My buddy just bought a regular Mazda3. He likes it. Few modification parts are available though.

From what I've seen, the ms3 is plenty reliable if cared for and not abused...which does not appear to be the norm for them. They get a worse rap than they deserve because of how most owners treat them

Yeah I rarely see an MS3 driven "regularly."

Op ... if this isn't a car you plan on modding much... its a great overall car. If you want 300 or over hp is I would like elsewhere. My wife and I have as I said an 09 ms3 and its a lot of fun. The oe tires that come on these cars are HORRIBLE and in the rain you'll be all over the place I immediately went to the conti dws' and while the are an a/s tire... the do better... ride better and I have easily handled 8" of snow with little hassle. The intake is the weakest link and you can pick up 15-20 whp with just that mod... add in cobbs stage 1 tune and its pretty nice.

I will add that I had the k&n on my 10 because it was the one people were having the least amount of cel codes with.

True. I had the Mazdaspeed CAI installed on mine when I had the car. It made a huge difference. A turbo inlet pipe should be the next thing you swap out. Get a Cobb AP too.

There was a huge debate about the turbo inlet pipe for a while... but none of them have shown any kind of power increase.

I'm thinkin about pulling trigger if I can fInd an 11.

have you seen the stock inlet pipe? the turbulence caused by the folds and bends are apparent.

Replacing the inlet pipe of the speed3 is a waste of time / money. The gains come from the intake so don't waste your money on replacing the stock inlet pipe as it works fine.

This! I have an 11 MS3 and I put the K&N Typhoon intake, I went with that intake because it has the block off plates to help keep "some" of the hot engine air out of the intake VS a lot of the intakes which sit inside the engine bay hence, drawing hot air into the intake.

The inlet pipe will give you a better sound and that is it, plenty have dynoed and not seen any gains.

Sorry, just saw your post. A friend of mine got a non-pearl with tech for 26K OTD. So, I'd imagine a non-tech pearl could go for around 24K to 25K depending on your area and how much they mark it up. Whatever you do make sure you get the OTD price so they don't hit you with all the made up fees.

Good luck!

Wife is got a pearl white 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 sport. Bought a brand new early 2009 for 19K. Added SRI and turbo inlet, got it dynoed at Z1. The car is putting down 254HP and 284tq to the wheels. Honestly, the 3 is a really fun car to drive and it's very practical too.

Do you guys think that the Mazda speed 3 would be an upgrade for my civic?

Honestly... not really. It's a step up performance wise but it's really the same "type" of car.

The current one is definitely quick and handles well. I'd get one too if I needed a all-in-one fun utility hatch. :)

True. I'm just looking for a step up in performance. I don't want to downgrade

The Mazda Speed3 is defiantly a step up from a Civic SI granted the current generation model looks like a bag of smashed ******** IMO. The 1st Generation MS3 looks much better, is actually a tad quicker because of a more aggressive tune and it's 120lbs lighter. Otherwise performance is negligible but the current model has a smoother ride on rough surfaces.

Regardless, both are fun to drive, quick, reliable and economical. People often way over-estimate the so called issue with "torque steer" so don't let that bother you unless you don't know how to drive with both hands on the wheel between shifts for some odd reason and or understand this concept called throttle modulation. Just because the power is there it doesn't mean it must be used 100% of time.