y hullo thar

[MmSadda]

My name's Collin, and I'm new here.

I've had an 87 Mazda RX7 for about 4 years now, and had an 89 Grand Am LE until about a week ago when my cousin totalled it. I'm now looking at buying a new daily driver, and have it down to a 2001 Protege mid-grade model (LX I think) with a 2.0 engine, sunroof, alloys, basically all the goodies except rear disk brakes. The other car I'm looking at is an 02 Saturn SC1 with the SOHC 1.9litre engine, which is less appealing but less expensive than the Protege.

Anyhow, thought I'd let ya know that I'm here, and what my interest here is. Nice to meet y'all.

-Collin

[Turpro]

Welcome to cp Collin. The protege will make you happier.....but I'm bias lol. Also hello somewhat close neighbor

[MmSadda]

Thanks, Turpro!

Where is Maineville? How far outside of Columbus/what direction?

Actually, I think if the Saturn had the DOHC engine, it'd be a slightly more fair fight; the Saturn is a lighter car by a fairly large amount (amazing, considering the Protege is barely heavier than my RX7) but it's got about a 98hp engine, whereas the Protege is 130 or 140 iirc. Plus, I really love the feel of the Protege's suspension - seems like it'll handle real well for a FWD 4-door car. Both are 5-speeds, which is kind of a necessity for me (due to them being lower-cost and more enjoyable.)

[Turpro]

I'm not so fond of saturns just because my wife owned 1 and had no good luck with it. It was the older dohc so things may hhave changed.

As far as the 2.0 protege I'll say 1 thing, if you like the power and handling of it you'd love it even more with some mazdaspeed turbo parts(turbo setup and suspension)on it

Maineville is basically by cincy. 4 miles behind kings island to be exact. Not really your neighbor but we're both in Oh hi ho.

[FE3-323]

Welcome. Please stay away from saturn/GM's failure car line
You will enjoy the protege.

[Raider9864]

The saturn may be cheaper, but finding parts for that puppy within a couple years is going to be tough and expensive. I have heard from credible sources that ALL GM dealerships are going to be carrying saturn/pontiac parts in my area but im not sure about around the region. I'll be completely unbiased because i work on cars for a living and say go with the protege. You wallet will like it in the long run!

[scort4life]

Hey if you want something cheap but good performance, that will compare to the Protege, Get a Escort GT and turbo it. It'll be cheaper. It's a little older but can hold it's own.

[MmSadda]

Welp, I bit the bullet last night, and bought my ProteGay!

It's an 01, black, LX with a lot of the EX features if I recall correctly. Got a 2.0 engine, 5-speed, and all the other stuff I described in the first post. The car seems very clean overall, and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. Only issue is the display on the CD player; hopefully I'll get to replace that with the head unit out of my Grand Am soon, making it a non-issue.

[MmSadda]

As far as the 2.0 protege I'll say 1 thing, if you like the power and handling of it you'd love it even more with some mazdaspeed turbo parts(turbo setup and suspension)on it

Maineville is basically by cincy. 4 miles behind kings island to be exact. Not really your neighbor but we're both in Oh hi ho.

lol. Not looking to do anything really with this car - it'll be my daily driver, and basically stay stock. Any time/money I'd put into a car for performance will go into the RX7 (which means a wideband and some means of adjusting fuel soon, followed by an eventual large port job.)

Welcome.

You will enjoy the protege.

Thanks

In fact, I do enjoy it quite a bit. For a daily driver, it feels like a very tight, sporty car.

Hey if you want something cheap but good performance, that will compare to the Protege, Get a Escort GT and turbo it. It'll be cheaper. It's a little older but can hold it's own.

Sounds like a fun project, but not for me. I'd just as soon keep a bone stock, reliable FWD daily driver, and the RX7 for fun.

[scort4life]

Congrats, welcome to the family!