My wife's new car is a Copper S, I drove it for the weekend, and now I'm back to the Protégé. There are some things that I hate about my car. First, the engine is coarse and rough, the shifter throw is as long as a Mack truck, and the suspension in the front of the Protégé fells like the wheels are pushing in and out, left and right when they should stay flat and fixed straight.

To be fair my Protégé ES is a 2000 with over 50,0000 the Copper S is a 2003 and has less than 300. the copper is much faster but I'm not talking speed just how the car fells when driving. At this point I love the Mini and now hate my Protégé.

Just so this is a not a Mazda bashing the mini seats look great but I'm still looking for the right setting. There is no back seat room if the person in front is over 5'10". You cannot see a stop light if you're the first car at the light.

 

Yah, to be it sounds like the front suspension is broken or something.

 

I don't get it either, and it never felt like this before.

I do need a new CV joint, but I dont think it sould matter that much.

 

you could be out of alignment

your front steering setup could be worn out causing lots of play

your wheels could be bad

lots of things could be wrong, its basically new car envy.

Why don't you goto the mazda dealer and test drive those nice
new mazdaspeeds. Or a rx8 and then trade in that old girl.

.... the car not the wife ...

 

well.. the cost of the protege and a mini cooperS.. is totally 2 different class of cars.. ones have supercharger.. one is running DOHC... there is nothing to compare... why don't u said u have a G35 couple and a SE-R Spec V... is totally 2 different class...

yeah i don't understand he is talking about the suspension either..

 

Isn't a Cooper S and a Protege apples and oranges? A cooper S is MSRP at $29500 CAD while you can get a base protege for at least 10k less than that. That's a fifty percent increase in price. I usually don't like to compare things like that.

I think mini's should be classed the same as New Beetles, they are more valuable only b/c of their moniker (sp?). Once that honeymoon period is over, there should be some substance still there.

Edit: Just in case anyone cares, I can option a Mini Cooper S up to 42,600 CAD w/o the body kit. Obviously two different ballparks, as you would be pushing it to even option a Mazdaspeed to 30K CAD, and you get the sweet bodykit w/ it. Of course, the Mini has amenities that push it up there (HID, leather, etc).

 

the Copper S cost 21K yes that is more than my protege cost new 2 and a half year ago. I was not talking about the main things that drive up the cost of the Mini, ei suppercharger, Traction controll, and the other stuff. The base Mini Copper is $16,500 that's on the higher side but side in the protege range.

 

I can understand what you are saying , maybe it may be time for an alighnment ..
The Cooper is definetly a nice car though , but you have to respect the protege for what it is ... and what it can be ..

Although there are so many cars out there that I can buy, I still love my Protege. Although I know we probably have like 1.5 years left together .. I try to make the best of it .

Usually driving a new car will always feal better due to everything being perfect , Give things like a year or so, and that will change ..
I personally have been thinking of buying a mazdaspeed. but damn another car with no sunroof...
for gods sake ..
Bruce

 

well I drove my friends P5 and that felt a little better than my ES but not as good as the Mini. the engine is as rough as mine. and the sifter is just as long. The ES fells a little quicker than the P5 but I was never talking about how fast the cars are just how they fell. the P5 is a 2002 with 15K

 

I'm sure driving the Mini is a completely different package... But the mini is designed to be a sport compact... The protege is more along the lines of a sport... compact sedan. The mini having a $5-10k (canadian) price advantage (to put more stuff into it) should certainly make it feel a lot tighter...

Proteges still kick ***

 

The base Cooper also has 15-inch wheels wearing 175/65/15 rubber, that excellent 115 hp/110-lbs-ft engine and it runs 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. It weighs ~2500 lbs. It also costs about $17,000.

I got my fully optioned out ES for $17,100.

'Nuff said.

 

The Cooper S (not Copper!!!) that I rode in kicked ***... of course the driver was really good too...fortunately the car had plenty of power, even in 2nd, so he could have both hands on the wheel doing the turns....

edit: And he always turned off the traction control, but don't do that unless you really know what you're doing.... unless you want to end up smashed up like the M3 on the track I saw a couple of weeks ago.

 

I think a better comparison would be between the Mini S and the MSP. Think about it, they are both 'tuner' versions of the base car, both built primarily for the enthusiast market. Also they both cost about the same. Now THAT would be a good comparo!

 

If you want apples to apples comparisons, the Mini S and the MP3 are in the same SCCA class, and I have beat many a Mini with the MP3. They handle really well, but the lack of LSD makes it even tougher to handle in the corners than the MP3. The wheel spin with the S can get a little out of control.
Now move a Mini S to STX with adjustable shocks, camber plates, sway bars, intake, exhaust, and all the other goodies allowed and it rocks. I race against both, and the STX Mini S is one mean machine.

 

thank you all for the feed back. I was not talking about how fast or slow the cars are just the fell in every day driving around town and on the highway. Yes the Copper S is much faster than my ES (as it should be). I think my main piont was lost the engine fells very rough and the shifter is like that out of an old truck. now I most say that I have never like the shifter in the 2000 ES. The shifter in my old 1991 Protege DX felt 100% better. My friends 2002 Protege5 engine fells about the same in roughness as mine. Hers does not make as much noise. Oh well her P5 always felt quieter than mine.