2007 Mazda 3 MPS from UK and Ireland - Comments

You Golf GTi owners are living in dreamland! It would be a closely run thing between the MPS and an R32, (I reckon) but the bog-standard GTi is so slow in comparison, it is laughable. My MPS is more than a second quicker than your repmobile and that is a FACT. Deal with it.

I love GTI owners, they really make me laugh. The only GTI that's worth a damn is the Edition 30, because thanks to the bigger turbo, a simple remap yields 300bhp. The older GTI (197bhp version) is not a hot hatch. A 0-60 time of over 7 seconds is a joke really. I've only seen 1 Mazda 3 MPS and 2 Mazda 6 MPS's. To anyone who says they've raced loads in they're GTI is lying. Your car has a VW badge - other than that it is outclassed by every hot hatch on the market. My brothers focus ST has torn apart Golf GTI's on 2 occasions. I have absolutely humiliated a Golf GTI once in my Redtop. They aren't fast at all, they have low end torque, that's it. a 3 MPS would... wait for it... DESTROY your little golf, any gear, any revs, any speed. It has 60bhp on you and is lighter... game over. The 3 MPS is the fastest stock FWD hatch at the moment, although watch out for the new Focus RS some time next year, 300bhp FWD with trick diff - bye bye... everything, S3 included!

Thank you for reading!

Oh one last note - to GTI owners - without that badge you're nothing - drive an ST or VXR and find out what FWD fun really is!

The handling of the Golf 98-2004 is utterly shameful so this alone means it can't compete on a track against even a Mazda 3 1.4. And as for performance, the GTi should RIP, the MPS is far far far quicker; its like comparing a milk float to a jet. A standard Honda Civic 1.8 is quicker and being Japanese isn't built like a tissue box unlike the unreliable style less Golf.

I've never been in one of the Golfs being spoken about but who cares. Went for a spirited ride this evening in a mazdaspeed3, awesome car. Real fast, and has power all over the band. One other guy mentioned how you don't need to get to the redline and its true there is power everywhere. Very solid car, and handles great, although my bud spiffed the suspension and tires. Overall, I like!! Very cool car.

My oh my... interesting thread... I own a 1994 Rover 220 GSI turbo, 200BHP as standard, mine has increased boost, and is mechanically A1. I've had it just over 12 years.

My reason for posting is that I have had a couple of run-ins with the Golf GTI, new shape... they are simply not as quick as the Rover to accelerate. I had one run in with a Mazda 6 MPS, same engine as the 3 MPS, but a lot heavier, & this beat me... quite easily I have to say. I was surprised to be honest, I didn't know much about them until later, after some net research.

So anyway, all I can assume is that, although having never raced a 3 MPS, it's a no brainer it would destroy the Rover, so to compare a Golf to one, is, quite frankly, laughable, in my opinion.

(official stats for a standard Rover are 0-60 in 6.3,0-100 in 15.6 & standing 1/4 mile 14.9. top speed 149mph)

Watch it and weep Golf owners, the wee Mazda canes the r32 every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdmrq8-2I4U