2002 Mazda Protege 5 - Cars Worth Noting - Brief Article - Evaluation

Automotive Industries, August, 2002 by John Peter

I can still remember the look of excitement on my 18-year-old's face when he heard that Ford was bringing the 5-door Focus to the U.S. When did a 5-door sport compact become car enthusiast material?

Well, after an enjoyable week behind the wheel of the Mazda Protege 5, I'm beginning to understand what all of the excitement is about.

The Protege is built on a solid foundation. The suspension consists of MacPherson stints up front and a Twin-Trapezoidal Link (TTL) independent suspension out back.

Mazda also added a strut tower bar to help stiffen up the chassis. All this sits down over 16-inch alloy wheels wrapped in some pretty sticky p195/50/50R16 83V all season Dunlops.

Thrust comes from a 2.0L DOHC, 16-valve four that puts out 130 hp at 6,000 rpm and 135 lb-ft of torque at 4,000rpm. Four-wheel discs bring everything to a halt.

The Protege screams fun. It's one of those cars that you just want to drive fast Steering is a bit heavy, but neutral on center, and the five-speed manual shifts easily through the gate allowing you to get the most out of the engine.

The 5-door design allows for more flexibility. The back seat will comfortably sit three grown teens, and folded down offers 24.4 cu. ft. of cargo space.

The boxy 5-door body style benefits from a well-designed body kit with cues borrowed from the sporty Mazda 6. On the down-side, our $18,485 test vehicle came with a $700 sun-roof that created quite a bit of wind noise when open.