Test drove Mazda speed

[JEDI-SI]

Took a drive in the new mazda speed...i must say i was not impressed..nice torqe pull. not much faster than our EP'S....sweet

[BlairSpeed]

do you mean the new Mazda 6? doesnt it have like 170 or 175 hp? I would never buy a Mazda, unless they came out with the Rx-7 again. :D

[ssvr6]

The Mazdaspeed Protege is what he's talking about. 170 turbo charged hp.


Steve

[autojive]

Originally posted by BlairSpeed
I would never buy a Mazda, unless they came out with the Rx-7 again. :D

How about a soon to come rotary powered RX-8 (http://www2.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/rx8/index.jsp)? They've apparently re-engineered the Wankel Rotary to output almost as much HP as the old turboed ones.

[X 2KS2K]

Originally posted by BlairSpeed
do you mean the new Mazda 6? doesnt it have like 170 or 175 hp? I would never buy a Mazda, unless they came out with the Rx-7 again. :D

I dunno, the new Mazda 6 is pretty cool if your looking for a sports sedan. It's got 220 hp and I bet it handles like a dream. It's usually cheap and easy to bump up the hp on turbo-charged cars as well... to a point.

[i-WERKS]

Originally posted by JEDI-SI
Took a drive in the new mazda speed...i must say i was not impressed..nice torqe pull. not much faster than our EP'S....sweet

How did it handle? Does it have a nice interior? I thought the HP numbers were higher than that. 170hp sounds a bit low for turbocharged.

[Gibhunter]

Mazdaspeed Protege has a low boost turbocharged protege MP3 engine with stock internals. Because Mazda was cheap and used stock internals, they couldn't give it that much boost hence it only makes 30HP more than a stock Protege MP3 did. Since it's a fairly light car it does the 1/4 in mid to low 15s at 93-95mph. In other words, a good competition to the Spec-V.

[Pinoy84]

Your guys have a very bias opinion I think due to the fact that all of you guys have new Si's. The mazda speed protege is the one of the best handling fwd production car. It handles like a dream with a great suspension, lsd, sitcky tires and turbo torque (150 lbs) which all equates to a very well rounded car. Also the mp3's rareness is even more prevalent than even the new Si's which is saying much. To me its a great car in every aspects except for the engine. But if you think of it, if you build the engine with stronger internals it just makes the car even that much better. If you had the money. If I had driven the mp3 I am pretty sure I would be impressed.

[Pinoy84]

one more thing, check this out, http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/articleDisplay.asp?articleID=220

Although not choosen due votes was able to hang with the big boys in a lot of the tests even surpasing others cars costing 2 to 3 times more. Any tests were engine power didn't make a difference it performed very well.

[gpt]

Pinoy .... if Yugo made a great handling car would you buy it?

I wouldn't, I prefer Hondas F1 heritage, and the aftermarket, and engineering etc. I buy what I know I can trust.

*edit* my opinion so lets not start a flame war here *edit*

[SiR Medic]

The trouble with Mazda is that they are not in the same league as Honda and Toyota as far as reliability.

My 2nd generation RX-7 was a blast to drive, but the engine seized at about 140.000kms (85,000 miles). When I took it to the dealer he told me "Yeah, that's about how long they last."

Getting it fixed would have cost more than what I paid for the car, so I had to sell the car for parts.

My sister and law had TERRIBLE problems with her MX-6. Lots of electrical and mechanical problems. Also the dealer service was terrible.

To this day I will never own a Mazda product, especially now that they share so much of Ford's corporate parts bin.

[yomamaInMySi]

Originally posted by Pinoy84
Your guys have a very bias opinion I think due to the fact that all of you guys have new Si's. The mazda speed protege is the one of the best handling fwd production car. It handles like a dream with a great suspension, lsd, sitcky tires and turbo torque (150 lbs) which all equates to a very well rounded car. Also the mp3's rareness is even more prevalent than even the new Si's which is saying much. To me its a great car in every aspects except for the engine. But if you think of it, if you build the engine with stronger internals it just makes the car even that much better. If you had the money. If I had driven the mp3 I am pretty sure I would be impressed.

Tell me what car wouldn't handle great after the company turns it over to some company (in this case Mazda speed) to feed it with aftermarket suspension. Hence tokico is not stock, or racing beat exhaust, or larger sway bars, or strut bars from some after market company.

[ballsdeep]

Originally posted by Pinoy84
Your guys have a very bias opinion I think due to the fact that all of you guys have new Si's. The mazda speed protege is the one of the best handling fwd production car. It handles like a dream with a great suspension, lsd, sitcky tires and turbo torque (150 lbs) which all equates to a very well rounded car. Also the mp3's rareness is even more prevalent than even the new Si's which is saying much. To me its a great car in every aspects except for the engine. But if you think of it, if you build the engine with stronger internals it just makes the car even that much better. If you had the money. If I had driven the mp3 I am pretty sure I would be impressed.

So you consider 5,000 cars all orange, all with 17 inch racing hart rims, all with the same exhaust, ect. to be rare. And everybody and there brother is driving the regular mp3 where I live especially the wagon. I'm not impressed with a turbo car that can only put out 170 HP. For the money I would buy a 1.8T or a VR6.

[Tragedy]

I think the Mazdaspeed Protege ("Familia T" in Japan) is an awesome car. The suspension is top notch and the torque is great. With about 1000 dollars in performance mods (with the right connections), you can get up to 200-210HP. Definately worth the price. It's one of the best performing compacts out there.

[gpt]

Some people buy a car because of what it does, others buy a car because of it's potential.

I am having a great time learning what works and what doesn't with my car, but in the end it will be uniquely designed the way I want it.
The Mazda is probably faster out the box, but there is so much less that can be done to personlise the car. It already has a Turbo, lsd etc. Guess there's no option to go NA on that car!

[JEDI-SI]

it was a nice car but ...yes, are cars do have more potential../

[golferjn]

the mazdaspeed protege is nice. pre-packaged ready to go. the mazda6 is nice too