Faults:

Left hand side CV joint collapsed at 132000Kms, Wear and tear.

General Comments:

This car is truly a pocket rocket, even for its size and weight. I had made some slight adjustments to the engine, cold air box, widened throttle body, rev limiter removed and Dy no tuned. Dy no tuning is probably the best thing you could do to a car to up its performance, without spending too much money.

Probably the only problem I have with the Lantis' performance is the lag in take off, to which only a slightly heavier foot upon launching can prevent.

I also had the pleasure of purchasing the car with the full factory Mazda-speed body-kit, which included the ever so sexy Cos-worth-Style rear wing. I moved to Australia in March 2004,to which I had to sell the Lantis, which I regret immensely. But all is not lost as I sold it to my Brother-In-Law, so I can still get to drive it when I go home.

At the moment I am currently looking for a Lantis in Australia, they only call them Astina here, to me that just ain't the same. But finding a 2.0 litre V6, manual is the hard part, very rare.

Faults:

Water pump was replaced after 1 week.

Rear left brake caliper was replaced after 2 weeks.

These problems were fixed at no cost to me.

General Comments:

Great car to drive with added control due to the up-graded sports suspension.

However side-skirts and a boot spoiler would finish off the aero-dynamics of the car nicely.

Also a little flat in the lower revs, but picks up nicely after the fuel injection kicks in at 4000 revs.

Faults:

One front CV joints have been replaced.

The clutch has worn to the point were it slips badly when attempting to engage it above 4000 RPM.

General Comments:

This model was only available new in Japan, however many of Type R's have found their way to New Zealand as used imports.

As the top-of-the-line model, the car came with a lot of extras (climate air conditioning, fog lamps, spoiler, sports suspension).

The engine produces about 125 Kw with reasonably flat power and torque curves, which makes the car surprisingly quick. With careful control of the accelerator pedal, the engine can be made to produce some very nice sounds.

The car has sporty handling with suspension tower braces front and rear. It is possible to throw the car into corners with minimal body roll and under steer at speed.

Despite the sporty nature of the car, when driven quietly good fuel economy can be achieved. There is not a lot to fault the car and it is always a pleasure to drive after driving other cars.