Please Guys! Help me

[AODfan]

Ok,

I purchased an 03 Protege LX last June....to this point Ive only done tint(15%) and car audio. Now i was looking the performance for this car before i went any further on it. And all i hear is the drivetrain is crappy and wont hold much, I've also been told by JDM SAM that if I get quaife lsd, aftermarket flywheel, msp axles... yada yada yada....but there doesnt seem to be for the tranny itself and hear that is the weak link of the car. Its that to get my car to what I want im going to have to spen bookoo money on this sucker. Or am i thinking about going at it the wrong way....I know that i would want the hiboost, quaife, act clutch, msp axels, misc bolt ons exhasust..etc...but lets say i do what kind of performance is going to be expected on this setup...and also what about reliability? I wouldnt want things snapping on me like these guys on this forum....so what it boils down to is my lx worth suppin' up?? Id love it if i could get responses from diff people to see what my options are... Thanks in advance guys!

[tonkabui]

no. you need an EVO or an STI or SRT to be making any decent power. the tranny will slip. the rods will snap. turbo + tranny + internals + LSD + EMS + suspension + wheels + turbo accessories = at least $10K. mind as well get an evo for that price and enjoy AWD.

[JCell]

I agree, it's way too expensive to hook up a protege, parts are rare and mostly custom made, tonkabui is right, just get an evo

[MIA protege]

u guys making it sound like an evo is cheap lol

[Matthew]

u guys making it sound like an evo is cheap lol
yea and insurance. at least with modding you can do it whenever, whereas with an evo you have to pay more every month no matter what or risk your credit.

where you from in oklahoma?

[MIA protege]

yea and insurance. at least with modding you can do it whenever, whereas with an evo you have to pay more every month no matter what or risk your credit.
exactly ... u can pace yourself if you decide to mod the protege. with purchasing a new car u will have to make payments and on time, meaning no money for mods. think about it this way- if u mod the protege, with all the performance u were talking about, you will be one of the few out there. its good to be original and different

[Matthew]

there are two evo owners in this town...neither wants to talk about their evo or even stand near it when we meet up...all they want to talk about is my protege and this and that and what have i done to it :) i told them id trade my p5 for their evo any day of the week.

[MIA protege]

i wouldnt ... i know ppl going to get on me for saying that but i dont care. i love my car too much to trade it in for a car that comes decent looking and fast.

[Shades]

You suggest escaping a bad transmission by switching from a pro to an evo? That's like suggesting escaping the grocery-getter look by switching from an evo to a pro. Tranny difficulties are the #1 fall of evo racers.

SRT-4's are also PITA's... boost gauge goes out after 8K miles, vaccuum lines come undone like they were greased. Wheel hop is sh** to fix 'cause the screws on the motor mounts are made out of industrial-strength playdough. Wastegates ... I could go on for a while here...

I say if u got the pro, and u want to put the go in, stick w/ the pro. U don't gotta ditch this car to buy another car stock for the same price as urs would be AFTER u modded it so much the dealer wouldn't even recognize it anymore. Then again, that's just me :)

[TheJackyl]

Whoa, I never heard anything bout our cars having crappy trannys....So if I were to slap on a turbo and what not my tranny is gonna go?

i have an auto by the way

[damesaprotege]

Well I own a 99 se 5 spd(lowered CAI ect..) and all I can say is 201,150k thats right, and I drive it like there is no tommorow but I also dont have the hp thier either.For a stock trany........its a good one.

[Familia323]

people used to say all the time that WRXs trannies were crap too, but it just depends on how much you beat up on it.. This car is not that bad. Granted it costs a little more to get in the lower 1/4 mile times. But the KEY factor to remember with this car is ENGINE MANAGEMENT. Write that shit down, print it, fax it to yourself, take a picture just dont forget that. With proper engine management people are pulling off some good numbers safely...

Overall: FUN CAR

edit: what kind of HP/ 1/4 mile times are you looking for? I also believe that with a highboost you should make sure you look into it first. People say they have a really difficult time working with the Haltech that comes with the Highboost. If I remember correctly.

[Shane5425]

id say dont go with an EVO, mitsibishi is having alot of problems as a company and risk going under, so parts would be hard to get for a while... as for protege, i know 2 people who have evos and they like the looks of my car better

[kcbhiw]

In short, don't look at straight line performance. The Protege excels, even morso when modified, on a real course, whether it be auto-x or a true road course. The chassis is well designed and the weight is distributed very nicely for a FWD car. Do yourself a favor and toss it into a corner.

[rustychops41]

All I've heard about tranny problems is that severe auto-x maniacs have lunched the syncros by slamming it into 1st (2-1 downshift) on tighter courses, something I've never been fond of doing myself (I don't think you gain that much time, it's a torquey motor anyway). Also the SWC cars (World Challenge: Shauna Marinus, et al) were lunching some trannies, but they were working with about 240 HP. I'm at 109K miles, with frequent auto-x use (but no "tearing the sh*t out of it" type driving) and no problems, tranny or clutch yet.

[TheJackyl]

im hopin mine holds up, I mean i beat the shit out of my kia and it was auto and held up with out a damn problem i treat this car like an angel an havent had it past 80 yet an only really jumped on it once that was it....id like to get 1/4 miles around 15 or under what kinda stuff would i be looking ofr?

[SciFiMan]

Get a WRX if you want reliable and speedy transport. There isn't any way to make a Protege equal a car in the WRX class without spending more than a WRX itself. There are to many pieces to change out and/or beef up, and by then, few people could do it in a way that is still reliable for daily driving. This forum is littered with cars folks have mod'ed and then have trouble with. Fine for people that love to tinker but each has to ask themselves how much they can afford to do that.