I will put this arguement to rest. As a Protege owner ( I really like my ES protege over an EX Civic) and Honda lover I can honestly say the Mazdaspeed is a very nice car (excellent handling and beautifull interior) and has some potential but after doing some research I decided on a low mileage Portege ES for my 100 mile a day commute instead of the MSP and Civic SI (only two doors). The turbocharged MSP I test drove felt very somewhat weak and is no where near as fun as my best friends lightly modded Prelude base. After lurking and reading on many Protege sites I have found out that the turbocharged FS Mazda Protege motor is fairly weak due to it's puny rods and does'nt leave a lot of room for improvement. Which is why my Mazda will likely stay pretty stock. The MSP motor is built better than the stock protege ES 2.0 but not that much stronger. It all depends on what you want the car for. Last night my friend received his skunk2 intake manifold for his 2001 Prelude Base so I'll let you know what a difference that makes when the install is done. The skunk2 manifold is awesome looking and the quality is top notch, I cannot believe the difference between it and the stock manifold. All he has now is a high flow cat, Greddy cat-back, and an ebay CAI and his car seems fairly quick as he has beat my Maxima by a couple of lengths. He has not ran it at the track because he was waiting forever for the Skunk2, but we will finish the install tonight and run the car Friday night. If you are just going to cruise it then I say the mazdaspeed has more appeal but if power is your need, the prelude is much more tunable and realiable. The H22 engine far more superior to the mazda FS. Lastly, Have you driven the Prelude?, it just feels better IMO.