Mazda Protegé 2003

For the past two years, a 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege (MSP) has crouched in my garage like a brooding Halloween pumpkin. I've always enjoyed reading (and benefited from) owner reviews on cars I was considering buying, so I thought I'd take a crack at writing my own. Hopefully you'll find it both interesting and useful.

Mazda nicknamed this car the "Spicy Orange" for its bright metallic paint job, and this special edition Protege came with a number of performance enhancements, including a 2.0 litre turbocharged engine, stiffer suspension, and 17" rims. Only 1,000 were sold in Canada, and they were released in two batches (2003 and 2003.5, six months later). In the Mazda family tree, they are the predecessor to the late-model Mazdaspeed 3, though the styling is very different.

On the inside you'll find a very comfortable leather wrapped steering wheel, along with some two-tone cloth seats, both with colour-matched stitching which looks pretty cool. The gauges are straightforward, if a bit sparse. The glove box and storage compartments are adequate. I miss the sunroof and heavily-bolstered Recaro seats in my old GTI, but it's not a bad interior. Rear passenger legroom is ample, and the trunk is very spacious. So carrying friends and cargo is easy.

As a result of all the mechanical tweaking, the MSP get an engine which launches the car forward with a pretty mean kick, and a cornering dynamic that's probably the best I've ever driven. The steering is very precise, and you can feel a great deal of what's going on underneath your tires. This really is a race-prepped street car, and the giant tail on the back is a not-too-subtle message to those around you that this car was built for speed. In fact, when you've got a wide open road with a series of twisties, there are few cars in the price range that would be more fun.

Unfortunately, most of us drive in the real world, which features more traffic lights than sweeping apexes. And in the urban environment, this car can be a bit of a handful. The first problem is that Mazda chose to give this car a stiff clutch - presumably to handle the stress from the turbo. They also rummaged around the bin and found what must be the most notchy gearbox ever made. When these two elements are combined, it makes shifting a bit of a stressful affair. As a result, this is probably not the best choice as someone's first car. You'll need some experience to drive this car smoothly. I've got more than twenty years under my belt, and I still miss shifts on this car. It's a shame that Mazda didn't solve this problem before production, as it takes away from what should be an exceptional driving experience.

The official fuel economy figures for the Canadian market put this car at 10.0/7.3 litres per 100kms in the city and highway runs (30/24 MPG in the USA). In my experience, this is pretty much bang on. Which is to say, it's not exactly a "green" vehicle, but it does well given the power that the turbo will deliver on demand. From a maintenance standpoint, the car was wonderful right up until the gearbox self-distracted last month. $2,100 later, the long-term costs has now shifted significantly into the "average" range.

Fit and finish is quite good. The paint still looks great - especially when it sparkles in the sun - even after seven years on the road. The interior is fairly solid, though the doors feel a bit tinny when closed, and the seat trim has a tendency to crack in stress points over time. The instrument panel glows the same orange colour at night, which looks cool. But the dimmer control limits the intensity just a bit below what I'd consider optimal brightness. Dashboard controls are simple, and work well.

The stock sound system for this car was an 8-speaker setup with additional sub-woofer in the trunk. The previous owner saw fit to remove the bass element before trading in the car, so I can't say I've experienced the full package in this car. But even without the woofer, the sound is fairly good. A lot of the early reviews talked about the hopelessly finicky head unit, and this is pretty much true. Most owners will probably swap this out for something more user-friendly.

Overall, I'd say the 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege is a good value sport sedan with a few issues. The strengths include some decent build quality, strong engine and great handling. On the down side, that clutch/gearbox combo is a handful, and will make tiresome work of a long urban commute. So if you're looking for a practical four-door with some bite to it, this might be an inexpensive entry into the segment. And hey, if you ever forget where you parked it, you can spot the "Spicy Orange" from space.