#2003 protege5 driver
#2003 protege5 full
#2003 protege5 plus

#2003 protege5 driver

Lateral grip is just 0.79 g, but the exceptionally rigid chassis and the well-mannered limit handling (which becomes nicely neutral off the throttle) allow a skilled driver to wring the utmost speed out of that grip without soiled shorts. A strut-tower brace helps keep that response linear when operating in 10/10ths Lingenfelter-pursuit mode. The helm points the 5's standard 16-inch wheels and V-rated Dunlop SP Sport rubber with Germanic accuracy.

We've had nothing but nice things to say about Protegé steering and handling, but the zoom-zoom team saw fit to reduce friction in the steering system and recalibrate the power-steering effort - and managed not to screw it up. But the engine revs so willingly and enticingly to (and past) the redline that the car feels quicker than its 17.2-second, 81-mph quarter-mile suggests. This explains the 0.6-second delay in the 5's performance to 60 mph. The wagon bodywork adds about 80 pounds, but along with extensive structural enhancements (thicker shock-tower metal, additional crossbars, and general beefing up) and additional sound-deadening materials, our test vehicle carried an extra 255 pounds' worth of paunch relative to that of our last Protegé ES test car. The added oomph doesn't quicken the pace, however, due to an increase in weight. The new-for-2001 ULEV 2.0-liter engine, standard on Protegé5 wagon and ES sedan models, is a stroked version of the previous 1.8 and adds 8 horsepower and 15 pound-feet to the Protegé ES's comparo-winning formula (C/D, June 2000), for a total of 130 horsepower and 135 pound-feet.

#2003 protege5 full

And although public-road prudence restrained the Corvette to probably three- or four-tenths of its capability, the equally prudent Protegé5 pilot was enjoying the full potential of his mount and grinning from ear to ear.

#2003 protege5 plus

The 650-hp Lingenfelter Twin-Turbo Vette had a 520-hp advantage plus a high-g tire-and-suspension setup, but the nimble little wagon managed to keep within view. But as we took off, we noticed there was no map in the Protegé5 - so we had to keep up with the car ahead. The mini-Mazda was on hand as an errand boy and was being used as a shuttle en route to the next driver change during the road drive.

The setting was last month's Supertuner Challenge. Impatient readers who've already skipped ahead to the spec panel will be unconvinced that a 9.5-second mini-breadbox could ever qualify as sporty, but they have yet to play chase with a Lingenfelter Corvette on twisty Michigan back roads in a Protegé5. The Protegé lineup is morphing toward sportiness with the new MP3 sedan we showed you last month, as well as with this roarty little two-box 2002 Protegé5 (for five-door, gittit?). You've seen the 'zoom-zoom' campaign Mazda is airing to inform us of its positioning as the sporty import brand within the Ford family of fine cars? It rings a little hollow now, with the MX-5 Miata standing as the only convincing sports car, but each of the company's new offerings will step in that direction, and maybe by the time the snot-nosed kid in the TV spots is terrorizing driver's-ed teachers, 'zoom-zoom' will fit. As quite often happens with image makeovers, the advertising has gotten ahead of the product.