How does a ????? compare to a P5/MP3/MSP/Protege?

[MP3Architect]

Hey guys this thread is for those that wish to explain to the world how a car you own compares to a protege (if you [used to] own one). doesn't matter what car you want to compare it to, just explain to everyone the differences in handling, speed, comfort, etc so that when the rest of us mazda guys are ready to get into a new ride we'll know what to expect in the change.

[MP3Architect]

and ill even get this thread started.

car: 2005 Dodge Stratus

experience: I had this car for about a month and a half as my msp was being repaired this time last year. i drove it for a few thousand miles in that time period and all i can really say about going from mp3>msp>stratus is that its fairly slower but most of all its a true boat in the corners. it was just fine as a commuter car as far as performance and was able to get on and off the freeways just fine. it was just the turns i was so used to taking in the msp became impossible in the stratus.


car: 2004 PT Cruiser Grand Touring

experience: this is my mother's car and ive driven it off and on (whenever im working on the msp or when we go somewhere as a family) since she has bought it. she has the fully loaded edition and its pretty nice. the ride is very comfortable and its easy to be above the speed limit without knowing it. my only complaint in her car is the turning radius. its very poor and makes parking very awkward coming from the msp. but it totally makes up for it in the sunroof and tons of cargo room to haul stuff to and from the university.

[DE31]

car: 2006 Scion tC

experience: my mom's car as well, i dont like it that much, although the car is comfortable and there is alot of nice accessories and small details (auto down and up windows on both sides!) it just doesnt have the same feeling as my p5, the steering feels numb and heavy (bad combo imo) the throttle is somewhat odd, and the braking has no feel to it. the car is quiet though, too quiet for my taste since i almost tried to start the car again when it was in idle.

[bradicus18]

car: 1990 Honda Accord Sedan

This is my winter/daily driver. I bought it to keep from puttin' so many hard mile on the P5. It is 16+ years old and has a smoother engine, smoother shifter and feels faster than a stock P5. Problem is, the interior on these cars falls apart. The plastic breaks on the door handles and the door trim is just glued on so it comes off. Other than that, it handles reasonably well for a car that isn't as stiff and is old. Freakin' Honda. Oh yeah, and aftermarket parts are waaaaaayyyy cheaper. I found a cat-back for $175 the other day!!!

[Sveivo]

car: 2001 Honda Accord LX (2.3 L)

experience: this car feels like cow on ice compared to the Protege5--a lot of body ROLL. I am a tall guy and can never get comfortable in it as far at steering wheel position and such. I also would not call the interior ergonomic at all compared to the Mazda. As far as acceleration, the car is about the same.

car: 1994 Acura Legend 4dr (3.2 L)

experience: this car hauls ass. This car is a rocket compared to the Protege. It has comparable stiffened up suspension (when new :)), however the steering is much softer, which was a turn-off for me. Otherwise great car.

Those are the points I really care about :D

[Sveivo]

car: 1984 Buick LeSabre Limited (5.0 L)

experience: lol, where do I start. With the V8, considering it is old, the thing is slow as hell. I seriously think the P5 pulls harder. The steering and suspension are soft to the point that I cannot stay in my lane right after I step out of the Protege--it takes some getting used to if you don't drive it for a while! Otherwise very dependable car even considering the age. By no means a "fun" car though.

[MP3Architect]

bump for more!

[jersey_emt]

1996 Chrysler Cirrus LXi (V6 model). Fully loaded (leather, power seat, sunroof, OMGHUGE 15" factory alloys, CD player with stock Infinity sound system, etc).

Almost 115K on the odo.

Slow compared to my MSP or my MSM of course, but has power for merging and passing. Steering response is mushy and there is quite a bit of body roll (expected), but handling is much better than you would expect from an American sedan from that time period. The decent handling is actually what helped me enjoy spirited driving on a twisty road. Most of the roads that are on MTMA's current Bucks County Fun Run were discovered while driving this car on the weekends while at college.

Now, it's just my winter beater. Although I kept excellent care of it, and it looks great for its age.

[wmbeaver]

car: 1994 Acura Legend 4dr (3.2 L)

experience: this car hauls ass. This car is a rocket compared to the Protege. It has comparable stiffened up suspension (when new :)), however the steering is much softer, which was a turn-off for me. Otherwise great car.

Those are the points I really care about :D


my friend has one of those, except i think its a '93, and it really does haul ass

[Sveivo]

my friend has one of those, except i think its a '93, and it really does haul ass
Haha, thank you for seconding this. So it's not just me. I believe that 93 thru 95 is pretty much the same car with minor tweaks.

[Donas64]

1996 Infiniti G20: My first car I ever owned before I bought the P5. Understated good looks, SR20DE motor loved to rev and was darn near bulletproof. Much better highway cruiser than the P5. More roll in the corners though. P5 has sportier interior but the G was a comfy place to sit. Acceleration was about qual but the G might have pulled just a tad harder. Handling is P5 all the way. G20 cupholder SUCKED unless you did hte "replace with ford taurus cupholder mod". Oh and boy do I miss those heated side mirrors in the winter. G-UNIT!

[Tengo]

1997 Toyota Carmy LE v6:
wasnt mine but my dad let me drive it whenever i wanted before i even got my Protege5.
Speed-its a v6 so it had its power but i took awhile for it, i dont think i ever really went too fast though.
Suspension: never really noticed??
Comfortability: Pretty comfy, leather seats were big and cushy.
Reliability- come on!! is that even a question?? Camrys last forever!

[CitizenPro]

2005 Hyundai Tiburon SE V6 (6-speed) Fully loaded

Experience: The car rides smooth, brakes well, and is very comfortable all-around. When your tired of driving around the MSP, the Tiburon is a nice car to drive around and cruise the strip. Suspension seems to be softer and not as responsive as the MSP, but with upgrades can be just as nice. Interior is very nice and is much different than the MSP....u sit very low to the ground but at a very comfortable position. Shifting the the 6-speed Tiburon is a trickier with the drive-by-wire, and is hard to shift smoothly under normal driving conditions. Another downside would be the back seat room.....absolutely no leg room what so ever! You cant even put your feet under the front seat to create a bit more room....seats are practically on the floor.

Car Rating: 7

2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT - Fully Loaded

Experience: Never really liked the trailblazers, but ill make my parents' the exception. They have theres fully loaded with black leather, DVD/Fold Down Screen, Sunroof, Power everything, Dual climate control, the works......They've added 20" wheels, full exhaust, K&N Intake, TB Spacer, Front Grill. From that, id say the ride is a bit stiffer than stock but is still comfortable. Id take it on a road trip any day of the week. Acceleration is "ok" but doesnt have the grunt like most SUV's ive driven. (Could be the 20" wheels slowing her down) Turning radius on this vehicle is unreal.....seems to be just as good, if not better than the MSP.

SUV rating: 7

[MP3Architect]

Turning radius on this vehicle is unreal.....seems to be just as good, if not better than the MSP.

SUV rating: 7
thier pretty close. msp turning radius is 34.1 with the trailblazer at 36.4inches

[sephiroth]

2006 Ford Five Hundred:
This is my mothers car that I drive ocassionaly, usualy for errands up to the store or short visits to relatives (and considering it's about 20miles to/back to anywhere, it defentaly keeps a couple hundred miles off my protege). I never really liked the car, it's frecking huge in the first place, it takes a while to get used to the extremely touchy steering(which makes it hard to keep in your lane), espically since there's absolutely no feel to it what-so-ever. Even though it's a 203HP 3.0L V6 the transmission in this car makes it feel rather slow, when you step on it, instead of the tranny going through "gears" like it does on my protege the rev line remains at a constant 3K or so until you let off of it(I'm pretty sure it's using that new ATX tranny that gets better mileage than a manual though), and it dosen't feel all that much faster than my 1.8L ATX. The suspension is acceptable, not soft to the point that if you drive over a cow you wouldn't notice a thing, but just right so that its comfortable, yet you still know that you're on the road. The interrior is absolute rubish though, everything is plastic, and it looks like they tried to embeed a carbon-fiber theme into the dash. while It looks like everything would hold up to the test of time, it still feels like something you'd see in a aveo or focus. Braking is fantastic, it's got huge front brakes and rear ones that are about the size of my front disc brakes. you'd only need to tap them @ 60 before you're back down to the teens. infact I have to be carefull, since otherwise stuff in the car goes flying forward. The car's turning abilities are surprising, at least to me, while it's obvisouly not nearly as good as my protege, I can still take the hairpin and 90degree turns at a rather good speed without hearing wheel chirping or feeling through the dead steering wheel any loss of control Turning radius is pretty good too, I think it's 40" or so. Body roll, even with the soft suspension is rather minnimal, noticable when you come out of a corner, but this is a heavy car so in my opinion it was acceptable, Turning radius is pretty good for a car of this size too. The car does get quiet a bit to the tank, but that's partly due to the size of it; 24-25gallons.. I think it's MPG hovers around the low-mid 20s acutaly. Space in the back is fairly average, pretty good if you've got a 5' 10" driver, pretty average if you've got anyone bigger sitting upfront and they want some decent leg-room. Not so much that you'll be cramped.. but not really alot either. Think of it as sitting in coach on a moderatly priced air plane. While we're on airplanes let me mention the steel plated things they put in this car called Seats.. they're so firm it's absolutely ridicilious I can't believe this is supposed to be an acutal car and the seats are this firm.. the car even has 13K worth of break-in and you have to use a good deal amount of force from your fist to get the seats to give a little.. this makes for a rather shitty ride for anything long-distance honestly.. that compared with the fact that if feels like you're almost as high up as an SUV make driving just that more difficult. I mean, it'd be one thing if it were just the driver seat.. but it's the passenger seat, and the rear seats, I honestly don't know what they were thinking when they went this way, but it defentaly wasen't for comfort. There was one neat feature I did like about it though, Ford was defentaly thinking about your average consumer when they made this car, it has built-in maintiance reminders into the odometer, so when you pass every 5,000 miles, you get a message when you start your car (for about 5-6 seconds) that it's time to change your oil. It did this for "check transmission fluid, timming belt, and brakes" at 10,000 miles too, so I thought that was nice. Frankly.. and this is a bit odd to say, but the car is acutaly fairly loud too, I don't know what it is, mabye the new ATX tranny or just the engine, but even at low revs you can defentaly hear a good "moan" of that mass-produced V6 that's in front of you, if it were a italian made V8 it'd be one thing, but this is a rather sickly V6 and honestly I don't really like it.

1998 Chrystler Seabring:
This is my friends car, it's seen about 90,000 miles and it shows it. He's been through three re-manufactured 2.5L V6 engines in the past 10,000 alone and the interior is completly falling apart. the power window control panel is destroyed, the driver door plastic molding is cracked in a couple places, half his center controls don't light up, the cd player dosen't work, he's lost power locks, the leather on the seats look very worn. I'm guessing his was one of the higher trim models, as he's got the plastic wood molding on the steering wheel, a couple other places and leather seats, which while comfortable, don't distract from the car's poorer qualities. which include; crappy brakes, he's got 4 disc brakes and my car with front disc/rear drum does the job much better we both agreed and confirmed, after doing a 60-0 stop, I came out a good 4 car legnths behind him(I should mention though, that his car lacks ABS while mine does have ABS), I can't imagine if his car came with rear-drums, anything less than what he has now I'd be willing to almost call dangerous. the car's fat ass makes turning at even moderate speeds a risk of kicking the back out and spinning out of control or chirping the tires(even though the car came with $800 worth of tires.) It's pretty funny when he drives around with me the stuff he'll say when I take corners faster at places where his car would be to the curb. the 2.5L ATX V6 accelerates a bit faster than my 1.8L does(by the time I'm catching up because of my higher top-end it's only 2-3 car legnths really.) but his top end is still acutaly slower and the ride getting and staying there makes it almost not worth it, when you speed in this car, you're fully aware of it. There's not a whole lot of body roll in this car, but it is still noticably more than the ford and my protege, not something I like, but I guess for it's targeted customer it wouldn't be an issue anyway. Steering dosen't have the dead feel of the ford, you can defentaly feel that you're on the road through the wheel, even though the plastic wood. While it is better than the ford, you still can't really feel much when you start to loose traction like in my protege, you feel it when you're power-sliding, but nothing up until that point, unlike my protege. Suspension is a bit softer than my protege and that in combination with the leather seats gives an acceptably comfortable ride, not good, not bad, just, plain. Turning radius is awfull, it's only slightly better than the ford, which when you compare the size of the two cars is pretty sad. It's got huge 16 or 17" stock alloy rims that acutaly look pretty good on the car. Gas milage for his car is somewhat comparable to the ford, he usualy averages about 17-20mpg doing a mix of highway/city.
It's a coupe but still manages to squeeze two seats (if you can call them that.) in the back, enough for your 2.2 kids.. but no where near enough for any medium sized adult.

[jadonP5]

yeah I drove a Buick Ranier to the Outer Banks this year and the turning radius is unreal. The Ranier is pretty much like a fully loaded Trailblazer, and it was a GREAT road trip car.

2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport 4 Door

This is my wife's car. It "feels" slower that the P5, but they are probably about even in that department. Lots of engine noise under acceleration- and it don't sound too pretty either. HORRIBLE body roll on even non-aggressive turns. Hands down has a superior sounding stock stereo system than my car. Cheap interior quality, and seats are not comfotable on any trip longer than 30 minutes. The cavalier OWNS my P5 in any kind of foul weather (read: snow) though.

[Notorious]

car: 2003 Honda S2000

experience: This car absolutely rocks. Never have I driven a car that is so tightly put together. The suspension, steering, clutch, and shifter might be the best combination ever crafted. As for the comparison the MSP doesn't stand a chance. With all the upgrades the MSP has it might be ever so slightly faster than the S2000 but in the fun category the car is on two different planets. Of course the S2k is about 15k more than the MSP so that has to be taken in account.

[Sveivo]

car: 2003 Honda S2000

experience: This car absolutely rocks. Never have I driven a car that is so tightly put together. The suspension, steering, clutch, and shifter might be the best combination ever crafted. As for the comparison the MSP doesn't stand a chance. With all the upgrades the MSP has it might be ever so slightly faster than the S2000 but in the fun category the car is on two different planets. Of course the S2k is about 15k more than the MSP so that has to be taken in account.
Awesome. I want to own one some day.

[susamafone]

parents just got it about a week and a half ago:

2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L

what can i say. its a freaking nice mini-van. ride is incredible. so soft. and the leather seats oh my. it is a van, so it has no performance qualities what so ever. but man, is that thing nice. my sister has a 2006 accord, and i thought that was quiet, but it seems noisy compared to the odyssey.

slowly but surely, my family is making the transition from mazda to hondas. i have to admit i will to, next car looks to be the TL, but i will always keep the p5 as long as its running.

[neox.286]

2005 (?) Lexus IS-300

Moms car, loved to drive it (though it was only a auto w/ paddle shifters)....the thing handled great and accellerated GREAT, but in the handling department it doesnt even compare to the MSP in my oppinion...Plus RWD FTL (I hate RWD cars, they just dont handle through the turns for shit imo)....but damn did that thing haul ass...nice interior as well, though the radio was somewhat sub-par, especially for the price range

2007 IS-350

moms new car...havent personally driven it yet, but I must say that that extra .5 liters of displacement certainly turns out a CRAPLOAD of more power....this thing throws you into your seat like NONE other...I cant say anything about its handling though as I havent driven it, but I do wanna note that the interior, while nice, feels a little off...it has a lot of nice accent lighting and such and looks beautiful, but the stereo sucks, the dash material seems really cheap...idk, its a love-hate relationship

of course, with both of these cars they are a different leauge than the msp, so you cant really compare them...but the msp imo definately handles better than the IS300 did

2007 VW Jetta (basic package, 5-speed)
drove my aunts car a few times and wasnt that impressed...it had a little get-up-and-go to it (I got it to break traction very briefly into second) but nothing to write home about. The seats are HORRIBLE...they have absolutely no shape to them, so it's impossible to feel comfortable in them...does it compare to the msp? not at all

[323]

2004 corolla

steering sucks. u have to turn it a lot for normal turns, which would be bad in emergency situations. handling sucks, even after dropping (with proper springs and struts). vents always smelled like sulfur even after 36k miles. seats hurt my back. but mechanically reliable. driven previous generations of the corolla and the old ones didnt seem to steer/handle like crap.

1997 accord

properly lowered on 18's. rides smoother than my stock mp3 lol. handles good. steering isnt as on point as the mp3 but nowhere as bad as the 9th gen corolla. good car tho

[neox.286]

yea I used to have a 93 corolla, once I lowered it that thing turned pretty damn sharp without a lot of turns, but still doesnt compare to the msp

but for a 14 year old car it turned REALLY well

[323]

yeah i driven that one before. my friend's sister has one. iunno why they did that to the 9th gen.... wack steering/handling

[magnumP5]

This should be fun. I'm only going to include cars that I've driven 1000+ miles because I worked at a used car dealership and going over every car I've driven would be tiresome...

1986 Toyota Pickup 2WD

Well she's now over 22 years years old and still going strong. Toyota sure knew how to make their trucks back then and the trusty 22RE engine has given me next to zero problems. The only big issue is the timing chain which is prone to stretching and breaking but that occurs with all of these trucks. Everything else is to be expected of a 22 year old vehicle: no power steering (which I prefer), no airbags, no ABS (I prefer this as well). It's a truck so there really isn't any "handling" - I've done some suspension work (mostly maitenance) and it definitely will not keep up with the P5 in the corners. Speed wise... well there is no speed-wise - the 22 year old 2.4L 4 cylinder is starting to get tired so freeway merging and passing needs to be planned well. LOL, top speed is about 100 mph going downhill. The interior iss very 1980's and the seats are beginning to fall apart. There is a large crack in the dash from the sun and lots of fading - what would you expect from something this old? Even so, it serves is purpose and moves all sorts of things I would not put in my P5 and I have no intention of getting rid of it...

1994 Toyota Camry XLS V6

One of my parents' cars - this is by far the smoothest vehicle I have ever driven. Even know being 14 years old it still have less road vibration and noise than any new vehicle I have been in. Unfortunately because of this the steering is way too light and the suspension is way too soft. Rarely have I felt like I was going to flip over in a car. The engine, despite being a V6 is surprisingly underpowered and I feel like sometimes it struggles to get to highway speeds, but it is quiet and has given my parents zero problems. Seats are firm and more suited to long trips than those in my P5. I have driven this several times to upstate NY - a trip I would not want to do in my P5. The rest of the interior is on par with my P5. Overall good family car that is just that and nothing more

2001 Honda Accord EX V6

This is one of the strangest feeling cars I have ever driven. Compared to my P5 the steering wheel and gas and brake pedals are very touchy and the car seems to shift at strange points for an automatic causing a somewhat jerky ride. The interior is nice with the exception of the driver's side b-pillar. For some reason this thing has never wanted to stay put since my parents have owned the car and yet it doesn't bug them. The leather seats are comfortable and supportive in a manner similar to the Camry above but are, well, leather. Overall this car is like a Camry on steroids. The V6 engine is peppy and I've found myself exceeding the speedlimit in no time at all but there is pronounced road noise. This car seems to attempt a compromise between your traditional family sedan and a sports sedan.

2007 Dodge Magnum V6

This car was everything I though it was and more. I recently rented this for a roadtrip to the Orange Bowl as I had requested an economy car but they were out and offered me this. The car itself is ugly and resembles a hearse at best. The small rear and side windows make merging a guessing game and some of the interior controls (eg cruise control) were in weird places. However, the car was surprisingly quick at accelerating and was very smooth with little road noise whatsoever. It also got decent gas mileage (~28 mpg highway). Once I got used to the seating position (seemed tall for a car) it was very easy do drive and behaved like you'd expect - a boat on water. This is no performance wagon and my P5 does laps around this thing. However I was impressed by the Magnum's interior quality and ride quality. Also, had I more stuff the Magnum could probabyl carry twice as much as my P5. I'm actually confused as to why Dodge didn't add a folding rear-facing third row (like some older Volvo wagons) as there's definitely the space.

[2.0t03speed]

1990 240sx coupe KA24DE-T

My car before i bought the MSP was a 1990 240sx. I loved this car it was everythign i wanted,and i still want to get another one sometime in the future. This car was the 1st car i ever did extensive work to and was really the car i learned on. I give a breif parts list so i can compare to the MSP. 2.4L ka24 out of a 97 240sx, Sr20 s14 bbt28, fmic, 3" turbo back, Afc-2, Megan racing street coilovers, konig rewinds, S13 silvia front end w/ triple projector headlights (not a performance mod, but it looked sick as a bitch). As far as power the MSP could not lay a finger on the 240sx i never re-dynoed the 240 after i slapped the t-28 on but ill put it to you this way when i had the t-25 at 8psi i beat my friends brand new speed 6 from a 10mph roll. With the t-28 at 15psi i was destroying evos. Now when it came to the handeling the department the speed is king hands down there is no comparison. The msp sticks where the 240 would break loose and get squirly. Ill have to see how the MSP compares to the 240 in th epower department after i get the motor built and the new turbo on. Im hoping i can get close if not surpass the power levels i was making before while keeping the transmission intact. In the comfort department the msp wins that as well. The msp interior is very comfertable where as my 240sx's interior was more race-bread. I had one sparco seat with a 4-point harness. no power windows or locks,no a/c,no p/s,no sound deadning, gutted in the rear with only the front 2 seats and a little bit of carpet. Also having the 240 slammed with the coilovers set all the way to the hard side didnt really help the ride expierence i can recall on one or more times where my head banged the roof when i hit a hard bump becuase the sparco seat made me sit up higher.

[grease_monkey]

'73 Nova compared to 2002 P5....hell of alot faster :p

[kura808]

here i go xD

2000 toyota 4runner

its my mom's car but my dad drives it all the time because my mom hates driving..lol..anywayz i used the 4runner as a practice car before i got my license. the steering wheel is a bit light compared to my p5 well maybe too light. i dont really get much response compared to my p5. in turns theres a lot of body lean which can be expected from a SUV. heh my p5 got none really lol. the v6 obviously pulls hard than the I4 but my p5 feels faster xP i hated parking this thing...especially for parallel parking. umm as for reliability...every1 said to go to toyota (had chevy b4)...this car has many unsolvable problems such as the tranny not engaging (auto). in order for it to engage, u had to actually put the lever into 1st. as of yet, the auto techs didnt solve the tranny problem but we found that a simple reset of the ECU did the trick. as of now, we had a CEL..been on for a couple of months. it has a vac leak which my dad suspects might be the brake booster. anywayz that part is costing an arm and a leg...over a 1000..this truck only has a little past 75k...and my dad babys this thing..my dad vowed never to go back to toyota lol..haha


2006 toyota corolla

this was the loaner car for when the 4runner was in the shop. our damn 4runner was in the shop for about 4 months and the mystery problem still wasnt solved. anywayz i used this car for practicing for my drivers license too. uhh the interior felt really cramp compared to my p5. the rear room is a bit snug too compared to my p5. had auto up/down for windows on both sides. wish my p5 had that lol. the engine performance kinda sucked...honestly we got some really short on ramps on hawaii and this little thing suffered. i mean sure we had 4 people in the car but what does this car have? a 1.6 or 1.8 litre? idk anywayz i was amazed how .4 or .2 of a displacement can make in a car. when on those short on ramps with my p5, it actually goes when u floor it. o yea idk but the corolla had a slightly tighter turning radius than my p5? maybe it was a mind game but the corolla made a tighter turn when i did the U-turn to get to my house. in my p5 have to be a bit careful when making the turn but in the corolla it was easier. the corolla feels like an appliance as every1 says. no fun driving it at all.


2001 or something i forget chevy malibu?(the one shaped like a late model corolla)

drove a friend's car around a bit cause she felt too lazy. well i dont consider her as a friend anymore haha. anywayz those stupid button adjust seating settings are annoying. i'd rather have the manual one. the brakes were really touchy. i guess its cause she used to abuse the car (she tail gates and stomps repeatedly on the brakes. thats y she had to take it in cause she fucked it up bad). it had a v6...for a v6 that damn thing couldnt even haul. i mean when i drive up to school in my p5, it actually goes up the incline pretty good. in the malibu, the v6 felt like it was really struggling cause i had to actually floor it. uhh i hated the interior. the p5's one looks much nicer. o yea the only thing that is a bit amazing about the car is that the engine is a bit quiet. one time i started it up and didnt realize that the engine was already on(sounded like it died) so i cranked the ignition again. lol SCHREECH!! heh i didnt care though cause i dont like the girl haha.


1991 honda accord

drove my uncle's car around for a bit. that little engine in that car seemed peppy (I4 i think not a v6). the seating position in the car felt really uncomfortable probably cause i'm spoiled to my p5. the brakes on the car were a bit hard. the handling was pretty good considering its a 17 yr old car. my friend has the same one and he was showing off by doing skidpads in a parking lot so i guess it has decent handling.

1987 chevy monte carlo SS

its my dad's baby. i didnt actually drive it yet. we go over to my grandma's house to start it up and stuffs. i love the sound of the 305 v8 (my dad put shorty headers, 2 1/4 in catback exhaust, a better valve body<-to make it shift faster, and a few other mods like the electronic computer deletion and stuff). i noticed the brakes are really hard i guess cause theres not power braking. when my dad drives it, that thing pulls like a mother fucker. i'm not even kidding cause it actually almost gave me a whiplash when i was younger..lol. i like how the shifts are done. even though its an auto, the tranny was pulled and better internals were put in. it shifts faster than the normal auto. heh wish it was in my p5. this was actually gonna be my car but i found that its too big and it guzzles gas like nothing. wish i could drive it one day haha. i hope my dad dont sell it...hes thinking of selling it ><

all in all, i love my p5 hahaha

[inspectorlee]

1991 Nissan 240sx: My first car. The MP3's engine seems to like to rev faster than my 240's engine did. And for whatever reason, it feels like the MP3 is faster, but that might just be due to hp/lb. I do like the shifter in my 240sx better though. And although I'm a fan of RWD, I have to be honest and say that the MP3 handles much better (stock vs. stock).

2004 Subaru WRX: My car before the MP3. Man, I miss the power of my WRX. It also had the best shifter I've ever driven (B&M short shifter). The shifter "feel" is very mechanical and not "arcade-like" as in my MP3. But handling wise, again, the MP3 is better, stock for stock. But this winter has really made me miss the AWD capabilities of my WRX. I am on all-season tires still as I bought the MP3 in January, but other family FWD cars see to do okay in the winter. I'm chalking it up to the tires on the MP3. Still, I'll see if my opinions change next winter when I put snow tires on the MP3.

[JoseProte83]

Had the following:

1988 Mitsubishi Mirage Cyclon L

I bough the car for 1,000$ around 10 years ago. New interiors and paint. After two years with it, I bought the engine and tranny of the Turbo wagon and made the swap. Also had VR-4 Galant rims. What an awesome little car that was. Lend it to my cosing for a week and got robed. Snifff!!!

1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX:

I bought it used also with just 10,000 miles. My first proper sports car. It was slightly moded by the other owner. Was white with leather trim interior. Amazing car. Never got it to track but I raced a few 3000GT TT and owned them so i knew the car was fast. Sold it. Don't laugh about this; I tough all 2g Eclipses were AWD till recently lol

[TheDirtyGoatee]

car: 2003 Honda S2000

experience: This car absolutely rocks. Never have I driven a car that is so tightly put together. The suspension, steering, clutch, and shifter might be the best combination ever crafted. As for the comparison the MSP doesn't stand a chance. With all the upgrades the MSP has it might be ever so slightly faster than the S2000 but in the fun category the car is on two different planets. Of course the S2k is about 15k more than the MSP so that has to be taken in account.

I agree with you in that this car is a blast to drive. My bro just traded his in for a brand new Infiniti M35... so....

Here is my addition....


2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse Special Edition:

This car is sluggish. It has the "sport shifter" which is a slap in the face for us standard shift guys. The sound system is awesome. I'll give it that. However, even though the engine is equaled to the MSP, it's non turbo. It doesn't accel like the MSP, nor can it take corners. Also, being a two door coupe, you'd expect that it could turn well... nope! My MSP could turn a tighter 360 and it's a 4 door.

I give this car a (second) to the MSP.

My rating... 3 "Flying M's" out of 5!

[Roadkill17]

2005 volvo S60

Turbo gives the car good power, smooth acceleration. AWD works well in the snow. Great attention to detail on the exterior and interior. The handling is good, but there isnt much feel to it. The automatic tranny tends to 'bump' under hard acceleration, and the manual electronic shift has alot of lag.

[lil_red_wagon]

1985 pontiac parisienne - interesting car. my first car that was street legal. it floated over bumps and the interior could comfortably fit six of us. it was slow with bad gas mileage, but i liked to drive it for the fact that it was huge.

1968 volkswagen beetle - fun car. i never got it street legal (never said that i didn't drive it on the street). was a fun car to drive although the rear seats were only suitable for legless dwarves. i had off road fun all of the time and never got stuck.

1969 volkswagen beetle - my old toy. it had a lift kit and fiberglass body kit with big tires. i rolled it a couple of times and it still kept going. it finally rusted to pieces and i had to sell it for the $50 worth of scrap that was left. i still have the powerplant in hopes that i can find another one to play with.

1995 geo metro - i know, shut up. i am 6'3" and i had the little 3 door model that was small enough for people to start whistling the circus song when i got out of it. it got 35 mpg with my foot all of the way on the floor and the tach buried before i shifted every time. i still had it up until recently. it went 196k miles before it died and a rebuild didn't help. i would still have it if that hadn't happened.

1982 toyota corolla-tercel - the deluxe corolla-tercel model. it was hard as hell to find parts for and was slow as the day was long. the a/c never worked, the horn was intermittent but the wipers weren't. i still liked to drive it though. it got decent mileage (even though the gas gauge was broken) and was reliable even when it was running bad. i sold it even though i shouldn't have. i know it sounds stupid, but i would have kept it a sunday driver if i hadn't sold it.

2002 pro5 (lil red) - great car. sparked my love for mazdas. the tranny was in bad shape though. it had over 100k on the clock when it got taken (see sig) but it still ran like a sewing machine. i could do without the road noise though.

2002 pro5 (the white one) - also a great car, though i miss my lil red. i get to keep it low mileage and it is low maintenance now though. an option that i didn't have with the red one. it needs a paint job and a couple of dents fixed, but mechanically, it is sound. again, could do without the road noise.

2003 chevy silverado texas edition (my parent's) - i liked the truck, but they didn't. i think that is why they lent it to me for days at a time before they traded it in. i think they wanted me to wreck it for insurance so they didn't have to trade it in. it was quiet and powerful (like me).

1987 mazda rx7 turbo II - this car still gives me a stupid little feeling when i get behind the wheel. i think mazda had something right here. at the end of a shitty day, i can get a smile by getting behind the wheel, turning off the radio, rolling down the windows, and spooling it up. it will be a project soon, but it is still enough to make me feel like a little kid playing a video game sometimes.

[mazda_pro5_2nr]

2004 Acura TL

Well its my current car since I wrecked the P5 :(. But as of so far.....LOVE IT. Sooooo much more of a car than the P5, very sad to say. It amazes many people by how fast the thing is. The ride comfort in the car is very nice and the interior is very nice. The only thing this car needs now is a nice A-spec kit and some nice staggered wheels...something I couldn't think about doing on a P5 without any modifications needed. If you can get your hands on a TL...do it.

[baconbitz]

2000 Jeep Wrangler: Can't really compare the two for obvious reasons but the MSP wins in almost every department. The best part about the jeep was the ability to throw pretty much whatever you wanted at it and not have to worry about it.

2003 BMW 325i: What can I say, it's a great car. My dad picked it up in 2004 new off the lot for a killer deal. It's given him some minor problems over time but nothing big and his warranty has taken care of all of it. The interior is extremely nice although I wish the leather seats were a bit softer. The creature comforts are great and abundant as well. The car is also very quiet inside and rides perfect, I've found myself well over the speed limit a few times and didn't realize it until I looked down at the speedo. It's a blast to drive. The powerband is awesome and the car pulls great all the way to the end of each gear. I drove this car for a week after a surgery that kept me away from my MSP (5 speed was not my friend) and really didn't want to give it back.

2004 Ford Expedition (Eddie Bauer): This is my family's second expedition and it's a great car. We've got about 70k on it now and it hasn't had a single problem to date. The leather is nice but doesn't compare at all to that of the BMW. It also has dual climate control which is a good feature but not very effective in such a large cabin. It's a great car for road trips because there is plenty of space for all 4 of us. My brother and I are both 6'4" and we can sit comfortably in the back for long periods of time. The V8 under the hood delivers good power and has enough oomph to get you in to traffic quick. The part of the car that really is a plus for me is the towing power. I've hauled 4 cars with this thing and its a dream to drive. It pulled my 1997 240sx from Beaufort, SC to Atlanta, GA with no problem at all. I was powering by people on the highway going up some rather large hills with ease. This also brings out the downside of this car. Gas mileage. It costs around $80 a tank to fill up and that will only get you 375 miles if you're lucky. We got 9 miles to the gallon with my car behind it :)

1997 Nissan 240sx: I'll post more once I get some more seat time but my initial impression is good. The stock engine could use a little more power but it's no worse than I expected. The interior is set up pretty well and the cloth seats have a decent side bolster to hold you during turns. The largest downside to the interior is head room.

1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5rs: I love this car. It looks great and drives great too. Its definitely not the fastest car on the road but the power is well matched to what the stock suspension can handle. The interior is nice but time seems to have taken its toll in the form of small rattles once in a while when you hit bumps. Subaru also seems to have over looked hiding the bolts that hold in the rear seats and that has never sat right with me.

2004 Porsche Carrera 4s Cabriolet: What can I say, amazing car. BMW has no right to claim "The Ultimate Driving Machine" as long as Carrera's are around. The car drives like a dream with the power you would expect from any high end sports car and luxury that easily tops the 325i. The awd system is great and can handle the power 98% of the time (my dad has said the tail will swing out on occasion once your tire tread is getting low). The suspension is a bit stiffer than one might expect but the ride only gets smoother at higher speeds. Best part about it is that even at 100mph the car will throw your head back when you stomp on the pedal.

[navsangha]

2003 Acura TL- my pops' old car, the year right before the redesign, standard spec. Way more power than my Pro, much smoother, much better looking, way better interior. Also cost considerably more so hell. Handling wasn't quite as sharp as the Pro, had a bit more roll but once it took a set, it would pull some pretty serious speeds through the corners, just had to have a bit of faith. Pretty weak braking though.

2005 Buick Allure CXL- Pops' new car. Compared to the Pro? Doesn't even feel like a car, hilariously quiet, you can actually whisper to your passengers at 120 km/h. Amazing highway fuel economy (beats the pro i think). Really weird to drive, hilarious amounts of roll, no feel to the steering (my favourite Mazda feature) and none to the brakes either, plus the stupid electric throttle is annoying.

[Konkinator]

The Benz is the car that I learnt to drive stick on and I absolutely love it. Yeah the back seats are a bit small, I'm about 6' and my head hits the roof, but hey, I don't usually sit in the back. It's my dad's car but I do get to drive it a fair bit, and it pulls so much harder than the P5, has almost 70hp on the P5. Some of that is of course lost due to the massive weight of this beast. The handling is great, I haven't had any problems taking corners at speed and if I'm going a little too fast the ESP will come and help out a bit.

The 325 is very new to the family, but I have driven it a lot over past week. I have come to love AWD, on-ramps have never been so fun. It is an automatic, my mom wouldn't have anything else, and while the sport mode does improve the shifting, I can't get it to do what i want. The manual shifting mode is complete garbage because it takes so long to shift up and down.