Protégé is Gone but 3 is Still Class Leader
If you want to see a carmaker's true colors, what it's really made of, don't look to its flagship sedan or SUV. Instead, take a wander across the showroom to an entry level model. Is it enticing? Does it make you want to buy into the brand? More often than not, it doesn't.
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| If you want to see a carmaker's true colors just spend some time checking out their entry level model; Mazda has this category nailed. (Photo: Mazda) |
The grim reality is that some car companies do a great job building cars that normal folks drive, and others, well they've got some serious homework to do. Mazda, on the other hand, has done so well in the cheap seats it deserves to skip a grade.
I've had at least a half dozen or so Protegé test cars over the years, falling head over heals for each one. In recent years the styling has been sharp, interior design trend setting, and materials much better than average. They're real driver's cars too, fantastic in the corners, slick shifting manual transmissions and responsive engines, if sometimes a little low on power. And I'm not the only admirer. The majority of top-10 lists across the continent feature the little Mazda among the chosen - it doesn't happen by chance.
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| The well respected Protegé nameplate is on the way out, and will be replaced by a simple '3'. (Photo: Mazda) |
Neither has its replacement. It's been a long time coming, but looks easily worth the wait. Mazda execs must have spent long sleepless nights sweating over the name change. After all, most rival automakers would gladly trade in their compact offerings for half the respect the Protegé has garnered, and to be changing the name to a simple 3, losing the previous model's brand identity in the process, must have been a tough decision. But just one car can't stand in the way of the entire nameplate's progress, thus 3 it is. And just the same, something tells me it'll have no problems developing a following all its own.
