I've been in the process of trying to decide what car to buy for a couple months. These are my opinions on the comparison between the two.

Reliability is about equal.

Value goes to Mazda (you get alot more for the money, 16inch wheels, rear spoiler (on sedan), 4wheel disc brakes, etc..)

Civic is more economical as far as mpg goes.

The Honda Civic coupe (with rear oem spoiler) in my opinion looks the best out of all the civic and protege combinations.

The proteges have noticably more power.

If you plan on getting a stickshift, the honda manual transmission feels better.

You'll be more unique if you get a protege cuz there are a lot more civic's on the road.

You'll get more variety in performance parts because like I just said there are a lot more civics, there fore more demand.

They are nearly equal to me. As of now, I'm leaning towards a protege ES.

 

My biggest reasoning was the sleeper factor, then the price. I origionally went to look @ a Tiby V6 6 speed. But the mazdas looked better, were better priced, and were more comfortable. And with the lower payment, that ment MORE MODS! LOL

 

lol you can't compare,

Honda will always be the better car, Comes from Years of Leading the pack in R&D.

Stroke for stroke, under the hood Honda should be king over all else, at least in the asian import market. Mazda, I guess they have the advantage of a really successful Market Branding and great styling for their models.

thats about it lol,

But one thing I can say is , you will pay more for a honda but your getting every bit of worth out of those extra dollars.

I can't even really think of a problem with hondas, Except the fact that if you crash them, your gonna pay lol hahha yikes expensive fender benders lol

 

Yeah, mabey. But Hondas are SOOOOOOOO played out. Plus the Protege 5 walkes the (all mighty ) new SI. With a cheeper insurance rate too. IMO, the protege is the better buy.

 

I have a feeling the guy already bought a car the last post on this thread was from March-9th-2002, 11:09 AM....

 

Mazda sold over 100,000 protege's in 2002 and even more in 2003 !! Where do you get your figures ???

 

LOL



I never even considered a Civic!! I would never ever consider a Civic!!

 

lol, yah but still, civics are not an option in my opinion, not only are they cliche, but um yah they have no torque. Maybe the guy got his figures halfway through 2002 or something and that how many they had sodl to that point, and then he compared it to the 300k thats sold each year on hondas behalf. Hmm thats an interesting comparison.

 

lol what the hell are we comparing here lol

are we talking about the better car? overall, power / torque / upgradeability

what give a topic

 

Just overall. I would rather own a mazda over any honda period. And sure if u wanna go into one specific topic lets talk performance. Okay well stock were looking at high numbers in horsepower and torque between teh civic and protege, as well as the civic SI and the new mazda3S. Also mazda made it to the top 4 at the SPEED World Challenge this year, Honda sure didn't, and thats with their new SI goign up against proteges. Proteges handle beter than civics as well, the wWorld Challenge is more proof of that fact. And please don't bring up other cars liek the RX-8, we all know they are slower than the S2000, Mazda screwed up on the power in that car (i do however love it, my dad has one and driving it is a blast) but I don't think all out performance was what mazda was really looking for in that car. HEll if they wanted power they couldve just thrown a turbo on their Renesis and it would outperform any RX-7 and every other car in its class, but IMO I think mazda was just trying something new, I think teh rx-8 will get bettter in time. Anyway thats my 2 cents

 

This has to be the biggest load of crap ever ! Sorry to rant on you but it's hard to begin with how assinine(sp?) that statement was.

Honda will not always be the better car and has not been in the past....Last review of the Protege had it as the king over every car in it's class...every production year from 1990 to 2003 the Protege was a better handling car, with a more torquey engine,lower price, and just as high or higher ranked in reliability over the Civic. Honda doesn't "lead the pack" in R & D...Do you really think that Honda has deeper pockets than Toyota or Ford ?? Honda just sells more cars than Mazda because of "Perceived quality". People believe Honda's quality is higher, while the actual numbers say otherwise...Heck they aren't even tops in perceived quality, Toyota is. Funny thing is you talk about Honda's are expensive to repair...One of the biggest reasons that Civics are so huge in the tuner market is because they are CHEAP to fix. I can think of a problem with Honda's...they are usually lacking in power...most of the time they have been produced, they were one of the lowest powered cars even in their own class,save VTEC models...Honda's original claim to fame was that they were good on gas, not powerful, and they still have no real commitment to performance..the current SI is a joke, and if you notice the tuner market for the most part has overlooked it

 

Well Macdaddyslomo, I didn't really take offence at all to your responce, and I beleive a topic such as this is really something that can be debated feircely on both ends. And to be honest I don't care, I own 3 cars, A acura TL, a Mazda Pro, and a Honda Civic Si, and all I can say is they all have their pluses and their drawbacks. But it was recless of me to make such a sweeping generalization. and for that I applogize to all.

but with the topics you just mention you refer to preception which is fine. But its really what matters more to a paticular driver, (someone on a budget, a tuner, a family man, whatever)

Power? or Effiency? if you ask me its one in the same, it still equates to performance just depends on your perspective....



Reliability = well that would really depend on the driver right, haha funniest thing someone told me one day when I was 15 , and my uncle was teaching me to drive, he said this clutch right here is something that can either last you 100 years or a few months, it depends on how fast you learn and if you handle it well. and I bleeive that for pretty much the whole car, maintainence and everything.

Hmmm claims of reliability, well I must admit the 323 is one of the worlds most popular car, I found out this in South america on a trip down there, people know the car well. so I guess my claim with Honda and Mazda would have to be researched further.


Anyways moving on, I guess I am speaking from personal experience and thats really all I have to draw upon, but my person bias is that in regards to performance, I would still edge with Honda, but only because of the aftermarket element. And I have spent alot of time around perosnal friends who own there HOndas and tune them. and I must admit I am in luv with CRX and Del Sols lol but hey thats just me, everyone has their own poison right, what they just flat out want or perfer? (shaken not stired)

But the one thing that won me over into buying a Mazda was mazda's new corp branding and image, and styling. HOnestly the 323 is greats reinvented car on the road, Protege and now the Mazda 3 are well on their way. I cant speak of reliability because I have had a few things that have bugged me recently with my 2001 protege, with the Radiator leaking, Exhaust pipe leak. but hey , **** happens and I don't think its really leads to a red flag against mazda. what do they say in my car insurance policy in terms of damage, (acts of god) lol I beleive in that. god damn winter salt.

I still luv my mazda and still stand by both my cars. as something I would own. lol but please don't get me started on Ford lol H eard that somewhere in your post lol...

I drive my cars the same way and I call it as I see it, but if i had to pick all overagain, I would choose the Honda EX over the Protege, for long term economical choice, fuel and long life. (if well maintained)

Both cars will last long but my personal experiences say honda will win that one.

 

I agree with your statement there Tyrael, I thing that in recent years mazda has taken quite a few step ups or in some cases surpassed alot of titles once held by honda and toyota. and one thing I applaued Mazda doing is giving alot at the stock level for their cars. I feel like I got alot of value or bang for my buck when I bought my 2001 Protege ES. features vs cost. I think I paid 18000 after tax and got oil changes for 5 years lol, heheh I luv haggling with those starved sales people hahah

One thing is for sure, I am god damn terrified of what Honda has planned for 2006, with their major redesign its scaring the **** outta me, has anyone seen the leaked pictures , are they for real :S

 

mazda rules

honda drools

 

No fair , Rod is giving Mazda a Unfair Supercharged advantage lol