Mazdatrix Shifter Review (no pics)
07-06-10, 08:59 PM
#1
Mazdatrix Shifter Review (no pics)
I bought this shifter roughly 4 months ago that was claimed to be a Mazdatrix Short Shifter off of ebay for about $50. I was a bit skeptical because I don't think the owner of this shifter knew that retailed for about $200 or it was a knockoff. I received the unit and it was authentic but lacking the Aluminum Sleeve. I finally called up Mazdatrix and got the Aluminum Sleeve for $22 plus a new gasket $2 and new Nylon Bushing for pivot ~$5. So my total cost came out to about $80. In my case it was a steal. You can obviously buy it new and you will get all these things but my point of this review is that I got lucky and that you should definitely consider this one high on your list of Short Shifters especially considering it is $200, which is ~$80-$100 less than the other comparable short shifters (Mazdaspeed and C's)
Here is a picture of the stock compared to the Mazdatrix (thanks Crispy)
The installation was very easy. I didn't have any instructions so I used the ones at Mazdatrix's site. Honestly I wouldn't have even needed them. Very straightforward. Took me about 20 minutes to install. Would have taken less if I had a 10mm deep well socket.
The shifters performance is awesome. The first thing I noticed is that it got rid of the shifter vibration. It is solid as a rock. In its neutral position it barely moves left or right. When you shift to 1st the movement from neutral to extreme left is very short and the upward movement is short as well. Shifting to 5th is also very cool. With the stock shifter you have to go pretty far right and pretty far upward. My rpm's drop a good amount by the time I shift from 4th to 5th. But with the SS it is noticeably shorter and faster to shift to 5th. I would say it reduced the throw by about 50%. It clicks into place nicely. Very short but not too short and very precise. When I say click, I'm not meaning it makes a clicking noise like I've heard that B&M's do. The feel of the shift is hard to put into words. Basically you are feeling like you are driving a real racecar. I was scared that I wouldn't like a short shifter because I liked how the stock shifter felt. I thought I wouldn't like the notchiness and shortness that I've heard people talk about. Well I'm in love with the feel of it. It's how the 7 should feel.
Also some people who have installed Mazdatrix's shifter and other short shifters said they experienced rattling, I did not. It's solid and makes no noise at all.
The only bad part about the Mazdatrix shifter I found is that it is the same height as stock. I cut down my threads on my stock shifter and it feels like it was a tad shorter than the Mazdatrix Shifter. I'm thinking about cutting some threads off of the Mazdatrix unit to get it a bit shorter.
All in all it's an awesome shifter and glad I went with it.
Here is a picture of the stock compared to the Mazdatrix (thanks Crispy)
The installation was very easy. I didn't have any instructions so I used the ones at Mazdatrix's site. Honestly I wouldn't have even needed them. Very straightforward. Took me about 20 minutes to install. Would have taken less if I had a 10mm deep well socket.
The shifters performance is awesome. The first thing I noticed is that it got rid of the shifter vibration. It is solid as a rock. In its neutral position it barely moves left or right. When you shift to 1st the movement from neutral to extreme left is very short and the upward movement is short as well. Shifting to 5th is also very cool. With the stock shifter you have to go pretty far right and pretty far upward. My rpm's drop a good amount by the time I shift from 4th to 5th. But with the SS it is noticeably shorter and faster to shift to 5th. I would say it reduced the throw by about 50%. It clicks into place nicely. Very short but not too short and very precise. When I say click, I'm not meaning it makes a clicking noise like I've heard that B&M's do. The feel of the shift is hard to put into words. Basically you are feeling like you are driving a real racecar. I was scared that I wouldn't like a short shifter because I liked how the stock shifter felt. I thought I wouldn't like the notchiness and shortness that I've heard people talk about. Well I'm in love with the feel of it. It's how the 7 should feel.
Also some people who have installed Mazdatrix's shifter and other short shifters said they experienced rattling, I did not. It's solid and makes no noise at all.
The only bad part about the Mazdatrix shifter I found is that it is the same height as stock. I cut down my threads on my stock shifter and it feels like it was a tad shorter than the Mazdatrix Shifter. I'm thinking about cutting some threads off of the Mazdatrix unit to get it a bit shorter.
All in all it's an awesome shifter and glad I went with it.
