What are the best 03' Mazda Protege upgrades?

[tony42086]

Sooo.....I would like to know what the best upgrades I could do for a 2003 Mazda Protege are? It's an automatic and from what I heard that's not a good platform to turbo, so I want to go NA fo sho. This is my first new car I bought so I don't plan on getting rid of it. I hate that its so slow tho. This is my work car and I just want to have fun on my hr drive to work. What are all the best bolt on products as far as adding HP and torque? What are the best internals to add to add Hp and torque? Thanks for the pointers.

[goldstar]

Part of the slowness, as you put it, is due to the fact that your car has an A/T. However, a few judicious upgrades can liven up its performance and make it more fun to drive.

As a first step, look at some of the stickies in this section to give you an idea of what's possible. Although originally written for the 1.6 L engine, it applies equally as well to your engine (FS-DE 2.0 L) so I suggest that you check out:
http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50621 post #2

Since you asked for a specific recommendation, for an exhaust system upgrade I advise that you consider the Racing Beat cat back system. It provides a documented small increase in both SAE HP and torque. You can read my review of it at:

http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46276

Depending upon how far you want to go, beyond the usual bolt-on proceedures you can change to higher performance cams and install high compression pistons.

Happy Motoring!