In subjective terms, the P5 feels so alive and is so much fun, even in daily driving, that it has made nearly every car I’ve reviewed over the past decade seem dull, even boring in comparison. Even without stability control (which was never offered), every ounce of potential can be extracted from this car safely and easily. Testing out the car’s handling early on in a snow-covered parking lot, I had to resort to pulling the hand brake to get it to spin. (The thick, heavily padded steering wheels favored by many people and consequently common on performance-oriented cars block feedback.) A MINI or a 500 should feel as agile and provide communication as plentiful and nuanced, but doesn’t.īy lifting off the Protege5’s throttle as you enter a turn you can coax the rear end out a bit, but in general the car’s chassis is extremely stable. Though the low-effort steering can have an over-assisted, rubber-band feel at modest lock under light loads (a trait shared by the current Civic Si), both on-center and when you’re tossing the car precisely through a curve the rack and column seem to transmit EVERTYTHING through a relatively thin, minimally padded rim to your fingertips. First of all, despite a 2,800-pound curb weight, the car’s reactions to steering inputs are quicker than in any compact hatch I’ve driven since buying it. The Protege5 remains relevant for the same reasons I still own it. How does it possibly remain relevant today? So the P5 was designed and engineered back in the mid-nineties. I got a great deal ($18,900 MSRP, paid $13,400) because the new Mazda3 was in transit. When I bought my Protege5 back in November 2003, it was already at the end of its run. RF’s rule went by the wayside some time ago, but the thought of reviewing the P5 didn’t cross my mind again. But my 2003 Mazda Protege5 has been mentioned in quite a few of my reviews, and has been implicit in nearly all of them. Why not write the review TTAC founder Robert Farago wouldn’t let me write? RF had a rule against reviewing our personal cars. Despite a change from hydraulic to electric assist, steering feel (or lack thereof) remains much the same. The biggest news is that there isn’t any big news.
#2003 MAZDA PROTEGE 5 PLUS#
The 2013 Audi S5 I drove last summer in Colorado? Great car, but the reason I didn’t write it up then remains valid: it’s essentially the same car (minus two doors, plus sexier curves) as the 2011 Audi S4 I drove to West Virginia and back. Today’s is my last. But which car should I cover in my final TTAC review?
I started contributing car reviews to TTAC back in 2006.
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