Its Quick, got the 1.8 dohc, and rather good gas milage. Electrically sound. light to light it cant be beat.

Cv joints go every couple of years, auto seat belts get to be a bother.

Well my family has had this car for about 9 years now and have put 160,000 miles on it, ownership transfered to me back in 98', frankly i just love this little four banger. I've recently deceded to do a full engine refurb on her and see how long she'll last from there, im very impressed. Occassionally a cv joint goes but thats about it. I plan to keep it for another 160k/9yrs whichever comes first. Reliability and speed all in one. Also i've recntly deceded to turn it into a Loud Audio platform and its been holding up very surprisingly well electrically.

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It just fun to see people's faces when you take off.

Gorgeous look, Brakes like crazy, Really comfortable, Spacy, Fully loaded, Handle like a car with top notch after market suspension, hint look at the cars sway bars ...

Not powerfull, will have to ad after market parts to make it faster. Probably the MP3 kit will be transferable.
Will be to popular.

I had a 92 protege before this one. It's absolutely nothing compareg to the P5. When i first saw the yellow car on the highway i said to myself what is that car. I got closer to it and i saw protege5. I went strait to the dealer to check it. Guys the ca had everything i was looking for in a car. Id almost bought 2 months before the Protege touring but just before getting it i deceided not to. The car was to normal. It's all different with the P5. Killer look, Huge fogs, Hatchback/wagon look and all the others goodies like 4 wheels disk brakes, 16" mags, abs ... When i look at the car i can say it looks a bit like a MKIV Golf, and olders civic 88-91. It also looks a bit like the BMW MCOUPE. Really nice Car.

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protege 92, Civic 92 sedan, Jetta, acura 1.7el

Roomy inside, looks great, descent sounding speakers(civic's no match), peppy little thing, 40-60 split rear seat, great AC.

HUBCAPS - are just wrong, could use a sunroof, why isnt't the top of the front windshield tinted? Where the hell is tachometer?! No 4 wheel disk brakes

Well, out of all the cars I've compared with Protege, the only one that stands anywhere close is a Golf (I even think it looks a bit cooler). Protege is great car(for the money) - it is probably one of the best in its class, but if you gonna buy Protege buy LX, for only $600 - 800 more you get whole motherload of options over DX. Outruns Civics at any speed, looks much better than Corollas and Civics put together, not as boring as a Sentra. I'm not mentioning Mirage cause that's a shame on Mitsubishi. I was surprised by how much power the engine delivers. This little 1.6 thing makes the car very peppy, although a bit bigger engine wouldn't hurt:). It vibrates a bit when idling, but hey this is not a $60K Mercedes! The best part is Interior, although not as expensive looking as VW Golf's Audi wannabe insides, it is definitely much more apealing than Civic's horrible, horrible interior, or Corolla that has all this cheap plastic and unusable controls and stupid design. One thing for sure is that 1.6L I4 can only be combined with 5 speed! Oterwise you loose most of the Protege's advantages. Also, somebody should let Mazda know, that they make the ugliest hubcaps on this planet, they make the car so much simpler looking than it actualy is!

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'01 Civic DX, '01 Focus, '01 Golf GL, '01 Corolla, '01 Mirage, '01 Sentra'

Acceleration, interior comforts, and trunk space for a small car.

Not being able to get to engine areas due to small engine compartment.

Great car for it's size. I have always been a truck and muscle car man myself. 2 years ago my truck took a dump and I bought the car to get around. Right away I found it had great handling and acceleration. It's no GTO or Chevell SS but for a stock 4 banger it gets up and gos.

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Hond Civic, Escort zx-2

handling,braking, Racing Beat exhaust, sound system, MPG

needs about 20 more horsepower

Mazda and Racing Beat have done a wonderful job converting of transforming the Protoge into a real road warrior.It handles with the best of cars. It's just down on horsepower a bit. (but Im working on that!!)
I'm so happy with it's performance that I'm going to race it in SOLO I events.Also, the 280 watt Kenwood Z919 Excelon System with MP3 audio capabalities and 100 watt subwoofer rocks!!
Im convinced it's the best buy for the buck out there.

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Very limited quantities...does not have peers

Reliable!!! To the extreme!!! Good handling.

A bit underpowered.

The best car I have ever owned. Only one problem in 70,000 miles (because wife dodn't change the break pads and ate a rotor). The car is a bit on the slow side, but fast enough to "pretend" you are going fast. Handles really well for an economy car.

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Mazda RX-7... similar? Much slower :-)

Strong engine.European style(I am from Europe).Very good quality.The car has its own personality and is not Toyota Corolla(boooring!!!)or Honda Civic(weak,2001 looking weird,overpriced and overestimated).

The most underestimated car in its category.Pretty bad marketing srategy by MAZDA.

Poor man Audi.This car is really what compact(midsize?)car supposed be about.Very nice interior and exterior style.Very fresh look.Outstanding qulity for this class of vahicle. I and my family LOOOVE!!! our BABY PRO.
Highly recomended for future Honda and Toyota buyers.

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Honda Cyvic 1990 had it for five years,very good car(280000 KM)but no much for my new BABY MADA PRO 2000 LX(ES)

Steering and Handling are excellent. I read three reviews that called the Protege "a BMW at 1/3 the price", and that's no exageration. The interior is incredibly spacious and comfortable, and just feels like a quality car. As far as options go, the ES package gives you everything you could want, incl. ABS, 4 wheel disc brakes, CD player, keyless entry, etc.

Performance wise, I've got no gripes, but who wouldn't want some more horses under the hood? I think 150 or so would be perfect. My only other compaints are A: Insurance costs seem pretty high for this car, and B: I wish it came with an alarm (The keyless entry has a panic button, but that's it.)

When I lost my 89 Jetta in a fire, I saved up, and started looing for a new car. The only new VW I could afford was the GOLF GL, but its lack of features left me cold. Then, I read a glowing review of the Protege. I did some research, and after reading dozens more postive reviews, I test drove a Golf and a Protege back to back. There was no contest... the Protege was much more fun to drive. My car is silver, and it just screams quality. It has a classy, "European" look similar to an Audi A4 or a BMW 3 series. Car and Driver named the Protege number one in its class, and if you look at it next to a Civic or Corolla, its easy to see why. Just when you zip it around a few corners, and you'll be hooked.

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I test drove a Honda Civic, a Toyota Corolla, and VW GOLF GL. Out of all of them, the Protege felt the most like a "real car". I don't feel like I sacrificed anything in this car, and I got a great deal at Thousand Oaks Mazada as well. Totally no pressure and hassle free.

Handling - Best handling car I've ever owned by far. This thing corners at high speeds with amazing ease.
Interior/ Exterior - Styling is excellent. Seats are very comfortable - and cradle you like true sports sedan. Side skirts, fog lights and front fascia are very attractive. Looks like the BMW Z (M) Coupe.
Mileage - seems to very good, but not excellent.
Fun to drive - with a great (and low) view of the road - this car is just fun to drive overall.

Power - Just wish it had 25 more horses. The engine is still very peppy, but a 150-175 hp product would have been amazing!

Just got my Proteg5 and I love it! Can you believe I used to own a Nissan Maxima and I actually prefer my little Protege5?

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Ford Focus - better handling, better styling
Honda Civic - less power, boring styling

Drives GREAT, quiet engine, GREAT handling (was used to the HEAVY v-8 t bird), euro looking, good gas mileage, great sound system (came w/ stock cd and pioneer speakers) VERY VERY ROOMY INSIDE for a compact car.

NONE, my lx 2.0 is the same as the ES w/o the spoiler and white faced gauges (which are also way tight) only mine was about 2 grand cheaper. the wost thing about buy this car was exactly a week later the dealership i bought it from gave away big screen tv's with the purchase of any new car.

Had my 97 thunderbird for about 1 year, and loved it, but the trans. started to shift funky (was warned the tbirds transmissions were crap) the air went for no apperant reason and the thing was a gas hog, needed something efficent, did MUCH research on economy cars and compact cars, found the protege had very good ratings, (my father owns a 98 mazda truck and has given him 0 problems) so i decided to test drive one, and fell in love with it. It was a Very tight looking car, european looking. bigger engine and more loaded than a civic at a lower cost. I was on 3rd car and looking for reliability in a good looking car, hopefully i've got it in the protege, test drove the regular lx model with a 1.6 litre engine, which was also zippy, but went up to the lx 2.0 model w/ the sunroof, alloy wheels, and a MORE zippy 2.0 130 horsepower engine for about 1500 more (payments went up 25 bucks a mo.)

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92 geo storm (first car), i didn't want to buy the first thing i saw, so i went across the street to the toyota dealer and looked at the corolla's, looked at the ce model and it was way cheap lookin, wasn't as fun as the protege, but the dude showed me to the, more fun to drive corolla sport, new for 2001, it was alright, but nothing compared to the protege, i love this car, my advice is to get one now!