2007 VW GTI vs 2007 Mazda Speed3

I'm just comparing these cars

2007 VW GTI

• Stage 1
• DSG
• K&N CAI
• Forge DV spacer

2007 Mazda Speed3

• Aftermarket BOV
• Custom exhaust (fart can)

My brother has a Speed3 same year as my GTI. After riding in his car I have noticed a huge quality difference. The Speed3 is just gross inside. GTI is beautiful and neat and completely and the cloth seats, I love them.The speed 3 has leather and mesh bucket seats. They are really firm and not comfy for a long drive. The GTI has cloth plaid seats that are bucket they are soft and firm in all right places. They would be comfy for long trips. the speed has leather and cloth it does not make sense to me at all. Also the speed3 is plasticy on the inside, and when you go over a bump it sounds like it is falling apart however it isn't. My GTI is solid. I don't hear much rattle around except for the stuff in the back.

The Interior goes to the GTI handes down.

The speed3's radio is junk (it may just be his), he has a sub and amp hooked up to it and the speakers are all stock and you can't hear it all all but the bass and that stupid exhaust. For my GTI i also have a sub and amp hooked up to my stock head unit, with stock speakers. It is super easy to adjust the bass mid and treble cause they are knobes. The Speed3 you have to go through the settings to change it. So if you listen to more than one type of music is is a pain to change the bass, mid, and treble in speed3

Radio goes to the GTI

The 2007 GTI's stock HP is 200 and torque is 207 lbs. With APR stage one it is 252 hp and 303 lbs of torque.
The speed3 stock is 263 hp and torque is 280.
Stock the Speed3 is faster
APR vs stock speed is not determined.
Boost: The Speed3 is very easy to change the boost when you have the right mods. As far as the GTI goes... you pretty much have to just get your ECU stage 1,2,2+,3,K03 with other mods kinda sucks but hey... you know you're safe. unless you go into revo

This one goes to the Speed depending on what you have done to your GTI/GLI if your more than 1+ you should be able to be faster than the speed3 depending on what they have under the hood.

As far as the exterior goes. GTI wins. Im not going to to much into this cause it depends on what you think looks good.

Your call on what looks the best.


This is all I have to compare for these two cars I will add more when i think of what else to write.

This is supposed to be a vs section as in actually racing other cars, but as far as leather+cloth goes, I dunno how ms3's seats look but to me there's nothing wrong with that combo, mine came like this and I love em. Other than that, I agree gti interior is pretty classy especially for its price, there's no rattling whatsoever and I don't hear a single sound when I go over bumps. The only sound I used to hear was with the stock suspension, when cold outside and few minutes of driving after a cold start, there was a mild creaking sound when I went over speed bumps, that went away after a few minutes. With the KW coilover there's no creaking at all, cold or not.

Stock ms3 isn't fast, maybe quick, just like the gti when tuned. As for tuning, it's super easy to change the boost in the gti too (and timing advance and fueling for that matter), but that depends on the tune. Yes K03 is safe.. K04 is safe too, at least up to 350-360 hp you should be a-ok. If you want 400 hp you should consider upgrading internals, but 350 is still a very decent amount of power and you're safe.

DarkX how do you change the boost on a gti "easily"? I've been looking around and i have no idea how too lol and I know most people think the mkv vs. is race but why not change it up and just compare other cars? Its kinda interesting I think.

For example Revo settings can be changed via OBD2 either directly off Revo software or with the use of their SPS controller. Any Revo dealer can change your boost/timing/fueling settings in like 5 seconds, otherwise you need their controller to do it yourself. The controller stores stock mode and 3 different performance settings, all you need to do is plug it in and load the setting you want. Usually preferred in big turbo applications, a manual boost controller can also be used to control the boost passing through the wastegate, which is what n75 valve does controlled by the ecu.

Easy boost increase: two turns on the wastegate nut.

You can make a car faster but you can't make it more refined or give it a sense of quality. A friend of mine bought a Gen2 Speed3 a while ago, I'd never want one over a GTI.

About the stereo, I can't stand it when people think nothing but bass is indicative of a good system.

But solid write up of 7 year old cars

The speed 3 was the only other car I was considering when I bought the GTI. EVOs were too tough to come across in good shape and WRXs too pricey to insure. DSG was the ultimate deciding factor, but there's no doubt that European cars are a better place to spend 1-2hrs a day. It's decidedly Teutonic but far from spartan. Japanese cars have always felt tinny to me.


Sent from my iPhone

kal-el said:

About the stereo, I can't stand it when people think nothing but bass is indicative of a good system.

But solid write up of 7 year old cars

Click to expand...

I only needed to add a sub so i wouldn't blow the stock speakers. Plus the mids and highs already sound amazing in my GTI. I wasn't going for the biggest bass. My brother did in his car and it is just annoying. His speed has the Bose system and it sounds terrible to be honest even before the subwoofer. I don't know why it is so bad in his. I'm thinking that the LOC for his car is messed up or something. I just wanted to get a more filling sound from my sound system and it works very well. I totally agree with you though that it is just stupid to focus on bass in a system.