SR20 20th ?!?

[Frey, Richard K]

My wife drives a mazda3 5 door.  Had it for almost 4 years.  Early production is supposed to have all of the problems.  We've had a few warranty issues but otherwise totally enjoy this car.  Its geared a little low for my liking as highway trips rev too high for me.  The upside is it really 'zips' around town as my wife says.  My 3 year old just said zoom zoom all of the time after seeing the commercials.  Excellent handling, good acceleration, nice torque curve and superb brakes.  Everyone who knows cars and sees it boggles at the size of the rear discs.  Haven't taken it to the track but it would perform well I think.  If you factored in inflation, it probably is about the same price as the SE-R was.  It doesn't get the greatest gas mileage though, but that might be due to my wife's foot.  I have replaced brake pads 'prematurely' and wore out a set of tires far too early but they gripped well.

It is not a rattletrap, this one anyway.  It does lack damping coatings, but didn't we chip those out of the SE-R anyway?

The turbo, direct injected version would be fun.

And don't forget the Pontiac Solstice GXP.  If you lived in the south or not a daily drive that'd be fun but not really the same as an SE-R.

Have fun,

Rick Frey


________________________________
From: se-r-bounces at se-r-list.org [mailto:se-r-bounces at se-r-list.org] On Behalf Of Larry Martin
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 12:49 PM
To: Eric Waterman
Cc: se-r at lists.deskmedia.com
Subject: Re: SR20 20th ?!?

Tell me again why the Mazda3 is not the answer (not necessarily the Speed3).  Maybe with a mod or two.  Many seem to moan that we don't get the newest Euro Focus - well there it sits.  Or the GTI.  I know it's reportedly a rattletrap but it appears to a fun rattletrap. If you drove anything in the early 70's you learned to take rubber grommets and wedges of foam and track the squeaks and rattles down.  No it wasn't fun but it could be done.  Like most of you I'm keeping mine and doing it just as Jaret has done.  I did a few of the early mods but took them off and have kept it stock ever since.  Rust at the bottom of the front fenders and the original muffler looks like termites eat metal but it still works just fine. How can we ever convince Nissan to put the SR20 back in something?

Larry Martin
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