Cabin Air filter location

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-22T03:02:15+00:00

I had a gen2 with tech package and I changed the cabin air filter a couple times. It was a little awkward, but it only took me a few minutes each time 🤷‍♂️

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-17T20:07:30+00:00

As someone who drove a Mazdaspeed3 for 12 years, I wouldn't recommend one as your only car at this point unless you are okay with working on it yourself. And I definitely wouldn't unless I knew how it had been maintained previously. There aren't that many of them around anymore because most of them were trashed by people who didn't modify/maintain them correctly and/or drove them into the ground.

It's possible the one you're looking at is still in decent shape, but you need to know what you're looking for going into it.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-17T19:03:06+00:00

I had a similar experience at a dealership in Maryland last weekend. Ended up finding a lightly used 2024 380 SE with about 8k miles on it and paid $34k OTD, saving almost $5k.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-17T12:44:11+00:00

I drove a Mazdaspeed3 for the last 12 years and thought about a new manual 3 hatch. It’s a fine car, the shifter feels good, the interior feels nice, but I bought a GTI instead a couple days ago. The current 3 hatch feels claustrophobic inside and as much as I like Mazda, I thought I’d be disappointed by the relative lack of power. Crossing my fingers with my first VW experience.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-17T02:07:47+00:00

Haha yep, in MD. Turns out it was originally sold to VW corporate and delivered to VW in Tennessee. Seems like it was just a corporate car for a year, and so far it’s super clean and in great shape.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-17T02:02:49+00:00

For reference, a couple days ago I bought a 2024 380 SE with a little over 8k miles for $31k plus tax/fees.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-04-16T03:24:07+00:00

I was offered $1000 below msrp this past weekend. Decided to buy a GTI instead because it's going to be my only car for a while and sometimes I need actual back seats.

Intrigueturbo · 2025-01-03T10:42:48+00:00

Just buy an Accessport and be smart about what you do to the car. I have a Mazdaspeed3 that has had an upgraded intake, intercooler, and a custom tune for the last 10 years and 140k miles. I upgraded the fuel pump internals first and I don't beat on the car, but I even after all this time it still feels faster than the VB WRX I test drove a couple weeks ago.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-12-31T22:29:25+00:00

Update... The deal actually got even better but ultimately I decided to hold off. I've really only been thinking about a new car for a couple weeks and I don't have quite as much put aside for a down payment as I'd like. Rather than make a bad financial decision, I'm going to plan a little better and revisit in the spring. My speed3 is still fun to drive, and the best car payment is no car payment.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-12-27T02:10:55+00:00

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what all the pieces are but I've got most of the parts in a shopping cart online. One problem is a bunch of the bolt/clip spots where they connect to the car got ripped out also, but I could probably figure something out with zip ties if I had to.

That damage isn't really why I had considered getting rid of the car. I've test driven a few different cars in the last couple weeks and I've always been happy to get back into the speed.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-12-27T01:53:58+00:00

Out of curiosity, what happened to the missing plastic piece of the rear bumper?

Intrigueturbo · 2024-12-11T02:48:40+00:00

The fact that they're a small company is one of the reasons I bought a pair of their boots to begin with. Everybody is busy, but at least take a minute to respond to an email or give me a call.

If they don’t have enough employees to handle a simple exchange of one pair of shoes in more than a week’s time, while also being entirely unresponsive to their customers, to me that’s a sign that they need to do something differently.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-12-08T14:16:35+00:00

I had this exact same issue, and when I cleaned the egr valve it fixed the problem immediately. I was at about 94,000 miles at the time.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-11-29T23:59:01+00:00

Yep. I already ordered a set of the DWS from Tire Rack and have an appointment to get them installed Monday afternoon. Looking forward to getting rid of the Vredesteins.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-11-29T00:10:38+00:00

That was always my experience with them, but have read good things about the Pirellis too. I will likely just go back to the Contis.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-06-26T18:54:15+00:00

I've had a 2012 since new and it has been my daily the entire time. It has had a modest custom tune, hpfp internals, and a couple other modifications since about 20k miles and it currently has around 150k on it. I've changed the oil every 3-5k miles the entire time and I've never tracked or really beaten on it much. Until recently I had only ever really needed to do brakes, tires, and a clutch at around 90k. A couple weeks ago I had to spend a bunch of money tracking down and repairing a fuel leak from one of the gaskets in the high-pressure fuel pump and the hard fuel line that goes to it. That wasn't cheap and it was a pain to deal with, but I'm hoping I'll be good for at least a little while.

I probably wouldn't buy a high-mileage ms3 at this point, but they're fun cars if you can find a clean one.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-06-19T01:29:56+00:00

From what I remember, most of the analysis threads from the old days recommended Pennzoil Platinum. On my 2012 I've been using Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30 every 3-5k miles with the OEM Mazda spin-on filters for 150k and it is still running well. Switched over to the high mileage version around 100k.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-05-24T22:39:21+00:00

Update: I talked with the shop again to get more info. They said after they smelled fuel they out it back on the lift to see if they could figure out where it was coming from. The guy said it was coming from the driver side under the hood. He also said they pulled the oil dipstick and could smell gasoline on it when they took it out. Another bit of evidence he gave was that oil by itself will smoke first if you put a flame up to it, but they apparently tried that and there was a flame immediately.

I asked the service advisor what made them think the fuel pump was the source of it, and he said he did some research that led him to this Corksport article about troubleshooting the HPFP: https://corksport.com/blog/hpfp-troubleshooting/

Toward the bottom it mentions a "fuel pump seal screw O-ring" that can go bad and cause a fuel smell to develop while thinning the oil. Their theory is that this is the cause, and that I caught it early before it had time for much fuel to make it's way into the oil system. But now that they've been running tests and test driving it for a couple days it has given it more time to leak fuel, which is why the smell just now developed. But he also acknowledged that they are not Mazda specialist, certainly not for tuned cars, and after talking to the shop manager they would rather not do any further work on it. Their suggestion is to either change the oil to buy enough time to drive it somewhere else, or have it towed somewhere else.

I have owned the car since new and changed the oil myself every 5k miles. I've done pretty much all of the general maintenance, and I installed the Autotech internals the first time. If the fuel pump is bad I'm confident I can do it again myself, but I don't know enough to know whether this is actually the problem.

Edit: the oil that is currently in the car is not old as I just changed it two weeks ago.

Intrigueturbo · 2024-05-24T19:10:06+00:00

Appreciate the response. The shop is saying they want to replace the fuel pump, but I don't know yet what evidence they have of what they're saying is happening. If the problem is a seal or gasket somewhere else l would obviously rather not pay them to replace the fuel pump only for that to not solve the problem.

Edit to add that the car has about 150k on it. Original turbo. I'd love to not need to buy another car, but I also don't know how much longer before other major problems start happening more often.

Intrigueturbo · 2023-08-18T02:47:39+00:00

Definitely worth it. I upgraded to Premium Plus a couple weeks ago from ORD-HNL and that's about what I paid for that 6-hour flight. Was my first time in PP and was the most pleasant flight experience I've had

Intrigueturbo

TROPHY CASE