I too took a ride in the mazda speed protege.
The Car itself is so stiff and rigid that you do not feel any sense of real speed which can be good or bad depending on your preference.

The body is god dam Stiff that any acceleration is transfered right to the wheels.

Handling feels like its pulling around .90 g's on the skid , slalom speed most likely around 70 mph or greater.
The tires I would change right away and go with something better.

As for the acceleration I think with a normal start , not winding up the turbo and dropping the clutch 0-60 high 7's.

Winding up the turbo is a different story. Im sure you could get 0-60 times under 7 seconds with proper launch. Im almost certain that adding just an air intake will yield 10 hp. The turbo kicks in around 3300 rpm, but its just like when it kicks in the rpms just increase and and hit redline real quickly and you dont realize how fast you are going.

Gearing seems to be more sport like , not sure if its different then normal 5 speed.

The orange color looks much better in person.
People in car audio wouldnt be impressed with the sound, just your basic off the shelf kenwood stuff. Nice how the integrated into rear deck. The REAR deck RATTLES LIKE A Bastard thoe.

Conclusion :
Needs increased boost , blow off valve, exhaust is good enough, air intake , and better tires.
For 20 K you can't beat it thoe.
Enjoy

 

Palm Beach

 

I think if they thew some lightweight 15's on there that car would also be a lot quicker, big rims are good for handling , but not really acceleration .. I imagine you were still able to chirp second though
bruce
I should buy one

 

Yeah, it probably just vents into the airbox so you can't really hear it, swapping to a CAI would fix that hehe.

 

Yeah , it has one but not like an aftermarket one.

BLITZ BABY

 

Not to be an ***, but I don't really see the point unless you are boosting too much for the bov to handle which wouldn't be likely.

 

Its to get the sound of the air escaping , people love that psssssstttt sound.

 

sound does not equal fury.

 

Yeah, you can get that too if you don't have it release into the air box. On my FD, it was quiet until I put on a CIA, now it makes the pssssssssssttt sound. Now there would be a difference in sound on different units, but its not as different or as important as lets say an exhaust, or atleast thats what I think. I do agree with you that I like the sound though

 

Well I guess thats all in the eye of the beholder, does it become a BOV if you remove the air box? I haven't seen this unit of course so I'm at some disadvantage and am hopefully not spreading missinformation, but I will say that the stock setup on an FD is to vent into the airbox.

 

I heard the gearbox was unchanged except for the LSD

 

So same gearing then , they should have put a 6 speed in there.
2nd gear is holding this car up.

 

I would disagree

given I have not driven the Mazdaspeed yet, most modern turbocharged cars have a nice flat torque curve. A flat torque curve and a closer ratio 6 cog would be too much shifting I would think. With a broader torque band you don't need to keep the revs in a small range to get the best acceleration or power delivery. This was my biggest complaint about the SE-R Spec V's box. Nice meaty torque from 2.5L, but 49mph in second gear. It felt like the car was just reving not really accelerating. The more you shift, the more time is being wasted not accelerating. A B18C5 truly deserves a 6sp. box, but I am happy with the turbo FS's 5sp. This would become much more apperant with some mods to increase hp.

You may be right though, I have not driven it and I am not positve the ratio's are the same. And it could be that it needs another gear because of the turbo spoolup. Was the 1st to 2nd shift at redline dropping the revs below the turbos ability to send enough air?

 

1 gear went to around 35 , shifted then RPM dropped to around 3200 rpm , which is a little out of turbo spool range.

But it could be the perfect spot cause its right before its kicks in few hundred rpms before .

I dont know thoe I just felt like 2nd gear was too long went to around sixty something miles per hour

Think should be 1st gear 32 , 2nd gear 62, 3rd 85 , 4th 100 , 5 top speed overdrive or am I wrong?

 

that sounds good to me. I guess it is a preference on the driver. I think 5 forward gears is plenty in our cars, especially with a turbo. If some more power was added to a mazdaspeed, it would really take advantage of the longer gearing.

What did you think about the steering? R&T claims it is a little slower, steering wise, than the MP3? They said a combo of the LSD and a revised rack made it lose some of the flickability of the MP3? Did you feel anything like that. That is the only mag I have seen even comment on it.