Mazda’s probably making more money these days selling sporty-ish crossovers with impressively luxurious cabins, but man, the Mazdaspeed days were so cool. At least until the warranty ran out, and you learned just how many problems a Mazdaspeed6 could have. But while Younger Me would have killed for a Mazdaspeed Protege, with age comes wisdom, and these days, I’m pretty sure my favorite non-Miata Mazda from that era was far more basic Protege5 with the five-speed manual. A hatchback that Cars & Bids so kindly just reminded me still looks outstanding.
Come on, tell me that’s not a seriously good looking little hatchback. It isn’t trying too hard. Nothing about it is shouting at you. And yet, it’s still attractive and doesn’t really even look all that dated, especially considering it’s more than 20 years old. Okay, so this particular Protege5 appears to have previously been wrecked, and the repaint isn’t exactly what I would call “equal to or better than OEM spec,” but it’s fine. The car’s old enough to vote, and it’ll probably sell for cheap-ish used motorcycle money.
Now, if you’re looking for a straight-line speed machine, this is not your car. The transmission’s a five-speed manual, sure, but the engine is a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder that only made 130 horsepower and 135 pound-feet of torque when it was new, all the way back when Nickelback was on the radio. My brother actually owned one, and while I don’t remember the exact year, it couldn’t have been more than 10 years old at that point. Even then, that car didn’t feel quick.
There’s just one problem
That wasn’t as much of a problem close to sea level, but if you wanted to, say, head up to the mountains to enjoy the finest driving roads the Appalachian Mountains had to offer, no turbo basically meant no power. Except you couldn’t get mad because that cheap, practical, stylish little hatchback was still a hoot in the twisties. And even with only five speeds, the manual transmission was still excellent. Three pedals very good.
Most of you are probably old enough to already know this, but if you’re a little younger, I’m sorry. A car that felt slow during Obama’s first term is guaranteed to feel even slower today, especially if you’ve never driven a car sold before turbos and gasoline direct injection went mainstream. But who cares? It’s got a stick, the stick is good, and it’s fun to drive. The actual problem with the Protege5 today is that modern engine tech added better gas mileage as well as more power, so this car gets an EPA-rated 24 mpg combined and only offered 28 mpg on the highway.
If you’re going to drive a slow car, it should at least get good gas mileage, and I feel like 30 mpg really isn’t too much to ask from a 130-hp inline-four. I mean, it was back then, when they couldn’t yet justify the higher cost of a six-speed manual. I’m talking about today, when the average gallon of gas costs more than $4.50. But, you know, there’s no reserve, so if the rough paint, previous wreck, and odometer with more than 200,000 miles on it keep the bids low, you might be able to snag this thing for so little money, the bad-by-modern-standards gas mileage might not even matter.
Wait, what’s that about an exhaust leak? Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. That’s probably no big deal, right?
