disapointment
 

ok now i have to admit i love my protege, but after not driving it for a while ive decided on its major flaws:

-Poor driving position seat wise, too high and suv like
-aweful feeling long shifter (i iknow this can be fixed)
-poor poor support in the seats, flat with very little support (hold the steering wheel for dear life :eek: ) ... needs racing seats or something!
-and of course the shortage of power


now i know this can be fixed, but really these are things that have been pushing me lately to consider selling it! ack, i love the car, the community, and how it handles so much, but damn.... after a year and a half of ownership, i feel it was a poor investment now. and i never felt that way before

Then sell it.

Well, the Pro wasn't ever meant to be a true sports car, just a fun to drive sport sedan to fit most people's needs. Perhaps you should get a Miata, S2000, etc etc???

maybe i should just do what everyone keeps telling me to do, get a mazdaspeed, and put in some decent seats, tehn id be happy

or maybe i shouda kept the mp3... it was almost perfect as far as i was concerned......


oh well

That's odd. the driving position in Proteges is praised in almost every magazine and website that reviews it. So has the seats themselves being grippy.

A pair of Sparco Milanos would fix that :D .

LOL!!

I was at the VW dealership last night drooling over the GLI, 200HP and a six-speed for about the same price as the Mazdaspeed. I've been tempted lately too because this thing feels so damn anemic sometimes and I really don't want to spend the money on a turbo. But I'll probably keep it until 2004 and buy a new one then. I've had so many annoying problems with the damn thing I'm kind of getting sick of it.

Um, have you actually driven one of those new GLIs? Sure they have a lot more power, but they handle like boats, even equipped w/ the factory "Sport" suspension. The gearboxs in VWs aren't known for their nice shift quality either.

Fix the suspension (rear beam axles don't cut it for a 25K Euro sedan), fix the annoying problems these cars have, let Honda teach you how to make a gearbox, and shave about 2-300 pounds off the nose of the car because of the heavy VR6 engine...then you'll have a winner!

I thought the Jetta GLI was priced way beyond the MSP. Can't get it for under $20K, thats for sure.

i think the winner is tied between the new SRT-4 neon, and the MSP.... it just depends what you want. id go mazda, but the neon sure is tasty. Sport Compact did a nice article among high performance sport compacts, and those two were tied (but MSP got 2nd place). The Spec V is really an eye catcher to me also. but hey my p5 isnt so bad, hell i cannnn still squak the tires good when i shift to second fast. but im disapointed a fucking oldsmobile out accelerated me with 5 people in the car today (the asshole cut me off, the proceded to let me try to pass him then cut me off again.... if i woulda been in my se-r that ass woulda seen tails. we'll see, if mazda puts something nice out next year that i can get then we'll probably get it. cause no matter what i am actually selling the p5 in june or august.

It's about a grand higher than MSRP on the MSP. But are you actually going to find an MSP for MSRP? I doubt it. Plus I kind of want a car whose clutch doesn't slip and the engine doesn't make a loud racket whenever its cold. I know, silly me expecting a car to not have to go in and have the entire flywheel clutch assembly replaced.

Plus I want my next vehicle to be one that actually has some luxury to it. The one I was looking at, and probably would buy, had heated leather seats, a monsoon sound system, ESP (like DSC), and sunroof all for around 24k on the sticker. The only thing that would make that sweeter is if they added the automatic climate system and the rain sensing windshield wipers. And the only vehicle Mazda makes that has any of these things is the 6, which I looked at on Friday, with its cheap looking interior (mainly the stupid dashboard).

Edit - GTI, the one based on the Golf

Yes, I drove this and the 6 this weekend. Needless to say one of them was more impressive than the other.

i think i know my winner here, its either a Spec V if i cant afford what i want. But if i have the money.... illl be another convert: 2003 WRX (the new body style does it for me!)..... that car is nearly perfect for me! or even better the STi version.

Oh, GTi but then those won't retail at MSRP also.

Just add a BEGI turbo to the P5 simple as that. With it you can hang or evn outgun a SE-R Spec V.

And don't expect the new SE-R to be like your old one. It is more shall we say, "Americanized".