MX-3 questions

Newerwaves · Post by **Newerwaves** » March 29th, 2007, 8:10 pm

Hey all, I am looking to buy an MX-3 and have a couple of questions.

Well, at the moment, I have a 2.5 Ford Cougar but its bankrupting me with the amount of petrol I have to put in the thing, so I am looking for a more economical car, hence the MX-3. A few questions I have:

-What are the stats for 1.6 and the 1.8, like the 0-60mpg and the top speeds. I've had a look around and it seems to differ from which website you get the stat from.
-What is the mpg for each car? Standard and urban.
-How reliable is the car?
-I have read the 1.8 has a better suspension and therefore better handling than the 1.6, how much of a difference is this really?
-At what mileage should I expect to do a top engine rebuild? I had an MG ZR and had that rebuilt at 85,000 and that was a 1.4
-What do you think I should get from £3,000. I mean mileage, year, condition.

Thanks for any help.
David

NorCalMX3 · Post by **NorCalMX3** » March 29th, 2007, 9:45 pm

First off, i would like to congratulate you, and encourage you to purchase the MX3, everyone on here who owns one loves to drive it, i fell in love at first drive, and now own two, the 1.6 and the 1.8.

the HP of the 1.6l SOHC is 88 HP, the DOHC 1.6l has 105 HP. the 1.8 L v6 has roughly 130 HP stock. the MX-3 has proven to be a very reliable car. I purchased it with a salvaged title, and had to bring it back to life, but once i did, it runs to this day very strong.

the 1.6L has 29 City and around 35+ Highway. the 1.8L V6 has 23 City and 29 Highway.

it is very common for the 1.8l owners to swap out the k8 engine and put in a 2.5L V6 KL ZE.

As far as i hear, the handling is about the same for the 4 and the 6.

my 1.8l has 145000 miles on it and runs great. my 1.6 has around 160000 miles and still runs very clean, and very strong

I haven't actually been able to drive the 1.8L yet, because the automatic transmission went out, and i bought it from the guy very cheap because it doesn't drive, bu the engine still runs. I plan to swap out the mildly unreliable auto tranny for the very reliable manual tranny.

hopefully someone else on here can answer the 0-60 question, as i am a little unsure.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » March 30th, 2007, 1:20 am

The 1.8 V6 does not get that good of gas milage in my opinion. All other specs on the V6s are right though. I don't know alot about the 4 bangers never having much interest in the stock 4 cylinder motors. The 1.8L V6 uses the same block as the 2.5L V6 from Mazdas. The engine is pretty reliable, but the piston rings tend to wear out and the motor will have blow by. Not a terrible concern if you keep an eye on the oil level, but it could cause havoc with E-Tests if the oil ruins the cat or O2s. The manual transmisions are great in the V6. The F series in the 4 bangers is ok, but not as beefy as the G series for the V6. You can get a G series variant for the 4 cylinders though if needed from a Protoge and some other Mazda 4 banger cars. Other than that the disty on the V6s is prone to crapping out from the heat of the motor, but there is a simple cheap fix that eliminates the issue if yours were to go out. Other than that the car handels very well for its class, it a great looking style for its age. There are not many left on the road and so you have a bit of exclusivity for what you paid.
I don't know what you could get for 3000 pounds, but for 1500 dollars you'd get a rough to decent MX-3.

Newerwaves · Post by **Newerwaves** » March 30th, 2007, 8:42 am

Thanks so much for the answers, I think from what you have both said, I will be going for the 1.6. It sounds like the 1.8 is as fuel efficient as my Cougar, probably because its a V6.

So if someone else on this board could just answer me on the 0-60 and when I should expect to do a top end engine rebuild (also called a head gasket replacement).
One extra question I have is, how would I know if the car is the DOHC or the SOHC? I don't know if both were released in the UK as I can only really find UK info for a car that has 105bhp which would be the DOHC.

I do agree, its a gorgeous car and is quite similar at the back to the Vauxhall Tigra but bigger.

NorCalMX3 · Post by **NorCalMX3** » March 30th, 2007, 2:37 pm

DOHC (5speedMX3's):

SOHC (e2blade's):

note the dip in the middle of the valve cover on the DOHC, where the spark plugs go, the spark plugs on the SOHC go in from the front, not the top like on the DOHC.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » March 30th, 2007, 4:25 pm

Ever seen the Tigra DTM (or whatever class it raced in), sick looking race car. Too bad the actual car wasn't that sporty looking. First time I saw it I had to double take thinking it might be an MX-3 race car...

robbo604 · Post by **robbo604** » March 31st, 2007, 8:47 am

i believe stock v6 0-60 is around 8 secs mark i hear.I have a v6 and sounds about right.Only had mine to 95mph but bookspeed says about 130-135

christexan · Post by **christexan** » June 1st, 2007, 10:50 am

Probably way late to matter ( 2 months late), but the 0-60 speed for the V6 is around 8.4 seconds officially (either 8.4 or 8.5, can't remember which was the "official" and which was the C&D tested speed). It actually can be faster, Mazda specs the engine at "135 +/- 12 HP", if you get to the plus side it can be pretty quick (mine is tested around 143, and it's in the low end of the 8 second spectrum). Your HP/weight(lbs) ratio is roughly 2500/1, so at 135HP you'll have around 18.5lbs per horsepower. At 140 it's 17.86, at 145 (reasonable high end) 17.2 lb/hp. These numbers are MUCH MUCH better than the 4-cylinders which at a best of say around 110hp (DOHC with a good engine), will be nearly 22lb/hp (I subtracted 100lbs from the V6 car weight since I figure the 4-banger is lighter, although that's probably generous, the V6 only weighs around #250-300 to begin with).
Anyhow, if you want ANY performance at all, you'll want the V6 GS (US nomenclature) model, also, the suspension as mentioned is much better, the tires are wider, you can easily replace the engine with the larger V6 models from the "K" family.
My mileage (I'd driven it from mile 4 to mile 143,000 plus) has consistenly been around 25mpg city (ranges from mid-24 to 26ish), and consistently 32 highway on road trips (range is ffrom 250 miles city to 320+ road tripping (I scared myself and made 348 one time on a long stretch of road with no gas stations, and got 10.8 gallons in the tank, my typical highway range is 320-325 before I get nervous). Whenever I see it fall off at all (if it's ever below 24MPG for instance) I know immediately something is wrong, it's that consistent.
If you haven't made the decision, hope that helps!