All Cars Considered.....
 

About a year and a half a go I had a wreck in which someone rear-ended my 99' Ford Contour Sport (LOL yes I use to drive this car and no it was not a SVT) well needless to say it was totalled out (about $6800.00 worth). So my after going through hell with the insurance co. (4 cars involved total). I finally get a check for $5000.00 (had a little under a year left on payments God that sux lol) I begin my search for a new car. I take all these cars into consideration including GT Celica, SVT Focus, Tiburon GT, and even a loaded Civic coupe. See I made a pact to never buy another car I hated (what is the point in making payments on something you hate). So the research and test drives started. First off the Celica GT: did not even test drive it the thing is outrageous in price (the one I wanted was $25,000 just a little more than I wanted to spend). Next SVT Focus: did not test drive it either nobody at 2 dealerships would even help me (screw 'em). Next Tiburon and not going to lie I loved this car from the start. I did test drive this one and well first thing I noticed (now this is the top of the line one)the cheap ass interior even the leather looked and felt like pleather and no flash or flair. I started driving and besides not being able to see out of it the car just really did not give me that great feeling you get when you could be owning this car. So I thought I would shop around some more. Last on my list was was the Civic and not that ugly SI eggmobile well I requested a quote from a dealer online well guess what never rec'd anything. Well quite pissed and frusterated at all of these problem I happen to drop by the Mazda dealership just to see what they had and low and behold there stood this bright yellow (Which the color is God awful in my opinion) 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege. I was confused I had never seen one before nor heard of the MSP. So I start looking at it noticed how f**king slick this car was form the wheels to the bodykit to the bad ass interior not to mention a Kenwood flip plate CD player w/ remote ( I know all eye candy but hell I loved it). A not so friendly sales person comes up and I tell off the bat I want to test drive it and goes and gets the keys. So I am on the road and ask if I can get on it he said sure. Of course I floor it as the steering wheel is almost yanked out of my hands the sales person tells me of the turbo that is installed and I knew that car had to be mine....I did not buy it at that dealership because the color so I went another and saw that bad ass Titanium Grey color on the showroom floor. Just let me tell you the people at Med Center Mazda I want to give props to they were the best ppl I have ever had to deal with and plus I got a $21,000 for under $300 a month ($293 to be exact) Thats is how I found my Mazda and have loved it ever since

please tell me you didn't pay $21000 for a MSP?? Dealers (med center included) were selling these for $16.5 +ttl right when the 3 was getting ready to come out. I bought my MSP from MedCenter the week they came out (first one in alabama) and I paid $800 under sticker which was VERY close to invoice.

they are great cars and despite a few flaws I'd say they'd be worth everybit of about 18-20K. You get that ECU tuning fixed, a nice BEGi fmic with hardpipes and a full exhaust and you'll FLYING.

I knw you're going to love it. I enjoyed mine when it wasn't broken down. I traded it for my P5 and now I'm getting the MSP suspension on my P5 and with my supercharger I'll have the best of both worlds, handling AND power!!

yeah that $21,000.00 was the sticker on the bad boy and it had a $1500.00 rebate on it so I guess all in all the sticker was $19,500.00 and after the $5000.00 down it was like $14,500. Then factor in all the blah blah taxes and it was roughly $16,000.00 so you were right.......