I love the P5, and plan to get one just as soon as my bank statement says i can.

but my question is this, is it worth it to wait for the 2004 P5 with the 2.3L engine. last i heard it will have 150ish hp and 150ish, giv or take ft.lbs of torque. it is a little chunky, and was wondering if the new engine will really make that big of a difference.

does anyone have any speculations about what it will perform like? i know its a bit too soon to realy contemplate it, i mean the mazda 6 baseline featuring the 2.3 isnt even out yet.

im hoping itll perform similar to the new civic si, in the abolute best case, like a miata in the 1/4. by the by im using the 1/4 mile figures i got out of a magazine for the miata, and maitregs website for the civic si. so something in the 15.9-16.2 range id think. or id hope rather.

also what do you tihnk the increase in price will be? $500? $1000?

or do you think it matters which one? the 2.0 or the 2.3?

bit of a ramble, but there it is.

lemme know what you think.

 

its ALL 100% speuclation now.....we don't have a clue as to what its even going to look like!

 

This 2.3L Mazda has been out in Europe for couple of months and it has 166hp @ 6500rpm and 0-62mph takes 9.0 sec .Rumous say there's 225hp motor coming.... let's see if it will ever be in Protege.
Protege with that engine and 4wd would be nice

 

This is all personal experience but I wouldn't wait for it. Too much speculation, and I've always had bad luck with cars during their first year, or the first year of a change or whatever. Stick with the 2.0L its tried, tested, and loved by many.

 

The engines you are talking about are the engines planned for the new Mazda6. I personally haven't heard a thing about either of these engines going into the protege. I would tend to doubt that they are because the 2.0L is already a relatively new engine in North America. I don't think they would just scrap a 3 year old engine. They'll probably keep the 2.0L around a few more years until they get thier money's worth out of it.

 

If you keep waiting and waiting for the next best thing you won't ever get one. Buy one and enjoy it

 

think of hhe honeys u get. A lot more than b 4..for sure. It's not worth waiting....

 

So they've stuck the new 2.3 in the BJ-series cars? Or is this in the new Mazda 6?

 

The 2.0 has been around in the United States for quite awhile. Heard of the 626? Same 2.0L.

 

could try and get the mazda speed protege 170HP and its turbo with LSD

 

It's in Mazda6, don't know anything about new Protege (Mazda 3) but there should be 4wd option

 

Ahhh yes, you're right. I still tend to think they're not going to put the 2.3 in the proteges. If you put that engine in, say, a P5, then what is point of producing the Mazda6. They're going to be at the same price point. They have to keep the 2.0 in the Protege to keep it at a lower price point than the Mazda6.

 

They won't put the 2.3L in the protege simply beacause it's the "lowest" on the fleet latter. If they did put the 2.3 in the Protege, then what would they put in the Mazda 6???? a 350hp beast??? And what would go in their main zoom~zoom seller the miata, after all a sedan can't be more powerfull than the sportscar. It's great to think that an upgrade like that will be comin our way but it's not b/c we drive the smallest sedan they make, albeit the most fun too.

Wishfull thinking though. I'm thinking the highest they will go with the Pro w/ any engine ever is 180-200hp simply b/c they are not selling a sports car here, just a sporty fun car.

 

Not to mention, the 2.3 doesn't match up to the protege's tranny. I highly doubt they're going to do such a drastic redesign.

 

Why would you think this wouldn't be a drastic redesign? This is the 4 year redesign which is typically the drastic redesign. Especially since apparently we are supposed to be moving over to a platform compatible at least with the Focus and possibly even the S40. Still it is all speculation. But if we do move over to the same platform I would expect we would have a little more power than the non-SVT Focus and a better suspension. And if we follow a little bit of Mazda history we will probably end up with the 2.3L (possibly detuned) as the new engine of choice for our cars. The 2.0 is getting a little dated and Mazda is probably looking forward to killing it.