New Turbo I4 in the house

[nrcooled]

Just thought I'd use the opportunity to showoff the new ride and my newly clean baby.

Just picked up the new ride today. The Mazdaspeed Protege will be my wife's and we will be auto-xing it and taking it to the track. Can't wait to really see what the Mazdaspeed can do!
Enjoy!
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/DSCF0132.JPG
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/DSCF0137.JPG
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/DSCF0141.JPG

Opinions and suggestions welcome. I still have a ton of research to do on the car. I don't even know how much boost the thing makes stock!

[nrcooled]

more!

http://members.cox.net/cowarta/DSCF0135.JPG
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/DSCF0138.JPG

[russian]

congrats on new ride dude. ;) looks prety sweet actually the boost is fairly low. its a 1.8T right?

[BuryTheNeedle]

Cool car man, my buddy just picked up the Pumpkin orange MSP before the summer. And its a nice ride. I've tracked his car along with my 240 club and it did fairly well against the SRs. The BOV sounds real nice when worked in. Watch out for a clunk from your suspension after a half year or so. I dont know if its been fixed after his year, but its a common problem.

Here it is.....
http://members.rogers.com/aywire/msp.htm

[SilviaDriver]

i have a friend that is actually interested in the mazdaspeed protege right now..but her parents wont let her buy it because of the turbo. so shes looking at a MP3.

got any INTERIOR pics? she'd like to see some. same for me too.

i always loved how the MP3 looked..looks nice i like the front bumper

[WONTONnPHO]

I test drove an ordinary Protoge once. That car was pretty fun to drive for being FWD.

[nrcooled]

I belive it's a 2.0 litre with a t25 making 170hp. Today I had my wife follow me to a nice spot for a spirted drive and she absolutely loves it! She did pretty well for her first time ever going on a spirtied drive w/ me (I kept the pace reasonable).

The one thing that we both noticed is the car feels restricted at higher RPMs. Maybe due to low boost or possible the undersquare bore x stroke (86mm x 93mm) Eitherway the car sticks in corners like nobodies business

here are some interior shots
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/interior1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/interior2.jpg
http://members.cox.net/cowarta/interior3.jpg

Not to mention the stereo is crazy. Kenwood MP3 headunit and a 450watt system. It sounds fantastic!

[SilviaDriver]

thats an awsome interior!

[DJ Machine]

whoa, riceterior

[russian]

Originally posted by DJ Machine
whoa, riceterior

wtf is that supposed to mean? rice this, rice that, its looks great STFU.

[nrcooled]

Originally posted by DJ Machine
whoa, riceterior

I swear!:hammer: The seats are super supportive and I think the shifter is in a ok spot (much lower then the 240) but all in all very functional and very encompasing interior

[BuryTheNeedle]

Originally posted by nrcooled


Not to mention the stereo is crazy. Kenwood MP3 headunit and a 450watt system. It sounds fantastic! [/B]

The sub sounds kinda bad after awhile and depends on what music and how hard she is pumping up the jam. Forget about any Portishead mp3s. :)

Did you manage to get a Mazdaspeed keychain and hat from the dealership? Get a brochure too. Hard to find one here.

[ICUSTRN]

what size wheels r those I just bought a 240sx
a month a go and i cant decide if i should go
with 15's 16's or 17 inch rims but i like the
the way those wheels look on your car alot

[BuryTheNeedle]

Raching Hart rims, according to my friend its specially made for the MSP. 17".

[019]

glad to see you went with the protege. those cars are just really sweet. you should take it out for spirited driving, hehe. although going from rwd to fwd might be a little hard. my friend's fd got totalled and he got himself a crx to drive until he finds something else. he took it to autox and wow... he was understeering like mad! haha

[nrcooled]

Originally posted by ICUSTRN
what size wheels r those I just bought a 240sx
a month a go and i cant decide if i should go
with 15's 16's or 17 inch rims but i like the
the way those wheels look on your car alot

They are 16x7 front and 16x8 rear

The sub sounds kinda bad after awhile and depends on what music and how hard she is pumping up the jam. Forget about any Portishead mp3s.

Right now my wife doesn't really listen to the stereo that loud but I will keep an ear out for any degrading sound quality. I appreciate the heads up!

you should take it out for spirited driving, hehe.

Me and the wife went out on Sat (me in the 240 and her in the MSP) off of Ox Rd and did some spirited driving on the backroads there. She had a blast and was all happy that she could "hang" with me. Then I informed her that I was driving slow..hahaha.
Then she says that we need to take it down a notch because the car is making a funny burning smell. I go "it's your brakes sweetie they're supposed to do that"

[Steeles]

woot congrats man glad you went with the mazda! looks good!

[uiuc240]

Originally posted by nrcooled
I belive it's a 2.0 litre with a t25 making 170hp...The one thing that we both noticed is the car feels restricted at higher RPMs. Maybe due to low boost or possible the undersquare bore x stroke (86mm x 93mm)

You're right about the turbo and the power...but there's no way that 2.0 liters equals a bore and stroke of 86mm x 93mm. SRs are "square" at 86x86, and that comes to like 1997cc.

It could still be an undersquare motor, but not with those dimensions. ;)

Nice selection. :hitit:

Eric

[HippoSleek]

Congrats. Welcome to zoom zoom :p

It was only a matter of time... I went Mazda, Travis, Ryan, and last I heard Dave was shopping. You can't fight destiny. Soon Charles will see the error of his ways and come to the dark side.

[jenne313]

Props for two very nice cars! MSPs are soooo hot. Congrats to the wife for her hellafied good taste.

ps- I dig the interior! :bowdown:

[sykikchimp]

Originally posted by HippoSleek
Congrats. Welcome to zoom zoom :p

It was only a matter of time... I went Mazda, Travis, Ryan, and last I heard Dave was shopping. You can't fight destiny. Soon Charles will see the error of his ways and come to the dark side.

I will NEVER fall to the dark side! ... :coolugh: even my instructor this weekend used to drive a 240.. he now drives an RX7.. are mazda's simply better track cars!?! :bs:


I go "it's your brakes sweetie they're supposed to do that".. Classic. LOL

the MSP is sweet. Much better choice for a track car than the civic idea. Your car is lookin super sweet too.

[nrcooled]

I have got the civic for sale now on ebay. I am looking for $1500 out of it but I will take $1300. I am trying to liquitdate the massive amounts of cars that we have! We are down to four cars now;)

uuic- It's 83mm x 92mm (1991cc engine) Sorry 'bout that

Mark- I went by myself to test drive the MSP and immedately said that the wife would love it. I called and told her that I found the perfect car.

Charles- Thanks for the props and you will come to the dark side! muhahahaha:mad:

Oddly enough, the car was used! A guy that bought it (2003 model) saw the new colors for the 2003.5 models and brought it back in to get the Mica Orange with the different spoiler. I basically got a new car with a crazy discount!:coolugh:

[HippoSleek]

Charles: did your instructor drive an ITS rx7? (Brad?) Used to own an SR powered 240? There was a guy in your neck of the woods that fit that description that instructed me at VIR a couple years ago. Either way, I hope you had fun down there. You missed a great event at VIR last week. CarGuys three day rocked! I did something in the neighborhood of 250-300 miles on track :eek:

As for Mazdas on the track... HELL YEAH! Actually, I think the 240 is a great track car, it's just too damb heavy. Even in IT prep, it doesn't feel as edgy as my modestly modified Miata. There are a lot of ITS 7's b/c they were the hot car for a while (cheap, light, fast, remarkably relaible, cheap). Now, the Miatas are all the rage b/c 1) they are a friggin blast b/c they are so nimble; 2) dead on reliable; 3) lots of available parts; and 4) cheap (relatively in SM form). Of course a 240 would roll a miata, but only in the straights.

Bacari: Way to look out for her ;) My GF isn't a car-chick, so odds are our next vehicle will be a smart, 4 door purchase. I actually am looking forward to having an automatic around the house. But I remember the first time I saw an MSP up close -- my first though was how great it would be for the GF...

Mark- 2 cars, 4 usable seats... that collectively get driven less than 8,000 mi./yr.

[sykikchimp]

I would have really rather gone to the car guys event.. that sounds awesome! I got about 160 miles on track. Good enough though. I'm pooped. Yes, It was Brad. He was racing in PS1 with NASA on saturday. Pretty cool car. Very nice guy. I learned a lot.

We all need to get to the track together again soon.

[nrcooled]

We all need to get to the track together again soon.

w3rd. I had a blast at VIR. Everyone needs to keep me posted on events (now that I will go to more since the wife can participate).