Originally Posted by jaje
i had a protege5 the precursor to the 3...it was an ok car but by 20k miles the interior and other items had significant wear...the engine (2.0 FSDE) though larger than the competition and stronger was thrashy and unrefined...and underpowered
it's great ability was handling as it was one of the best on the market at its time
Tripoint used to race the mp3 and it was light and could corner but blew engines out regularly (they would only last 2-3 races at a time when its acura / bmw competition race engines could last 2-3 entire seasons)
now that mazda is fully a ford brand i will likely not even consider another one
i don't think you can even compare the p5 and the 3. my friend had one, and i test drove a couple of them. they're not even close to the 3.
i have almost 45K miles now, and nothing has broken anywhere. the interior is still just as nice, though dirty.