Stick with 4 cyl or trade for V6?

[trimble]

I bought my mx3 in early November with no modifications but it's in great shape. It's a 4 cyl automatic 93 Laguna blue mx3. I decided I'd like to mod it and so far I've put in new superslim Lanzar speakers and nothing else. I started to look for a front lip and other things that I could mod my car with and there's a V6 standard mx3 at my friends dads junkyard. I'm not sure about the condition or colour of the car just yet. But I want to know if you guys think I should trade cars if it's possible. Let me know what you think, and I'll update you on what I find out? Thanks. =)

[Nd4SpdSe]

Depends, the main downfall is that it's automatic, so unless you convert to 5spd, you can't swap motors, or even turbo/nitrous it. So by a performance stand point, manual is the way to go. Plus, even stock to stock, manual will rob less power than automatic, give you a few free hp. Plus, the auto transmissionss are less reliable than manual gearboxes, and more expensive to repair/replace

If you had a 5 speed 92-93 RS, you could farily easilly swap to a BP (130hp like the K8 GS), B6T or BPT, or get the turbo kit for the SOHC from racingmazda.com

If you had a 5 speed GS (perferably OBDI) you can easilly swap in a KLDE or KLZE

Mind you, those upgrades do cost a good amount of money, so going manual that's really only an option if you plan on upgrading, eventually. If you think you never will, than it's not worth your time, unless you want a few more hp, going from 88hp (less with auto) to 130hp would be a significant jump, and may be worthwhile if you dont want to spend the money on modifying the car, just want something stock, and some extra power with no work or extra spending.

If your considering just a manual for reliability, and the auto does fail. You can swap it to manual. Many people have done it. I think it's cheaper than an auto rebuild, but don't quote me on that, you'd have to check. Duncan/FieroMx3 would know, he did both on his GS...