2003.5 MazdaSpeed Protege to Hit Dealerships in April

[isildur]

Originally posted by: imprezawrxwagon
mediocre quality mediocre sedan, that is over priced

<shrug>

funny b/c that's how I felt about the wrx I drove...

 

[isildur]

Originally posted by: toant103

Originally posted by: NFS4
http://www.motortrend.com/features/news/112_news030307_maz/

need more HP.

Yeah, I read that - but if you didn't notice, you don't exactly have to look hard to find enthusiasts who really like this car & the "completeness" of the package it brings to the table. The ONLY reaccuring criticism is that it could do w/ a little more power.

I wouldn't mind another 20 or 30 horse, but since I'm not a "mod'er" or street racer or anything- I'm hardly crying myself to sleep at night b/c my new car is just SO underpowered. At a mere 1237#, that 170/160 goes a long ways.

<shrug>

Shucks, to each his own - I tested a lot of cars and found likes/dislikes with them all. I bought this car b/c it appealed to me on more fronts than the others and had less negatives to my personal tastes/needs.

 

[NFS4]

Bleh, give me a Mini Cooper S, or an SVT Focus or a Jetta 1.8T Sport among other things.

The new front airdamn on the MS Protege looks like a$$ and that stupid a$$ wing has GOT to go. Save the (r)icing for the kiddies. Looks to me like they are trying to hard to make it look like the last gen Mitsu EVO (the one that was based on our old Mirage).

 

[HannibalX]

Doesn't the SVT Focus have 175 hp stock and thats an n/a (non turbo) car... think about that car with a turbo.

 

[KokomoGST]

Hey! resurrected thread!

Well, the SVT Focus is poopoo compared to the Focus Cosworth (AWD + Cosworth-tuned turbo engine) but that's besides the point.

If you just slap a turbo on a high compression engine like the SVT's... that's generally a recipe for holed piston. You'd have to drop the compression to make it more friendly to regular 93-94 or if you wanna run it in CA, pisspoor 91-92.

I hope to see some Mazdaspeeds in the SCCA DStock class running... factory front LSDs are great. It is the strangest feeling to have a WWD car actually pull itself into the turn! Makes me want one... anyone wanna contribute to the "get me a Quaife front LSD" fund?

 

[Storm]

Now with regards to the Ford Focus SVT, Dodge Neon SRT, and the MazdaSpeed Protege would they all suffer from the reliability problems associated with the manufacturers? Like someone stated problems with Ford, Dodge, Mazda, uh Subaru. I would think they would have tried to improve reliability or any type of re-occurring problems....

Has anyone test driven a Dodge SRT? I've heard the front two seats are small, only thin people would feel comfortable in them?

isildur, why did you pay msrp on the car? I'm sure you could have bargained for a couple grand lower....

 

[isildur]

Originally posted by: Storm
Now with regards to the Ford Focus SVT, Dodge Neon SRT, and the MazdaSpeed Protege would they all suffer from the reliability problems associated with the manufacturers? Like someone stated problems with Ford, Dodge, Mazda, uh Subaru. I would think they would have tried to improve reliability or any type of re-occurring problems....

Has anyone test driven a Dodge SRT? I've heard the front two seats are small, only thin people would feel comfortable in them?

isildur, why did you pay msrp on the car? I'm sure you could have bargained for a couple grand lower....

I wish - I've only heard of a couple people getting these for less than MSRP. I went straight to a good friend of the family who works at the dealer and he appologized for not being able to get me a deal on the car, but they had no leverage to work with the price - some dealers are selling these ABOVE b/c of the limited numbers.
No way that was gonna happen.

NFS - well, the Mini is out of my price range, I THINK the focus looks like @ss & the Jetta handles like a BOAT compared to the speed. I don't mind the wing, but I am thinking that I'll swap it out with the rounder 2003.5 wing when they make it available. I don't see how anyone who likes the WRX could possibly complain about the front lip on the MPS, since they look so damn similar - I'm lukewarm on that angle but taken as a whole, I liked this car WAY better than anything else I could afford so it was a no brainer. Sure, if I had $35k to blow I might have waited for an Evo, STI or maybe even an RX8 or G35 coupe (is that enough for one?), but that just wasn't in the cards there folks.

<shrug> Let me know next time your in Columbus & I'll take you for spin to see if I can't "convert" ya.

 

[iamwiz82]

Has anyone test driven a Dodge SRT? I've heard the front two seats are small, only thin people would feel comfortable in them?

The seats are basically viper seats with a redone anchoring system. Personally, i'd sell them on ebay for a hefty sum and get some seats out of a junker neon.