Yeh, me too..

 

A hyundai will never scare me I don't care what is has......

 

2008 or 2009 Cobalt SS ?

Define fully loaded?

 

pioneer, lsd, sunroof, gap.

2009

 

Yeah, plus in my experience with Hyundai, it's a big hassle to get them to ever honor their warranty. They advertise it as such a good warranty, but they do not honor it unless you raise hell. I'll never have another one.

 

Where are you hearing 25% lighter? That would make the car <2400#'s. That's bordering Lotus territory. I don't think you've properly researched your statements. The MS3 lost at VIR too (C&D). The MS3 has lower skidpad and slalom speeds.

The Cruze SS is going to weigh 88lbs and come stock with nitrous and methanol fogging. The tires will be made out of Chuck Norris's shaved back hair and it will be able to climb vertical walls. Because I believe this paragraph to be true in my own head- it shall be true in real life.

 

MS3 will take the win in overall quality, especially the interior ( if its anything like the current one)

SS will outperform though I believe.

 

Chuck Norris > All four bangers

 

unless mazda some some major revisions , the AWD systems they have are junk. the 6s with the ecu and engine and drivetrain BLOW azz. they are weak. If they want to keep the same buyers they will keep them FWD and maybe a little more pricey than they are now. But I doubt that they will "best" the Cobalt in a couple of quarters. the balt is too well engineered to just be an update to the class. It is a standard now, and will take a little more than tweaking old setups to make them better. they might have to go a total different direction, but it is hard to do that when they have put out a great product already.
Genesis is cool, but I think that is a chic car.
MS3 will from here out be a great car, but I think that the balt and those in the same class have almost reached the pennicle of this class with the current setups, they will have to start shoveling out more money and it will be a different crowd and class that the cars will be in , thus defeating the purpose of the car itself. You wont go wrong with either one,

 

if they make it a decent performing awd cars, its going to be close to $30,000... a WRX "starts" at $24,000, but try to find on on a lot for less than $27,000... then you start getting to where the crowd the car is aimed at, can't afford the car to begin with, like the Stis and Evos are

 

if they want to they better start testing on the "Ring" like they did with the new balt. haha

do you know what your talking about? it is all round a tons better automobile. dual wishbone rear suspenion, it is wider with a perfect wheelbase..and it actually is faster than the old ones stock on stock..subaru is one of the few companies besides Mini that is making good sales this year..they kno what the hell they are doing..

dude they dont pull times on amatuer drivers on open track days are you dumb? they dont come out with official times for cars around the ring on open track days..? lets see you source on all this info? and if oyu didnt make it up is it even credible?

 

its true, they used a pro driver but he had never driven the Ring. and never driven an MS3.



Mark Ticehurst, a 'Ring virgin, was able to come within about four seconds of the lap record, posting a time of 8 minutes 39.66 seconds around the circuit. More shocking than the fact that Ticehurst came that close to the record without any previous experience in either the car or the track, is the considerable amount of traffic he encountered along the way. Our Gran Turismo fantasies of a clean track were promptly quashed after seeing how many bikers Ticehurst was forced to avoid during his laps

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/16/m...rd-at-the-ring

 

Their practice/tuning runs were done with others on the track, but don't confuse that with the timed run they made.- From the Mazda Press release:

"Ticehurst and his team wait until the end of the day, after the track has closed, to get the circuit to themselves for a couple of full flying laps"

""It's one of the best things I have ever done in a car. Ever."

The best thing, that is, until the summer when he heads back to the Ring to have a real crack at the lap record."

Hmm... Summer '07 has come and gone, yet no mention of a faster time? With as much as the car companies are hurting, don't you think they would have made a big deal of beating the Cobalt if they had?

 

i was just pointing out while the SS/TC had a driver that had driven and tuned the car on the Ring, the MS3 had a driver that had never driven on the track or driven the car till that day. that is a huge advantage to the SS/TC

 

Then that was stupid on the part of Mazda. Thats like putting an arm wrestling champ in a cagefight with Silva. Fail.

 

yeah its pretty dumb, but it just shows that the Mazda can probaby run a better time if someone who knew the track and the car was driving.

 

Ricer excuses: standard on all Mazdaspeed3's from the factory.

 

real mature, youll fit in well here.

 

thanks, I cant wait to get to junior status, tell me did you get that by taking all post seriously, or just the mazda ones?

 

haha u guys are silly.

 

just like the ricer wing thats standard for the SS right?

 

just a quick update. my friend (drew1991sf) and I went to the mazda dealership to test drive a Mazdaspeed3. I overheard a salesmen talking and he said the 2010 speed 3 will be here in 4 months and will still be FWD. As for HP and TQ levels he didnt say.

 

That's because salesmen and dealers are usually the last to know anything. You're usually better off getting future model car info from a homeless person sleeping in the dumpster behind the dealership.

With that said, what they told you should be pretty accurate although I don't think it will be released in the US market quite that soon. From a cost and certification standpoint the new MS3 will more than likely continue to use a revised version of the Ford/Mazda 2.3L seeing duty in the current car or possibly the Volvo turbo five pot which is used in the Euro Focus ST and RS as well as in the compact Volvo C30/C40/V50 models which also share the same platform. This new 3 still rides on that updated Ford C1 platform (which was initially developed for the Euro market Focus that replaced the older C170 platform we still have in the US until next year). Volvo had adapted and uses the older Haldex Generation 3 AWD system in the C40/V50 (but not the C30) so some of the C1 variants can physically accept that drivetrain configuration although from a cost standpoint I'd bet Mazda stays with FWD for the foreseeable future.

The Gen 3 system Volvo uses is more for poor weather traction anyways and isn't a "sporty" system. It has to detect front wheel slip and there is a lag before it sends torque to the rear wheels. Mazda's does have their AWD system they used in the last MS6 but it was already deemed too big and would not fit the smaller 3's platform and from a performance standpoint the newer Haldex Gen 4 XWD system would probably work but hasn't been used on the C1 cars yet. If Mazda's performance engineers are anything like the ones working on the latest near-300 hp Focus RS they'll probably also avoid AWD due to the weight penalty.

 

This thread is amazing. There will be no SS in 2010. Mazda's master plan is supposed to compete with a car that gets discontinued the year before?

-M

 

Fantastic post. Thanks for the real info.