HIN is April 13th in Seattle. We have four cars from our home town going. My buddies P5 and my MP3 then we have two WRXs following us cause if they are in front of us they will blow us away on the way there. DANG I NEED A TURBO!!!

 

I'm a sales rep for a Mazda dealer in Ottawa Canada, none of my guys know about this special edition Protege. Beware the next generation resembling something of the Focus though. The 2.3L is definitely the next engine. Do you have info on this car?

 

What will be the output of the 2.3L I4? Anybody has any ideas?

 

If the 2.3L is the same as what is coming for the Mazda 6 the hspwr should be around 160. This is the rating for the car coming in the fall.

 

At any rate its still going to be based ont eh ford focus platform.....which if it looks anything like it does now to me it looks like a big pile of anus.....thats just my opinion though.

 

Oh yeah, for sure that Focus is ugly, but I doubt it that they'll resemble each other. Didn't somebody say that Ford would let Mazda do its own thing with the small compact cars, ie. Protege.
Focus is otherwise not a bad car, just the looks

 

Mazda is *developing* the small engines and helping to *develop* the new Focus platform. They will still be built in US/Canada factories though by the UAW. The Focus and Protege will have different skin and interiors though with many shared parts and rumor is that Mazda wil be allowed to tweak the Pro's suspensions some.

 

Just want to make sure there's no confusion...

The Mazdaspeed 3 turbo Protege that's rumored to come out in '03 is STILL based on the current generation.

Somehow this thread evolved from talking about the factory-tuned Mazdaspeed 3 to the next generation Protege, the one where the platform will be shared by small cars from Ford, Mazda, and Volvo. I think the next generation Protege won't be ready til '04 the earliest, since '03 should be the last year of this generation, as shown by Mazda's traditional 4-year generation cycle for this car (91-94, 95-98, and presumably 99-03).

That's all...

 

I still think these are all rumors myself....I mean why would mazda go through all the R&D for a single year limited model protege turbo engine???? That is not cost efficient and in these days I dont' see it happening....just like the 626 MPS and the Focus RS which yes you can get but it is special order and built to order and pricey. My thoughts are still that they are goign to put a variant of the FS-ZE in it so that R&D is to a minimum. And at any rate there is still going to be Focus elements in the next protege and it will be built in teh US I believe at that point I will have to go with a WRX or import a older skyline.

 

Um, not sure what those dealers were talking about, because I spoke to someone at the Chicago Auto Show recently and they said a protege turbo sedan would be released this spring - as in,
probably, March. A run of several thousand, only, with another production run this fall.

It sounds pretty solid, and confirms what I had heard over several months at www.veh-tech.net .

The edmunds townhall has been talking about this too. I gather it would be in the 180 hp range,
with limited color options.

No word on updates to the protege 5, unfortunately.

 

If the rumors are true and this car does come about it would be a great addition to a lineup that starting in 2003 will be solid. The turbo Protege would only fill a small niche market place and the expense for Mazda would be tremendous there has to be a joint effort with Ford somewhere. Since Ford owns 33% of Mazda they are not going to let Mazda have something on their own. That's why the Escape was released 3 months ahead of the Tribute and why the MPV is a small size minivan, Ford does not want the competition. The MP3 did extremely well I still get asked at least 3 times weekly if the car is here yet, they came and went so quickly. My dealership got 3 and they were sold within 12 hours of arrival.

 

Expensive for Mazda? But ...... there are already production Proteges that have turbo on them elsewhere in the world..
Australia at least with that turbo p5 sold as a Ford Lazer, and probably turbo models in Japan as well. So there shouldn't be much if any R & D cost since it is already a done deal with the exception of bringing it to North America. Aside from the marketing which with this type of a product would need to be minimal ... look at how little advertising Nissan has done for the SR-R Spec V ... hardly one TV commercial.

 

North America is a strange market we don't get the cars the rest of the world get's. You said it yourself the Mazda is sold as a Ford. The Nissan is an oddball not to mention cheezy.

 

We don't know any confirmed details about next gen. Pro/Mazda3. So at this point all we can do is talk about our predictions of what next Pro/Mazda3 may be like.
Some folks here still don't know that next suspension for Mazda/Volvo/Ford is Ford. And it is a great very modern design, upgrade over current aging Mazda design. Engines for future Ford/Mazda will be designed mostly by Mazda. And those will be as good and modern as the suspension. What a future!
To me Focus (ZX3/5) looks great, very innovative, bold and inspiring. It is not only my opinion, it's interior/exterior got series of awards for it's looks and practicality. Whole concept of Focus (in it's original hatchback version) did a lot for all of us car enthusiasts. It did rise the bar for all sub $20K cars on world wide car markets. Unfortunately we (in N.America) got it's cheapened and poorly build version, it's a shame that Ford N.A. treats this great car as nothing but cheap econo car, the antient Escort's replacement. In Europe it's build like it should be build, and it's suspension is tuned for much more sporty ride, build quality is excelent and reliability is top notch. In U.K. Focus is on top of it's class in terms of reliability and resale value!!!
Anyway, I had 2 ZX3's in 18 months, first one got totaled in a rear collision, second one was a lemon (Ford bought it back from me after 8 months of use, and whole bunch of repairs without taking it to court!!!).
Despite all of it, I loved that car for it's unique character and despite softer N.A. suspension It handled great, mostly due to superb rear suspension along with quick and responsive steering feel.
I got P5 to replace it mostly for it's tights handling and great steering response and most important Mazda Japan great assembly/build quality.
You don't have to like Focus and it looks but if you want to stay credible you must admit it's very ambicious design. Great Job Ford Europe! We will all share some of it in next Protege/Mazda3, Focus and Volvo V50.
I'm very excited about those three great upcoming cars, Mazda3/Pro may be the best value out of that bunch, we'll see.

 

P5er, I don't think I could've said it better.... Can't wait to find out what's brewing over in Mazda's hq's in Japan/soon to be States....


Let's just hope that 2.3L I4 rated at 160hp comes out....

160hp Protege, with a posibility for a turbo on it would be sweet, damn, that thing would be pushing WRX power, just need AWD or LSD or something to keep it from trippin/slippin hehe