Stock struts
 

i am planning on buying springs soon but have heard people complain about how fast their stock struts are wearing. have any of you guys had this problem?

I would be more concerned about how the car was going to ride and handle with shorter, stiffer springs on the stock struts. There's a lot of info on this subject, try doing a search to find out more. I haven't heard of anyone actually wearing out their stock struts yet. The cars are still relatively new.

coil overs
 

would coil overs be any better than springs for handling?

Same thing except you have more choices for spring rates and you can equalize the corner weights of the vehicle. You still need stiffer struts to match the stiffer spring rate though. If you lower the car much more than 1.5" you need shortened strut bodies to maintain decent compression travel also.

shortened strut bodies
 

where can i get shortened strut bodies and how much will they cost me?

The only ones I know of right now are the AWR coil-overs available from Mazda Motorsports or Mitch from this Forum. Check out these websites for more info. They are $1414 from Mazda Motorsports, but Mitch has them for 9% off their price.

http://www.awrracing.com/pages/protege.html
http://www.mazdamotorsports.com
http://www.protege5online.com/