#02 MAZDA PROTEGE DRIVER#

Overview | Should You Buy This Car? | SpecsĪs we mentioned at the top of this story, this car could use a larger fifth gear so that the rpm would be lower at highway speeds. And the cup holders are in front of the stick shift, but forward enough to avoid banged knuckles. There are many smart cubbies in the cabin as well, like right beside the driver's left knee. Mazda engineers made the best use of space in this car, with 60/40 split folding rear seats (the bench also splits and folds forward, so you have a completely flat load area) to get the most use from the back hatch, and a rear-door opening that cants forward so you don't have to strain your back to load groceries.

#02 MAZDA PROTEGE DRIVER#

The driver should also find things pretty comfy, with wider bolsters than in many sporty models and a bucket seat that tilts as well as slides, so you can get the leg bolsters just right and raise or lower the bench as headroom demands. This is the benefit of the hatch format, which adds about 10 more cubic feet of cargo space than you'd have if this car had a trunk (the cargo volume is just under 20 cubic feet, about the same as what you'd find in the trunk of a Ford Crown Victoria), and also makes the cabin feel extra roomy.īackseaters won't be treated to a huge amount of legroom, but for teenage kids there's enough space to prevent whining. You feel like your $16K is well spent, with simple but sharp velour fabric interior and suede-like door inserts, a silver, plastic center dash binnacle that looks cool rather than econo and smartly styled gauges and switches that reflect the good-times demeanor of the rest of the package.Īnd although the 5 fits into the EPA's compact category, with 112.8 cubic feet of total volume, the car feels fairly spacious. That's because all the elements are there, like sharp feedback from the steering you might expect to find in a more powerful car, the excellent transmission (save for throws from fifth to third gear, which seemed a bit notchy in our tester) and an excellent suspension that countered roll even in tight, off-camber turns in our usual test circuit, which have fazed cars with much sportier pretenses.Īnd although we'd like more output, the capable, 130-horsepower, 2.0-liter motor is set up to hit its torque peak at a manageable 4,000 rpm, so you aren't deaf by the time the power comes on.īesides driving fun, the Protege5 gives good vibes for quality. Head down the road in the Protege5, and the first thing that becomes clear is that with an extra 75 horsepower this car could easily chase down BMWs.

How bright? Come along for the test drive and find out.įrom The Driver's Seat | Should You Buy This Car? | Specs Whatever the case, the Protege5 is a bright prospect. (We will give the hatch movement a closer look in the near future and try to answer this question in greater detail.) What gives? Weren't car companies telling us that hatchbacks were dead just a few years ago? Well, clearly more than one carmaker has woken up to the possibility that this format not only works but is far sexier than the wagon. There's the pricier Acura RSX Type S we told you about Ford's Focus now comes in a hatch version (called the ZX5), which is much sharper-looking and more utile than the Focus with a trunk the racy Subaru WRX now comes in a five-door the newest Honda, the Civic Si, will come out as a hatch only starting around December and, of course, the Mini Cooper will arrive next year as the hatchback of the decade (at least that's the hope of parent company BMW). Great cockpit, handy layout, tight steering and suspension.īuzzy engine at speed relatively low horsepower output despite displacement.Īnd luckily this hot hatch is just one of many new, inexpensive, trunkless cars to arrive. Sure, there are some shortcomings: There could be more power, and we wish that fifth gear functioned more like an overdrive, dropping revs below the buzzy range at 70 mph on the freeway. So what's on the table? A five-door, $16,535 hatchback with decent power, great utility and very strong handling, all trimmed out with a high-quality interior and exterior and a sporty look. Well, Mazda has a variation on the MP3 Protege called the Protege5 that we like even more, mainly because it riffs off what the four-door Protege does so well and makes it even better, but keeps the overall price tag nice and low.

02 mazda protege