A picture of MazdaSpeed3 SEMA The Mazdaspeed 3 wagon and sedan were dressed and ready for action at SEMA.



This Mazdaspeed 3 wagon and its Mazda 3 sedan sibling looked awfully cool when we saw them at SEMA. The graphics alone were so nicely done that they almost seemed too subtle for the show that was the birthplace of the fluorescent pink windshield wiper and pulsating neon undercarriage lighting.
The pair’s subtle gray graphics paint jobs were perfectly understated, balanced against even more subtle bright black exterior details. The pattern is meant to mimic the much brighter orange and green from the 1991 Le Mans-winning Mazda 787B. How many people made the connection at the show and during our two-day drive in Southern California?
We bet a lot of SEMA attendees did, most AW readers would, and all of the young people from the import scene knew what was going on. It’s cool that Mazda still connects its modern production cars with its greatest racing triumph almost two decades ago.
The base Mazdaspeed 3 that rolls off the showroom floor was just about race-ready before the designers and engineers from Mazda R&D did anything to it. For 2010, the standard Mazdaspeed 3 got a stiffer body, stiffer springs and shocks and a better antiroll-bar mount to keep the 225/40R-18 Dunlop SP Sport 2050 tires on the ground. Our Mazdaspeed 3 SEMA show car got those suspension improvements, too, but rolled on 19 x 8-inch forged aluminum wheels with 225/40 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires from the RX-8 R3.
Under the hood, it would be hard to imagine making the MZR 2.3-liter DISI turbo powerplant any more powerful and still keep it on the motor mounts. It delivers 263 hp at 5,500 rpm and 280 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm stock, second only to the Subaru WRX STI in class. So Mazda R&D added only an AEM intake to the setup, said to be good for another 20 hp.
What is the danger of the resultant 283 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque going through the front wheels? Torque steer! We were distinctly aware of that whenever we floored the throttle and the steering wheel tried to remove both hands not only from their 10 and 2 positions but also from the rest of our body. Yow! This thing, like the stock Mazdaspeed 3 with the same turbo-charged four-cylinder minus that AEM intake, needs either four- or rear-wheel drive to deliver that torque twist to the tires without the resultant directional change, not to mention loss of both arms as it yanks one way or the other, usually to the right.
But we got used to it. And the stiffer setup on which it rode was not at all too stiff, even on a two-hour drive to Palm Springs and two hours back for an intro
by some other car company, the name of which we can’t recall. We can’t recall much of anything else except power, torque, stiffness and the Renown graphics on the 787B that won Le Mans in 1991.
What was the question?
2010 Mazdaspeed 3 SEMA show car
ON SALE:N/A
BASE PRICE: Not divulged
DRIVETRAIN:2.3-LITER, 283-HP, 300 lb-ft turbocharged I4; FWD, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3,005 lb
0-60 mph: 6.1 sec (est)
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA): 22 mpg