Power and More Power: Mazda Turbocharges Two 3 Sedans for SEMA

Since its introduction, the Mazdaspeed 3 has only been available as a five-door hatch and it remains the only way to get turbocharged fun from a Mazda 3. We’re not complaining, since it’s the more practical and—to most—better looking of the 3’s body styles. But we’re fans of sticking turbocharged engines where the factory doesn’t think they belong—Mazdaspeed 5, anyone?—so it’s cool to see Mazda getting in on the fun and dropping turbo fours into a pair of 3 sedans.

Mazda 3 Redline Time Attack

Looks aside, this is the kind of tuning we can get behind. The car may not exactly be pretty, but the Redline Time Attack Mazda 3’s 2.5-liter turbocharged MZR is putting out over 500 hp. To the wheels. That explains and makes up for the bone-through-the-nose front wing and shelf-type rear diffuser. It’s designed to run in the Redline Time Attack series’s Super Modified class wherein anything goes—in addition to the engine work-over, the car has been gutted, caged, and aerodynamicized. You can bet that all those tacked-on parts are functional, too, and necessary.

Mazda 3 Turbo Sedan

If ever there was a good looking Mazda 3 sedan, this is it. Subtle gray graphics over the white paint are supposed to mimic the Redline car’s paint scheme, which is itself an homage to the Le Mans–winning 1991 787B. The roof, mirror housings, grille, and fog-lamp surrounds are all gloss black. The taillights have been given an all-red treatment, which does a lot to clean up the sedan’s normally busy rear end.

And then there’s the engine: another 2.5-liter, this one breathed on by Tri-Point Engineering. A turbo kit supplies 10 psi of boost, bringing output to over 250 hp at the wheels—compare that to a crank-horsepower rating of 167 for the stock 2.5-liter and 263 for the Mazdaspeed 3’s turbo 2.3-liter. Front brakes and calipers come from a Speed 3, and the rears are off of a Mazda 5. The car also gets adjustable coil-overs and handsome 8- by 19-inch wheels.