Not sure if a thread dealing with this exists outside of the 'what if...' categories, but tried searching all over and have not found anything related, so here we go:

Coming back from work today in my new 2012 Mazda3 s 2.5l and came to an intersection that almost always requires a good amount of acceleration (it's actually an on-ramp to a highway and you have to wait in line until a hole opens up and tear away to merge). I waited for the person in front to merge, looked for a hole after her, and after seeing her gun it to get on, prepared to do the same. Was looking for my chance (after noting she had gone) and accelerated hard when looking back front she stopped in the merging lane. I had no choice but to put it to the floor to avoid a collision and got into the passing lane.

Ever since doing this, I've noticed that pushing it over 80 is somewhat of a struggle for the car. I've had it for about a month and a half and I'm fairly certain there's a loss in high-end acceleration/gain.

Another note of mention: the DSC was on and caused the vehicle to react and perform a 'catch', as if it was on an slippery surface, which I know it was supposed to do, but could this have a negative impact as well on the operation of the car?

It's only got 3k on it, and I've been making a constant effort to baby the car, so I'm worried this may have pushed it farther than it should've gone this early.

Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns?