Old car comparisons

S

sttl013

I've owned my Protege5 since mid-June, and sold my '95 Honda Civic to aquire this car. So I felt I'd share some comparisons, the good, the bad, and the neutral, and invite others to share theirs.
Driver's "cockpit": the P5 feels 10 times better than the Civic. White face guages, cool steering wheel, and with a little modification, a nice shifter. My Civic was really plain, with crappy seats that hurt on long trips. The only thing I liked better was that the shifter in my Civic didn't move around at all, and the one in the P5 moves all over, when I accelerate or engage the clutch.
Power: we all know the P5 needs more power, but the stock Civic vs stock P5 are really equal. Once parts start becoming more available, it should be about the same results.
Looks: not even close. The first time I saw a picture of the Protege5, I knew the Civic was gone.
Suspension: I think it needs a little more work than most people do, but then again, I'm a road-course guy. My Civic had an independent double-wishbone setup, and in my opinion was the #1 attribute to the car. It's gonna take a little work to match up to that. The Civic also used a limited-slip differential in the transmission, and the P5 uses and open diff. This means the inside and outside wheels react differently to each other in a turn than I was used to, and took a little getting used to. I prefer the lim.-slip.
So, really all around it was definitely worth changing up to the P5. Let's hear your comparisons and opinions!
 
Hey!!! I sold my 95 Honda Civic and got this car too!!! Never looked back. The P5 looks way better.

Yeah, the seats are amazingly comfortable. I used to drive 3 hr trips in my Civic and i feel tired. I recently did the same trip in my P5 and I felt like i could go 3 hrs more! (maybe it's just the new-car syndrome) :)

About the handling, yeah, it's different than the civic. But now i'm gettin used to it and i think it handles very neutrally. The P5 body is way more solid than my civic. The civics are like tin cans and can dent very easily.

Power wise, the P5 has more torque than the civic, although both are around 130hp. So it's nice to drive around traffic.

Hehe, i could go on and on like an energizer bunny... :)
 
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