So, I asked the tech at my dealership and he said that bolting on parts like a new intake or exhaust would by no means void my warranty (because they'd have to prove that the bolt on parts were the cause of any problem that'd arise and that's difficult to do). The 2.3l engine on the Mazda is a little thirstier than I'd like (but still making 30+mpg on the highway already) and a mod like an intake is a good way to boost the performance and the couple mpg that it'd gain goes a long way in convincing the wife that she should let her husband spend a couple hundred bucks and then tamper with the brand new car. It's also something that I can do without jackstands or an indoor garage to work in. It'd be my First Mod Ever.

I only just broke 1100 on my odometer the other day and I was wondering if I should wait until the engine is more broken in to add a new intake?

 

did u say mazda?!

 

I HAD a Civic, which I loved, but it suffered a wreck. Since Honda doesn't make a Civic hatch for '06 and the Mazda dealerships were more eager to sell me a car for cheep, I bought a Mazda3. It's still Japanese, so it's all good.

 

mazda?? you knew you were in the hcf right?? but i guess you are still reppin japanese cars...uhh...nah, go ahead with the intake..i suggest AEM V2 its a sexy, sexy CAI...enjoy

 

no matter what anyone drives..everyones welcome

personally with such a new car,if that was my car i would wate before i start doing performance bolt ons..but im not saying its going to do anything bad, but its brand new..i would give it a bit

 

No horror stories about sucking up water with the CAI?

 

Be careful with Mazda (or any manufacturer). I like alot of their cars and have been a RX enthusiast for many years. If you have ANY warranty issues, they will use your mods against you. The dont have to prove anything. YOU have to prove that your mod didnt do the damage. They will deny responsibility to the end!

 

I wouldn't worry about that. I think the AEM CAI is the most popular air intake used by members on this forum and if not all, but most of them have great things to say about it. I would go with Mill$ and just wait it out abit before bolting on parts to be safe. I personally really like mazda and my dad owns a Mazda3 and has never had any problems with it. If something does go wrong with your brand new engine (slim chance) and you do have to prove that it is not your simple CAI mod that was the cause of the problem, I dont think that would be too hard.

TiCkEr

 

Mazda 3? Great car--a bud of mine has one and it's a hoot to drive, as is off the lot. A good product and I'm sure you can mod it WAY beyond what it's doing now!

As a couple of people have said, however, I'd wait a bit to do anything to intense...let the engine and you settle in for a few thousand miles...take a long road trip, like to LA or NY....

I don't know if you've read about MINI Coopers (my last two cars before the DX 5mt) but they have a habit of gulping water if you run into anything more than about six inches in a puddle--hydrolocks the enginer and the dealer will just say, "too bad, that'll be $7000." Bizarre for a car made in a country where it rains all the time.

Check out www.mini2.com if you're interested.

I'm not sure what the situation is with Mazda, you should check it out, but I know you can get a valve for a CAI that will help avoid this.

 

From what I can tell just by eyeballing it, the 3 seems to have several inches of ground clearance over the Mini so I don't expect that it'll GULP water.
I'm excited to mod this car since it's already got plentiful pep for a 4cyl. The only problem is that there's not much available for this model yet. There are a few intakes here and there but until the 3Speed comes out, there's not much in the way of exhaust systems or turbo kits. Hell, I can't even find a Chilton for this car!