I had an opportunity to drive and ride in the Mazdaspeed Protege today during their training near San Francisco. I can only describe the car as "awesome."
The biggest revelation for me was how well integrated and refined the car felt. Depite all of the aftermarket-sourced components, the car really felt as if it had years of development behind it.
Like the previous post mentioned, we had four people in the car during the drive, so it felt a bit more sluggish than during "normal" driving. Still, the midrange pull was really strong. I like the way a turbo motor will pull at freeway speeds by engaging the turbo with little rise in engine note. The car was very smooth, so it's possible that it was faster than it felt.
I was concerned that the ride would be too harsh after reading Car and Driver's review. However, we all commented about how smooth the ride was. Granted, we were on Northern California pavement rather than Detroit potholes, but we did hit some rough spots and the car seemed to float over the bumps very well while still exhibiting tremendous lateral grip and very little body roll.
I only had two small gripes:
One: I would like a better exhaust note. The car sounded tougher than my stock Protege5, but still had very little sound to speak of. This is great on the freeway, where there is no booming, but not quite as fun as the exhaust sound of the SVT Focus (for comparison). I imagine the turbocharger helps muffle the sound more and may be part of the "problem." An easy fix if one must have more noise.
Two: the stereo head-unit controls are ludicrous. The writing on the buttons is impossible to read and the menu controls are cryptic and illogical. I imagine that a day or two of living with this would help overcome the confusion, but still... The radio controls on the stock factory radio are so simple, I can't comprehend why this head unit can't be tied into extra amps and a bit of MP3 software.
The radio did sound great, however, and the integrated subwoofer/amp mounted under the rear parcel shelf (leaves the trunk floor unobstructed) works great. Additionally, the mounting system has a steel bar integrated into it that helps to stiffen the rear of the chassis (like a shock-tower brace for the back of the car).
The new Mazda badges and logo are no longer chrome on the MS... they look like brushed aluminum and have a nice matte grey finish. The shock-tower brace under the hood and the brake calipers are also painted silver. Many of us thought these would look great painted in orange, but nobody asked us.
Oh yea, that spicy orange color has to be seen in person to believe. Tons of metal flake and a really deep clear coat. We had a great sunny day which really made the color pop. It almost seems to change color depending on the angle of the light and it really grew on me. I don't know if I would want to live with this color long term, but suffice to say that I don't really fall into the target age demographic for this car and the black mica also looks great as another option.
The biggest revelation for me was how well integrated and refined the car felt. Depite all of the aftermarket-sourced components, the car really felt as if it had years of development behind it.
Like the previous post mentioned, we had four people in the car during the drive, so it felt a bit more sluggish than during "normal" driving. Still, the midrange pull was really strong. I like the way a turbo motor will pull at freeway speeds by engaging the turbo with little rise in engine note. The car was very smooth, so it's possible that it was faster than it felt.
I was concerned that the ride would be too harsh after reading Car and Driver's review. However, we all commented about how smooth the ride was. Granted, we were on Northern California pavement rather than Detroit potholes, but we did hit some rough spots and the car seemed to float over the bumps very well while still exhibiting tremendous lateral grip and very little body roll.
I only had two small gripes:
One: I would like a better exhaust note. The car sounded tougher than my stock Protege5, but still had very little sound to speak of. This is great on the freeway, where there is no booming, but not quite as fun as the exhaust sound of the SVT Focus (for comparison). I imagine the turbocharger helps muffle the sound more and may be part of the "problem." An easy fix if one must have more noise.
Two: the stereo head-unit controls are ludicrous. The writing on the buttons is impossible to read and the menu controls are cryptic and illogical. I imagine that a day or two of living with this would help overcome the confusion, but still... The radio controls on the stock factory radio are so simple, I can't comprehend why this head unit can't be tied into extra amps and a bit of MP3 software.
The radio did sound great, however, and the integrated subwoofer/amp mounted under the rear parcel shelf (leaves the trunk floor unobstructed) works great. Additionally, the mounting system has a steel bar integrated into it that helps to stiffen the rear of the chassis (like a shock-tower brace for the back of the car).
The new Mazda badges and logo are no longer chrome on the MS... they look like brushed aluminum and have a nice matte grey finish. The shock-tower brace under the hood and the brake calipers are also painted silver. Many of us thought these would look great painted in orange, but nobody asked us.
Oh yea, that spicy orange color has to be seen in person to believe. Tons of metal flake and a really deep clear coat. We had a great sunny day which really made the color pop. It almost seems to change color depending on the angle of the light and it really grew on me. I don't know if I would want to live with this color long term, but suffice to say that I don't really fall into the target age demographic for this car and the black mica also looks great as another option.
