gene in cincinnati said:
Yeah. I would rather get a used 99 or 00 Audi A4 1.8 Quattro Turbo. You can easily chip it to 207hp and a 240 plus lb/ft of torque. Not bad for a less than $22,000 investment. Plus, it's a proven aftermarket platform, compared to the Protege.
The 3rd gen Protege might not be a totally proven platform, yet. But it's getting there. Mazda put the Protege in the SPEED World Touring Car Championship for a reason. To show just what the Protege is capable of.
The 1st and 2nd gen Proteges have a decent after market following. Is it as big as Honda's for the same time period of cars, no, but it is growing.
If you read articles from magazines back when the first Protege came off the line in 1990, everyone loved it. It handled better than any other car in it's class. And that was stock. As the Protege aged, every iteration was received favorably by the automotive press. Mostly for it's stiff chassis and nice suspension. Something the other cars in it's class couldn't touch from the factory.
The closest car I think to get close would be the Corolla with the TRD package. But even then, that car is loose with the TRD stuff in it. The chassis wasn't designed for those parts or that stiff of a spring IMHO.
And, as for the Audi thing, that car weighs a lot and also has the dis/advantage of all-wheel drive. Sure you can boost the power easy enough, but it needs a lot more power to over come the huge drive train losses. Don't get me wrong, I love Audi (I have since 1984), but the A4 1.8T isn't the best platform to work with from them. And the maintenance costs on an Audi will easily cost twice as much for anything on the same year Protege.
I'm happy with my decision to buy Mazda products. I just wish I had the money to get the Mazdaspeed Protege as well.