3 or 5?
 

is there going to be a 2004 protege5 with more power? or is that going to be the mazda3? and is the engine shared with ford or made in japan? lastly, would you wait for the 3 or buy the PR5 now?
sorry so many questions.

The 3 will have more power it's supposed to come with a 145? hp version of our 2.0 and a 160-170hp version of the 2.3 (which is made by mazda for ford btw). I might be mistaken about hte hp figures but I do know that there will be more power. As for waiting for a 3 vs a P5, kinda up to you depending on what you like looks wise. The P5 is really cheap currently, I've seen it advertised in the papers for 14-15k. You won't get the 3 for that price for a while most likely. However if you really like the looks and can wait a year or so for them to come it might be worth the wait.

They are brand new motors, not any updated versions of the old motors.

I didn't realize the 2.0 was going to be new. I just assumed that they would use the older 2.0. Any specs on the new 2.0?

were the old 2.0 used in P5 built in japan? and the new ones built by ford?

Edit: are the new ones being built by ford is what i meant. i think you understood it anyway tho.

To my memory the 2.0L is going to be a detuned version of the 2.3L (shorter stroke or something). The old 2.0L was built in Japan. I imagine the new one for the 3 will be built there as well but the Focus, Mazda6, and Ranger/B-Series (sort of) already have the same 2.3L (Mazda designed) and I think that one is built in NA.

thanks for that. the reason i asked was cuz not so many people seem to want to buy a mazda6 cuz of its engine. i wasnt sure if it was built by ford or what. and if the 3's engine is going to be built by ford in america, i think i'd stick to the P5.

People don't realize that the duratech in the 6 is just the block. Everything else is mazda (pistons, cams, wp, etc.) The 3.0 duratech has been around for quite a while and really doesn't have many issues. The 2.5 duratech which was designed by porsche btw in the now defunct contour, helped ford get rid of most of the issues.
I'd seen that link already and didn't really see anything about it being a different version of the 2.3. Oh well.
I'm glad to hear that the 2.0 is a new design, it's been long in coming. Because of this I'd be kinda weary of first year 2.0 models, it might be good to wait a year or so to see about any first year issues. The 6 didn't have too many issues but it did have some. First year model runs of any car seem to be more prone to problems. Just fyi.

If anything the new 2.0L will be more reliable than the 2.3L, so you don't have a lot to worry about. And the 2.3L has gotten a good shakedown in the Ranger / B-Series, Focus (only in strict emissions states at the moment), and Mazda6. I would be more nervous about the dinosaur of a 2.0L I own now.

hmm ok so the 2.0 is going to be better than the 2.3...but the 2.0 is a new 2.0 from the currenty one. how would you compare the reliability of the 2 2.0's? :P

i must piss everyone off... o_O;