BRZ vs Mazdaspeed3

[thill]

The Mazdaspeed3 is a better choice if you are going to haul people around regularly in the backseat.

I would highly recommend driving both cars back to back on extensive test drives if you have not. I know the things that I did not like about the Speed3:
- To be honest I was not a fan of the exterior styling. A little busy for me with too much going on. The "smile" front end was just not for me.
- I found the interior layout to be rather busy for me as well. Buttons all over the steering wheel and dash. I also found the plastic to be hard to the touch and cheap feeling. My previous Mazda3 honestly had better grade plastics. That said, there are a lot of features like audio steering wheel controls you won't find in an FRZ.
- The car has lots of power and torque. It will definitely be faster off the line than a twin. But it is also FWD and does have gobs of torque steer. I personally had no problem managing it, but I can see where some people could get themself into trouble if they don't know how to handle this type of car.
- The car had good steering feedback and decent handling. Not on par with the twins, but good. It felt more raw to me on the road than the twins. It will be much easier to drive a twin to the limits than a Speed3 to the limits unless you really know what your doing.
- The twins will get better gas mileage. Especially if you are an aggressive driver. Plan on about a 5mpg or so difference between the cars. The salesman I was working with at Mazda drove a 2012 Speed3 as his DD and told me he drove mostly city and aggressively and was averaging about 19mpg.

Pricewise, the 3Speed, even loaded, will be considerably cheaper than either a BRZ or FR-S. It is a good bargain if you don't mind the styling and FWD characteristics. If you can wait, the Mazda3 just went through a major redo, and I expect a Speed3 will be available sometime next year. The new model looks better to me inside and out.

[Reggaeboyz]

Originally Posted by leon78

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Prior GenWon owner...still very active in my local NATOR DC mazdaspeed crowd.

Ya I remember seeing your sig on the MSF, lol good points.

I guess the next two things I need to do is go on another test drive and then try driving a boosted twin

[radroach]

Originally Posted by thill

To be honest I was not a fan of the exterior styling. A little busy for me with too much going on. The "smile" front end was just not for me.

saying nothing about the BRZ burt reynold's stache smile

[xia]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

not to hijack the thread..
Did you drive the Prius? We were looking at one, a IV I think, to trade the Camry for, and it was actually a well sorted car with a pretty nice interior. That electric motor gives it a decent bit of grunt off the line too.

That said, good choice. Definitely FRS > Prius.

Sorry for the hijack OP. Let me answer quick. YES, I did drive the Prius. Fact, I drove 2 of them (different packages). It was a 2011 package 3 and a package 4 or something (not sure about the packages). Interior was nice but damn it's HUGE! So much space in the front I felt like I was in a space ship or something. I loved the roomy interior. Overall I liked it. Was going to buy until I saw the FRS Now I'm stuck with a small car with NO space in the rear but that's what the CRV is for:happy0180: