Welcome to America, that is indeed city driving lol!!

675 to 285 (675 is an alternative connection to 75 and 285, and 285 is the loop that goes around Atlanta) is a sucky switch over because 675 everyone is going about 60ish, 285 which is 5 lanes across (which you have to get across unless you feel like getting off on every forced exit) everyone is going 80+ and stuffed with traffic.. moving at speed..
Imagine that picture above with everyone moving 80, even the semis.. it's freakin scary..

Quote from Osco :

6UL made by 949racing

good call.

to bad the 6ULR (17") versions aren't nearly as pretty

Changed the title dustin.. you know better.

first moderator action in like 4 years! sad story..

What my car sounds like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2m_YcBWMng

Doyal thats a sexy miata!
What kind of wheels are those?

Quote from mrodgers :

How much and what difference does the NGK Iridiums make? Really, just plain old platinum NGK you can't go wrong with, $1.99 each. A spark plug is a spark plug in my opinion. I've been through a lot of cars, a lot of miles, and a lot of different spark plugs, it never made a difference what spark plug I used.

And synthetic. What oil? I am using Mobil 1 since buying the Tribute new. It's like $25 for 5 quart jug at Walmart. Dang cheap. I've always used Castrol GTX in the older cars, but with the new-to-me turbo, it's recommended to use synthetic. Castrol GTX is around $20 for 5 quart jug at Walmart, so the Mobil 1 is only $5 more.

Plug replacement and oil change are about the cheapest jobs you can to on a car.

As for the transmission, seems you can never go wrong with Red Line MT-90 gear oil. Now you're getting a little bit more money. Summit Racing has it for $49.95 for 4 quart jug.

Mazda 3's come with NGK iridiums straight out of the factory, and that is what pretty much everyone gets, they work great as far as anything I know (which is next to nothing on the subject lol) but they last forever, I'm just getting new ones because they're still the stock ones and have 73k miles on them, haven't had issues with any of them.. don't want to have any issues! lol so just taking a precaution there, they're $12 a pop.

oil was easy, sucked because of this heat though, haven't done transmission oil yet though, that will be done later this week and so will the plugs which should come in tomorrow.

haven't bought the transmission oil yet, I saw a full test on like everything, I think the Mobil 1 came out to be the best over all sorts of crazy tests (independent test too, not something mobil1 or other companies did) Royal Purple came 2nd and then RedlineMT90 was like 5th or something like that, it was pretty interesting read. Doubt I can come across that test again though, it's in PDF format somewhere

Ugh I just discovered two things I really didn't want to know about A cars in general, B how much horsepower my car really has (to the wheels)

A .. just bought some NGK iridiums for my car.. that wasn't cheap.. I'm already strapped for cash, and buying new spark plugs for replacement wasn't something to look forward to paying, especially after just doing synthetic oil and also about to get transmission oil.. ugh! fml..
B .. Hate to say it really.. but to me its surprising that a FWD car is losing 20% of its power from the crank to the wheels.. is it just me or does that seem .. really far off?

I dreamed.. or should I say had a vision about Kyoto and the FOX back before they were even seen, that was pretty wild. That was forever ago though, I made a post about it somewhere..

Hey I'm glad you've gotten that kinda mileage out of a car, honda or not!; I just crossed 70k earlier this summer and it isn't a feeling of joy lol!

Lava Orange is a pretty rare color, don't see to many of those around, mine is a whitewater pearl which was an accessory color made only in '06. I wish I had the rally white which is basically pure white, but it's whatever!

I do agree, I am sure the Vibe has a lot more space in the back, it is quite a large car for sure though.

I haven't seen to many people complain about gas mileage, I never really noticed some people's though, I know people with the Speed3 aren't getting nearly as good, but that's because 90% of the people on the 3 forums is modding their car and drive it hard

My opinion on the new ones... I wouldn't buy one.. well I shouldn't say that. If you're on the forums check out GEJAY's '10 speed 3, it's GORGEOUS!
Unfortunately the newer models are quite a bit heavier and have larger engines.. so you can see where that is going.

As for the looks if you're curious abou that, the 3 is more or less the evil middle child of the Mazda family, with the 6 being the grown up, white collar style, and the 2 being the youngest of the family (which they're also making a turbo speed version, should be pretty wicked) that is more or less a focus competitor.
So that kinda explains the happy grin on it.

I absolutely love my 3 to death every time I get in it.

As for what you compared it to; focus is out, it has so little power, what's the use. I was honestly quite surprised because I just recently heard how little even the Focus SVT has..

Jetta is good; they get phenominal gas mileage... or should I say can?
Jetta is a common car, its nice, nothing wrong as far as I am aware.

I can't say how well it competes against a matrix or though, I haven't been in one of those yet, but they do produce the same power; I have no idea how much trunk space they have though (i'll get on to that in a second)
Pontiac vibe is a mean looking car, I kind of like them.
but for a larger liter engine .. it doesn't go as easy at the pump according to True Delta's real gas mileage ratings: http://www.truedelta.com/fuel_economy.php?session_code=0


I really just hate to sound against the others and pro Mazda.
But here's a comparison about this car. (this is assuming you get the hatchback, and not the brand new ones)
2.3 liter engine; produces a rated 156 ponies, and it is pretty accurate to all of the dyno sheets I have come across.

Gas mileage: being a hatchback it is of course heavier, and also in the US market you can only get the 2.3 liter model (or in the new ones up to 2.5), doing highway only traveling if I try I have managed to get up to 38 mpg... Which for me personally is absolutely astonishing.. the car is rated at a HORRIBLE 22/29. I have YET to get down below 30mpg even in city driving.
Also note mine is manual; I don't think the weight matters with automatics these days like they used to though.

What all can I stuff in the boot?
Roommate and I discovered this one unintentionally (or did we?) We fit in a 50" plasma tv in its box, and with the rear seats down, it fit perfect; wish I had the dimensions of that box.. but it was HUGE.

The most recent news is in 2009 there were more sales of 3s in Canada than there were Civic.. which is possibly a good thing? It's popular either way. Sedan more than any other though.

Speed 3; well.. if I had the choice I would for sure get the speed, it's a hatchback, its badass.. it's basically the top of the line as far as FWD turbo cars on the market.. still. It is the king in its position; if you're reading reviews and they mention torque steer.. they have 0. I don't know why reviewers seem to have issues with it, but.. it has almost no torque steer at all.


Okay; as far as what is Ford in the car goes.. Every car anyone buys will have some sort of issues, that's just the world we live in, nothing is perfect. The only common issue is the passenger side motor mount will go out. Mine went out the day I drove it off the lot. Everyone's seem to go every 50k-60k miles. That's ford for you. It costs about $60 to replace it, and it took my dad and I about 15 minutes. If you're worried, there are aftermarket mounts that will run you just over $100 and I haven't heard one of them break yet.

Oh, and here is the picture of the tv box in my car.
http://twitpic.com/kfbqn


It is no surprise it has become a popular car. There aren't to many problems with them, they get astonishing gas mileage, and very comfortable to sit in, in all places.

Other than the motor mount breaking there are few issues i've seen around on the forum except for people throwing CELs from modifying. I mean motor mounts go out in all cars; they're made to supress vibration.. nothing like that lasts forever.

If you can get a deal on one, go for it, I can't come up with one reason not to.

I get my short throw shifter in tomorrow.. woo wooo!! It'll feel nice to have that baby installed.

it's okay, mine isn't boosted




yet lol

I still have a LOOONG way to go, I have a lot of parts to get and gotta get wheels at some point in time.

^ showing off the vinyl and red tint taillights

front

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

hate to tell you, andrew, but "an photography" is not grammatically correct.

hahah yea I know lol I blame my parents for my initials hahah

I finally went to a zoo for the first time over spring break; the Columbia zoo in South Carolina, it was amazing!

Haha! yes you know what that is too! I keep getting asked if its mickey mouse or something like that; printed that for me last christmas; it was printed on vinyl too, same as my checks; I've gotten a few comments on them so we might try and sell some of those too!

Kinda hard when we don't have a Starion yet to play with lol; that's just the rumored next car DLC pack, we just don't know when they will be released.

Quote from vari :

Not really because it takes more energy to rotate the engine faster, bearing losses increase and so on.

Shake a piston back and forth really fast in your hand and you'll notice that it's easier to do slowly Energy has to come from somewhere and in this case it's the fuel.

edit: maybe a bicycle pump would be better example

Makes sense.. but according to fuel consumption calculators put into a car it says it uses the same amount of fuel..
That energy doesn't come in form of fuel though it comes in form of heat

Quote from Xaid0n :

Where did you get that info Xcnuse? And oooh, El Camino It'd be nice if they have an Ariel Atom, they have the Radical SR8 now

http://forums.forzamotorsport. ... ndex=2&PostID=3948339

Its just the list of all the cars that everyone had voted on thus far

Fuel usage is dependant on how far down you put your foot, RPM has no effect on gas mileage, I can be at 8000 in 1st gear going 30 mph or like 1500 in 5th gear going 30 and I will be using the same amount of gas; IF I keep my foot in the same position no matter the gear or RPM I will be using the same amount of fuel.

Engagement shoot and a friend
and my older logo :/

Here is that list:

- 1986 Dodge Shelby Omni GLHS - 1988 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R - 1992 GMC Syclone - 1971 AMC Javelin AMX - 1984 BMW M635CSi - 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evo II - 1977 Saab 99 Turbo - 1987 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 - 1971 De Tomaso Pantera - 1973 BMW 2002 Turbo - 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale - 1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth - 1982 DeLorean DMC-12 - 1983 Volvo 242 Group A - 1970 Chevrolet El-Camino

I WANT THE PANTERA SOOO BAD!!!!

Oh my god that Miata is murdered out that thing is hot looking!

This is my most recent change to my car (seeing that list is extremely limited [insurance reasons])
A vinyl I designed and my sister printed for me at her work
checkmate!



Excited for the upcoming East coast Mazda meet in Tennessee!!

I got all the packs so far and I love all of those cars; the next rumored DLC is the "forzalopnik" pack and someone said there is a Mitsubishi Starion in that list!
No idea when that will be but if that pack comes out it's full of average cars which is a nice change of pace!

I know I'm not around anymore, I'm just busy with .. life, school, work, jobs, freelance, etc.

So here is a little piece of pottery of mine for those just looking around;



Here are some of my cups too;

left two are about 6" tall, the second to right is just under 5" and the far right is just above 5"

Is something supposed to be here besides two smiley faces?

To an extent you get the profile of the tread.

It depends on the tread pattern itself, but most of the time you would see it unless you're running semi or full slicks.

You get lines, not the actual pattern, but the lines from where the contact patch is greatest (even if parts overlap, chances are it isn't a full contact patch like the big chunky blocks of most patterns)

see here:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com ... 229843_cb5955b97e.jpg?v=0
also here (check out that wheel hop on the far right where the new asphalt is [raised up]) http://www.bigfoto.com/miscell ... tos-04/skid-marks-302.jpg

I also came across this which is an excellent reference for anyone that wants to conduct their own CSI show crime scene lol
http://www.globalsecurity.org/ ... cy/army/fm/19-25/CH11.htm
either way it is good reference (I wish it had more images though)