well right now i own a couple probe GT's, and i was searching for mazdaspeed stuff on ebay to make them cool , and i stumbled accross a couple auctions for MSP's, now i always liked the protege, but i never really thought i could afford one, but when i saw 2003's going for 10-15K dollars, it kind of sparked my interest , so now i'm looking into possibly selling all the cars i have right now, and picking up a MSP (probably more toward the 10K price mark), but i really dont know a ton about these cars... so i've got a couple quick questions...

1) is the 2.0L in the MSP the same 2.0L that they put in the mx6/probe?
2) how bad is insurance? i'm 19, got a few points, but i'm not paying to much right now on my PGT's
3) is there any problems that occur often that i should look out for while looking at/test driving an MSP?
4) did they only come with an mtx? because alot of the ad's i've seen didn't specify and i dont want to get my hopes up and then find out it was an atx
5) is 10-15K what MSP's usually go for? or did i just find a few guys that needed money bad? because i found some for the same price on autotrader, and cars.com as well...

thanks in advance

- James

 

Sup James. Welcome to the club!

1. Yes, the FS-DE
2. Not too bad. After all, it's a 4 door sedan.
3. there's a hesitation around 4k rpms on older MSPs that have not had their ECUs "flashed". The dealer can flash your ecu if you have an older MSP. Also, a lot MSPs have a clunk in the rear suspension somewhere. I'm not sure, but I think it's either the rear swaybar or the strut mount.
4. 5-speed only.
5. I've seen new MSPs going for $16,000. Maybe you can talk 'em down a little bit...$13,500 maybe?


Hope this helps a little bit, and congrats on the decision! I'm sure the cornering ability of that little car will surprise you!

 

I cracked my wifes head against the window on my test drive when I bought my MSP. From that moment on I knew I loved that suspension set-up!!

p.s. As a former MSP owner and a current p5 owner....by a p5 for $10K and put a $3500 turbo kit on it and smoke those msp's. Das p5 ist sehr schon, ja?

 

lol, ya suprisingly i do love the way P5's look as well, and i am NOT a wagon guy, mazda has more than left an impression on me not only in styling, but in performance too... and its good to hear that it has the FS-DE, when I 1st started working on probes it was on my friends base, so i have a tiny bit of knowledge regarding this particular 2.0 ...

and half the reason i'm looking for a MSP now, is because i am growing weary of modifying cars , the 1st PGT i bought has a lil bit of money dumped into it, and even tho i am happy with the performance for the most part, the reliability of a 10 year old car just isn't cuttin it for me anymore, so i'd like to get something new (a year old vehicle is like unheard of for me lol) and just drive it for awhile, get done with college, and maybe then start to get serious with it, but at the same time, i want something peppy in stock trim, and, more recently i've been getting the turbo itch ...

thank you both for the very helpful and polite replies, hopefully i will join the protege ranks sometime soon ...