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Dealership Friends of CorkSport

Back in June Chris wrote a blog post about how we have been actively looking for dealerships who are “Mod Friendly”. We are happy to announce that our list of dealers who carry our products and are more accepting of performance products on your Mazda is growing! We have 6 Mazda dealerships in various parts of the US who have access to all of the CorkSport brand product line. Here they are in no particular order:

Continental Mazda in Anchorage, AK

Continental Mazda
Located in Anchorage, AK

Continental Mazda in Anchorage AK. Continental Mazda is the best source of Mazda parts for the enthusiasts in the Anchorage area. AJ in parts is the go to guy for our CorkSport brand products.

Roger Beasley Mazda in Austin, TX

Roger Beasley Mazda
Located in Austin, TX

Beasley Mazda keeps an active calendar of local events for Mazda enthusiast on their dealer webpage. There are enough things there to keep most people busy all month long. If you need to contact them you can email Danny in parts or stop by their location and talk to Adam at the parts counter.

The Autobarn Mazda of Countryside in Countryside, IL

The Autobarn Mazda of Countryside
Located in Countryside, IL

Autobarn Mazda has been racing and modifying Mazdas for quite some time. The more recent events Autobarn has been involved with are MX-5 Playboy Cup series and the One Lap of America. The One Lap event was done in a Mazdaspeed 5 which was built by Autobarn. Contact either Dan or Julio in the parts department.

Ralph Thayer Mazda of Livonia, MI

Ralph Thayer Mazda
Located in Livonia, MI

Thayer Mazda has been supporting local rally cross events and now has moved up to supporting the Sno-Attack event at the Snodrift rally in Atlanta, MI the weekend of Jan 28-29th (the Sno-Attack event is on the 29th). I will be at the Sno-Attack event so if you are in Atlanta, Michigan stop by the Thayer Mazda tent and say hello! Talk with Kyle in parts for your CorkSport parts needs.

Continental Mazda in Naperville, IL

Continental Mazda
Located in Naperville, IL

Continental Mazda has been offering CorkSport products for the last 9 months. They are active in support of motorsports including spec Miata racing. They approached us about offering our products to their customers. Ed in parts is the best person to contact to get our products there.

Hayes Mazda in Kalamazoo, MI

Hayes Mazda
Located in Kalamazoo, MI

Hayes Mazda is active in the local Mazda scene in Kalamazoo and supports other automotive events. Last year Hayes Mazda supported the Kalamazoo Miata Club 2010 Sports Car Show Extravaganza at the US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI. Shoot Bob an email if you are near Kalamazoo to get our parts.

If you have any dealerships in mind that you think will be good candidates for CorkSport brand parts feel free to email me with the name and I will be in contact with them.

– Derrick

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I Need a New Ride (Part 2)

Back in June I wrote a blog post that expressed my need for a new vehicle. Given that I have had about six months now to ponder various suggestions and my own personal wants in a vehicle, I have come to a conclusion.

A month or so after that blog post I did end up purchasing a vehicle. It was a 2006 Yamaha R6 in perfect condition. I have had several other bikes in the past, but none in as good of shape as this one:

After less than two months of owning my new vehicle (and on my birthday weekend none the less), it was stolen out of my apartment complex (I blame myself for not locking it up better).

I still have my Jeep Grand Cherokee that gets me a whapping 10.2 miles per gallon (I only drive it 5 miles round trip to work and back on 35mph streets). My better half gets a company vehicle and free fuel, so I have no desire to drive my SUV for anything besides work (bad gas mileage and not fun to drive).

After looking into it further, an AWD MS3 is too cost prohibitive for me to take on. I want to stick with a Mazda (not either gen MS3 or Mazda 3). I have had Subaru’s in the past and can’t say anything bad about them (well, maybe that isn’t entirely true), but I would love to add something to our vehicle line-up for product development purposes (i.e. I think I would get fired if I pulled up to work in an STI).

I have decided to wait until Mazda releases the CX-5. If they are able to offer AWD and an option for the 2.3L DISI turbo engine, I will definitely be on board for purchasing one of these fuel efficient cross-over utility vehicles. Until then, I will patiently wait in hopes that I can one day have a Mazda to call my own.

– Jake

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Similar differences

I recently went back to Minnesota for Christmas to visit family and take a little vacation (far from a tropical vacation) from the daily grind here at CorkSport. I flew in to Minneapolis, but needed a rental car for the final leg of the journey. Naturally, I picked the cheapest vehicle they had available (Cobalt or similar is what the description read). I ended up getting a white Toyota Matrix (actual rental shown below).

Being that I work on Mazdas every day, I began to compare everything about this vehicle to its similar, but very different competition, the Mazda 3 hatchback. The following two pictures show that the two share similar side profiles and the same 5-door hatchback design. This is where (in my opinion) the similarities end. The 3’s front flared fenders give it a much more aggressive look and stance than the Matrix. The 3 is also fun to drive and holds to the road well. The Matrix seemed to drift wherever the wind blew and never felt secured to the pavement. I also found that the interior of the 3 is much superior to that of the Matrix. The creature comforts and center console layout in the 3 give a much more luxurious feel than the very, very minimal layout in the Matrix.

After driving about two hours from the airport to my parents’ house and hearing repeated clunking in the rear of the vehicle, I decided to investigate. It turns out that the rear hatch cover does not secure to anything and freely bounces when I hit one of the many potholes on my drive.

In conclusion, my job may in fact bias me towards the 3, but in my opinion, the 3 hatchback is far superior to the Matrix.

Have a new product idea or question? Feel free to Jake

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“Because You Never Know”

Chris Rock said it best “because you never know”. I had one of those moments in the Mazda 2 heading to a MazdasNW monthly meet in November. The weather was less than exciting with it being dark and raining while driving up to Seattle for the meet. Kelly (check out some of her blogs) was riding with me to meet some of our customers.

About an hour into the drive traffic bunched up a little bit but we were still doing the speed limit then I got a surprise. The sport ute in front of me kicked up a truck tire re-tread. My options were pretty limited on what I could do so I just held the wheel straight and took the hit. The re-tread was about 2-3 feet long and it clipped the hood and hit the windshield with the majority of its mass. This caused an instant spidering of the windshield right in front on my view. Kelly mentioned in her surprise a colorful 4 letter word and we kept on driving. There wasn’t much point in trying to stop to look at the damage with all of the traffic.

Back to the “because you never know” quote, as I had one of our Xcorders installed in the Mazda 2 I have the entire video of the tire being kicked up and impacting the 2. The shock sensor in the Xcorder recorded the video in the event save folder automatically.

The tire hit the windshield at a force of over 2gs that the Xcorder registered. I had someone ask me where it happened. I honestly couldn’t remember where. I took a guess and said around Ft Lewis. When I went back and looked later at the video it showed it happened just North of Olympia with the exact location shown on the GPS in the Xcorder which is about 20 miles away from where I thought it occurred.

The good thing is my insurance company did not give me any difficulty in getting a claim going for the repair of the damage. The total damage to the Mazda 2 is over $2000. A good chunk of that cost is to take apart the front end of the car to re-spray/blend the silver paint. I didn’t even have to break out the video to show them what happened. If there had been some questions I would have been able to provide them with enough information to remove doubt as to what had happened all from the inexpensive $200 Xcorder.

– Derrick

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I’m a Mazda Girl

To all the Mazda’s I’ve loved:

It started with a toss-up between an MX-3 and a Millennia. The MX-3 was amazing and built with all the fast and furious stuff a girl could even need. The MX-3 was a beautiful car, and it has the magazine article to prove it. However, I have a lead foot and the driving record to prove it, so I opted for the float-a-cality of the Millenia. Good thing too, not to long after I purchased it my commute got very long and full of traffic hell.

The Millenia began to have issues, so off it went to the shop and I spent the summer in my 1st gen RX7, a super rare convertible no less. I love convertibles! The sun, the wind, it was the best! But like any older car with rotors and a history of drama, I knew it would be a short-lived love affair. Plus, convertibles in the Northwest during the rainy season are zero fun; cold and leaky.

Next up was a MX-5 Miata ‘M’ edition. I loved the car. It was fun to drive, took corners like a dream and was super sporty, really the perfect fit for me. But like all good things, it too came to an end.

Then came the CX7, wow, I could haul my skis up a mountain AND it had a turbocharger! What more could I want? Better long-term leasing options, could have solved that problem. Good by CX7 I’ll miss you…

Next up was the Tribute – purely functional, good for camping and that’s about it. No love lost when this one went to a new owner. It drove like an old, slow, tired, beast, but it got me to my next Mazda.

Wee, this is a great car, sporty, fun and I can get my kayak partially in the wagon (though with most of its 13ft hang out the back-end). I refuse to put a rack on the roof, in my opinion it would wreck the look of the car. It has been the only car that I have actually installed parts on. Even without a turbocharger it has proven to be a fun car to drive with great handling and plenty of gitty-up on the freeway.

I have two other affairs, a second gen RX-7 convertible and an RX-8. Both out of this world and not even remotely daily drivers. Their beauty and engine tenacity make my day when I have the opportunity to drive or ride in either. My grumpier half won’t give up the keys to the RX-7 since it’s big engine swap. Apparently it has so much power that my husband fears I will either kill myself while I whip the crap out of some poor Honda dork or there will be a high-speed police chase. My vote it would be some combination of the above, while on the way to Mexico.

I’m a Mazda girl now.

– Kelly