears to keep the car from spinning the wheels too bad. Torque steer FTL. Even once I got on it, I didn't ever really feel like the MS3 was really that fast. It did sound pretty good, though, and I love the look of the new gen Mazdaspeed 3. The boost gauge is a joke, but at least they included one.

The first time I went WOT in my WRX (after the 1,000 mile break-in, of course), I was absolutely sure I had made the right choice. After driving it a while I began to notice the weak spots in the powerband everyone complained about. So, I went Stage 1 with SF intake. I have no complaints at this time. I plan on getting a cat back to hear moar subbie rumble, and then at whatever point it starts to feel slow or weak again, I'll go Stage 2 and call it a day.

I was just so underwhelmed by the Mazdaspeed 3. Plus, I ran one on the highway after going stage 1, and I put about 2 cars on him before he gave up. Stock, it probably would have been closer and the other way around. From what I hear, though, they are super easy to mod up to and past 300whp. The only thing is all that power only goes to 2 wheels...FWD FTL.
 
#25 ·
I have a 2011 stage2 hatch. I had a MS3 following me and we go lucky to run at a stop light. He had stage 1 and I destroyed him off the line. We then did rolling at 30 MPH and he stayed with me for a bit but I ended up ahead. He had a CAI and HUGE aftermarket TMIC. Hope this helps.
 
#27 ·
The crappy drag strip thing doesn't hold water, places like that are obligated to make the racing surface safe otherwise they'd be out of business. No time to be scared, go to the strip and settle/answer the question ... which is faster.

Once you do it you may realize just how much fun you can have at your local track. The one near me has a "tune & test" every thursday during the spring/summer months. Some of the most fun I've had has been racing motorcycles & cars there. Ran a 10.66 @ 131.2 on a '91 Kawasaki ZX-11 back 1992, fastest thing I've driven at a track.

If you lose, so what. Someone out there ALWAYS has something faster than you, just the way life works.
 
#28 ·
I walked the surface at Norwalk before running my car. It was so sticky that my feet literally came out of my shoes. I decided then that I was just going to slip the clutch a bit or risked breaking something. Some guy in a new GTI busted something at the line and had to be pushed off..
 
#29 ·
well all that track thing is very good but once a while shoot off in street and keeping under 60 when no ne is around doesnot hurt any body
i use track device on my car for insurence and dont run but how come most driver pass me when limit is 45 and i am driving 45- 50 (i mean no racing ones)
 
#31 ·
Who cares? It's really splitting hairs, but the WRX seems to be a more capable car. If you bought this car to see it win bragging rights in the straight line, you bought the wrong car.

Enjoy your car for what it is. Either that, or go get an automatic tansmission V8 and build it for the straight line.
 
#33 ·
The 2.3L DISI motor produces considerably more torque sooner in the power band than any EJ motor. The higher compression ratio, longer stroke, and turbo-integrated exhaust manifold results in far more improvement on torque production over the 200cc displacement bump. You are correct, the boost is limited in first gear, so launching becomes a bit more of a challenge. It's not limited in the first 3 gears as you have mentioned, per my understanding.
 
#34 ·
Well, I'm still on a Mazda forum from when I had my 3. According to everyone on there, power is limited in at least the first two gears. Some people think it's also limited in 3rd.

And while on paper the power comes sooner in the speed 3...it would seem that in real life the power isn't so instant. I'm sure your specs are right and on a dyno the 3 does what you say it does, but when I drove it I felt the exact opposite. Maybe it has to do with the power being limited at first to minimize torque steer (there's another problem all together).

Besides, the Speed 3 might produce power faster, but the WRX uses it sooner. If you mash the pedal down in a stock MS3, when the power does come, you get to do the floppy fish dance all over the road trying to point it straight as the tires spin and hop everywhere. In a WRX, you can launch it at 5k rpms and go straight in a hurry. Again, FWD FTL.

On a side note, a previous gen Speed3 wanted to play on the way home from work today and I completely dusted it from a 40 roll getting on the highway. I started behind him and I waited until I saw the puff of black smoke that signaled him going WOT before I did the same. I'm Stage 1 with SF and he had some kind of different hood with a really small scoop to one side (off center)...maybe a ram air scoop for the intercooler? Or it could have been for the intake, I don't know. I've never seen that hood before. Whatever it was, he needed more than that. Lol


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#37 ·
The WRX is underrated from factory... It puts down nearly the same numbers to all the wheels as the MS3 does to the front. As long as the WRX does not screw the launch to bad he it will pull first and second gear where the MS3 lacks traction and stay even from there. Also the WRX has better gains at stage 2 than the MS3. The dynos are off the COBB site all from the same dyno.

Me and an MS3 took it up to about 45 MPH ( ya i know WRX territory)... He shut down when i was 3-4 cars out in front by 45.

Ignore the 2nd WRX dyno on the chart... it has to be modified. Look at the last one for comparison.





 
#38 · (Edited)
Got next to a 2010+ Mazdaspeed 3 the other day and he dropped a gear and so did I. We were rolling at about 35. Then he just took off, so I followed. He only got about half a car in front and i stopped his pull. Then when he shifted again he started to slowly pull. We stopped at the next light and he said, "Are you stock?!" I said no. He said, "Ok, thank god!" Lol, I said, "Why, what do you have done?" He said he had a downpipe and intake, but no tune...NO TUNE. WTF, man. I started reading up on it when I got home, and apparently you can run all kinds of mods on MS3's without a tune and be fine. Of course they'd be even faster with the tune, but I bet it's nice not having to tune every time you change anything at all. Anyway, he gave me the thumbs up and I reciprocated. Nice guy.


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#39 ·
I did a 40 with an 08 ms3.. He had an intake and Cobb stage 1 tune. By 120 he had one car on me...


Got back to our friends house, he asked what I had done to it. I said an intake... He said tune? I'm like.. Nope... He still doesn't believe me lol oh well.
 
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