MAZDA PROTEGE HATCHBACK MOTOR CUSTOM DRIVER
The driver is in command of the road, from start to stop, keeping things nicely centered just the same way the Protege impressed us six months ago when we drove the MP3 sedan. And wagonizing the Protege did nothing to blunt a rigid chassis and well-mannered grip. It is a mix of the Protege’s sharp lines, terrific steering and sharp handling – all things we loved about the Protege. With an extended roofline and increased cargo space, it is not the lowly wagon you used to make fun of. All new for 2002, the Protege5 is a five-door ride that Mazda hopes represents the next step as a sporty lifestyle hauler. It just doesn’t deliver all the gusto we’d like. All revved up, it still sounds like a real winner, a whiner more than a mover. It can still haul more stuff (the real point) than the sedan. Where the 2002 Protege5 is a great idea on paper, the wagon on the street is a great deal less powerful than we would have liked. That’s Protege5, as in the sporty little two-box version of the popular Protege sedan with more room yet still some zoom. And the company did it with a simple formula: Take a sedan that already works (the Protege), throw a “backpack” on the back end (rear hatch), and name it something familiar, with a numeric twist (the Protege5). As hard as it may be, Mazda has jumped in where few car companies have dared to go.
MAZDA PROTEGE HATCHBACK MOTOR CUSTOM DRIVERS
What’s more, it’s the first in a long line of what’s to come: Mom-mobiles gone groovy that are meant to appeal to young drivers who want to haul things.
No need to be embarrassed when you pull up to a light next to a Ferrari. Is it so? We will say it’s a lot closer than the wagons we remember. The automaker, which spent most of 2001 telling the world you could “zoom” your way to a better time, has created the better wagon. Zoom, zoom … huh? The last time we saw something called a “sport” wagon, Clark Griswold was trucking his way to Wally World in the family truckster, Carol Brady was speeding through syndication and, in the real world, wagons weren’t all that cool. Hold on to your wood paneling, your car seat and your kids eating ice cream in the back seat, with special thanks to our friends at Mazda, “wagonizing” has become a sport.
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