Mazda3Club.com : The Original Mazda3 Forum - Test drove Mazdaspeed Protege! Review inside.

How did I get this fantastic opportunity: see this thread: http://www.mazdamp3.com/vbb225/showt...threadid=10589

Here is what I thought:
First off, a little background. Currently I’m driving a 93 Asuna Sunfire, 5-speed, Lotus handling package. Its got 130,000 kms, and has all the rattles and problems you’d expect from a 10 year old car built by Isuzu. Still runs strong though, but it needs a rest (I commute 100 kms/day).
So about 2 months ago I began to get really serious about my search for a new car. Need a useable back seat, 4 doors, a larger trunk, and better reliability than what I have now. My choices were narrowed down to a Mazdaspeed Protégé, a Spec V Sentra, and the WRX. I have never driven an MP3, so consider me a “clean slate” reviewer.
Anyway, you can see why I jumped at the chance to see Dpmmsp’s MSP, one of 2 in Ontario (see the thread entitled “Anyone in T.O. want to see my MSP??”). When I showed up at the meeting place, there was the car. At the time, it was cloudy, but the paint colour still looked 10x better in person than anything in the pictures I’ve seen. Later in the visit, after a test drive, the sun came out, and WOW! The metallic flakes in the paint are amazing. This is the best orange colour I’ve ever seen on any car, even custom jobs. When the sun is on the paint, the flakes turn a wonderful shade of goldish-yellow, and really sparkle. Fantastic colour. Anyone who has reservations about getting the MSP just because of the orange colour, fear not – you won’t be disappointed. Dpmmsp was nice enough to wash the car for us the previous night, too.

Exterior:The orange colour really attracts attention from all age groups. At one point, an elderly couple driving by in a Grand Marquis stopped to stare. There were lots of curious onlookers as we crawled over in the parking lot too. One guy noticed the car from from his house across the street, and came over to get a closer look at the car (turns out he has a MP3 himself!) He was impressed with the better packaging job of the trunk electronic support package for the stereo in the MSP compared to his MP3. Much more useable trunk room apparently (his car came from the factory with the bazooka tube-type sub). Overall, the whole car was tasteful, yet aggressive. I’ve seen pics of the 2003.5 titanium MSP, and I much prefer this cars styling. Just aggressive enough. The satin finish emblems were a nice touch, better than chrome for sure.
Compared to the Sentra and the WRX, the styling of this car wins hands down, but that’s subjective and I won’t go into that.

Interior: The interior was top notch. Compared to the WRX and Spec V, this car doesn’t look like it was taken from a lower-level trim and bits and pieces were added to make it sport. The interior was more than a fancy steering wheel and brake pedals. The attention to detail made it feel very special inside. Orange stitching on the seats was very nice, and something that doesn’t show up well in pictures. The shift knob sits lower than in a standard Protégé or even MP3, but still falls easily into hand. Shifter feel is much better than a Spec, and a bit better than a WRX. Gauges are much more ‘mature’ than a Spec V. I really like the silver accents in the interior, something that some magazine critics have said was overdone, but I disagree. Arkitek and I thought the side bolstering of the seats could be slightly stiffened up, but it’s a minor quibble. The seats themselves were very comfortable and did hold you well in quick turns (well, not the back seat, but how often will you be back there anyway?) Back seat room was very good for a car of that size, even with a tall driver at the helm and me behind him (I’m 6 ft) I had adequate knee room.

Stereo: One word: Unbelievable. Awesome lows, crisp highs, just fantastic. The customization you can do with the EQ settings, cutoffs, etc. is mind boggling. I can understand some of the flack the car has taken in the press about the stereo controls being difficult to use while moving, as the buttons are small, but the volume is easy to hit without looking down. And if you use the stereo remote, it would be even easier to use I imagine (that’s what I do with my car stereo with tiny buttons). The best sounding car stereo I’ve ever heard, and it hasn’t even been ‘tuned’ fully to suit the music we were listening to. The Sentra stereo is a close 2nd, and the WRX stereo is a very distant 3rd.

Under the hood: The turbo and intercooler installations are very nicely done. This doesn’t look like a hack job, this was a well thought out package. I thought it would be really tight in there, but it wasn’t bad. For the tuners who read this forum, it shouldn’t be too frustrating working in that engine bay.

The test drive: After crawling around the car for 30 minutes, Dpmmsp asked if I wanted to go for a drive. “That’d be great” I said, and walked around to the passenger side. “No, I meant, do YOU want to take it for a drive” he said, and handed me the keys. Thus began my 25 minute giddy smile.
Now, I’ve driven tons of cars. I used to work for Canadian Tire, and part of my job was picking up/dropping off customers in their car, and diagnosing driving problems. Let me say nothing comes close to this car. Driving dynamics are superb. There is very little to tell you the front tires are doing the pulling, which is a feat in itself. Clutch feel is very good, shift feel is close to the Miata (the best shifter I’ve ever rowed), with a little less of a mechanical feel than the Miata. I can’t imagine anyone but the most ham-fisted drivers ever missing a shift. The steering feel was just right, very direct, just the right amount of boost. It made my car feel very sloppy off center and overboosted, and most people who have driven my car comment on how direct my steering feels. The MPS feels like you have a tie rod in each hand.
Not being my car, I didn’t go over 4 or 5/10’s (at most), but during those turns, my car would have been at 9/10’s. The car BEGGED for more over a bit of twisty road we tried out. And this was on taller 16” winter tires! I can’t imagine the handling with the stock 17’s and some warm pavement! Although there was next to no body roll (even later on when the 3 of us were in the car) the ride remained very comfortable and composed over bumps, especially in mid-turn that would have had my car’s rear end doing the jitterbug. That was the most impressive thing for me: excellent ride quality (much less punishing than WRX/Spec V) but still can corner like no-one’s business. Something both I and my non-car enthusiast girlfriend can both enjoy!
I also tried to keep revs below 4000 RPM since the car is still in the brake-in period, which was difficult to say the least. At 3500 RPM, the turbo is starting to really come on boil, and the revs build quickly after that. Below 3000 RPM, it feels like the standard Protégé 2.0, no slouch in itself. Low end torque and driveability was awesome, lugging the car in traffic at 1200 rpm was no problem at all. Not as response as the Spec V down low, but better than the WRX, which feels very heavy until the turbo spools up.
All too soon my test drive was over, as we thought it would be a decent idea to return to the parking lot to see if anyone else had shown up, and sure enough, arkitek was there. He also had many favourable things to say about the drive, but I think we disagreed in steering feel (see his comments in the thread I mentioned above).

The test drive, part 2: Dpmmsp asked us if we’d like to have a drive with him at the wheel, since he would wring it out a bit more (after all, it was his car). I thought the car was impressive before, but the curves it was handling at the speeds we had it at was amazing. And it still didn’t even squeal a tire or protest in any way. I’d love to have this car out on a track. With 3 of us on board, acceleration was still impressive, all the more so since we weren’t taking it to redline. While we drove along, some guy in a modified Civic tried to goad us into a race. I imagine that would happen a lot if I bought this car. Since I wasn’t driving, I could see all the heads that we were turning, especially with the sun out and the paint gleaming.

Summary: This car is worth every penny. Is Mazda making any money on these? Its got to be one of the performance bargains of all time. To turn a regular Protégé into an MSP, the cost would be astronomical. I am really trying to figure out a way to work one of these into my budget, since I want to get one before they are snapped up. I suppose if I miss the boat, I can get the 2003.5, but I just don’t like the looks as much.
Without a doubt, it is worth the extra couple grand over the Spec V, even if it’s not as fast in a straight line. Its more refined, better thought out, and arguably prettier. Is the WRX worth the extra $8000 Canadian over the MSP? Hard to say. The WRX is fearsome when driving hard, but sluggish when off the boil. Sometimes you can really feel its weight (3100 lbs). And it doesn’t have much in the ways of options for $34995 (you have to shell out to get 17” rims and tires, for example). The 4WD is great for our climate, and if you are a big rally fan like me, you can slip behind the wheel and pretend you are Solberg. They are both fantastic bits of machinery, but if you are on a budget (like I am) than its really hard to justify the extra money.