1999 Mazda Protegé...continued

Our Impressions Of The Drive:

There are two engines available in the new Protegé. A 1.6-liter, 106-horsepower Dual Overhead Cam inline 4-cylinder, and a 1.8-liter, 122-horsepower Dual Overhead Cam inline 4-cylinder. We spent a lot of time in a car with the smaller engine and it performed very well. Surprisingly well in fact. On the two-lane country roads outside of Toronto, the Protegé had no problem getting up the steam to pass big-rig trucks at will. The 1.8-liter engine with 122-horsepower is the same as the one in the Mazda Miata and it is truly a wonderful little powerplant. It gives the Protegé sports-car-like performance.

Shifting The Gears: Protegé comes standard with a 5-speed manual transmission. It is one of the best available at any price. Shifting is smooth and effortless, making it a good value if the cost of an automatic is too high or a manual transmission is preferable. It is a fact that more manual transmissions are sold to woman in this country than men because of the additional cost of automatic transmissions. So women will appreciate this quality component. The 5-speed combined with the larger 1.8 liter engine results in a comfortable economy sedan with the same sports-car performance of the Miata. The 4-speed automatic is also very good and has little lag when upshifting. This is particularly important when an automatic transmission is combined with the smaller 1.6-liter engine.

Handling: Mazda has always made good handling cars. The 323, which preceded the Protegé, has been very popular with Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) club racers. Protegé uses a proven Macpherson independent front suspension and Mazda's patented Twin-Trapezoidal Link rear suspension. Stabilizer bars are standard front and rear to reduce body roll during cornering. As a result, Protegé rolls only two degrees in moderately hard cornering -- a level of roll normally only found in sports cars like the Miata.

Protegé has rack-and-pinion steering with variable assist. Variable assist steering makes the car easier to maneuver at slow speeds -- when parking, and have more road feel and feedback at high speeds -- driving on the freeway.

We drove the Protegé on twisty roads and up and down hills in rural Ontario. The car was responsive and fun and that's unusual for compact sedans. Even on wet surfaces the car never seemed to lose traction.

Brakes: The braking system on the Protegé is comprised of power-assisted ventilated front disc and rear drums. The car stops well but we would like to see disc brakes all the way around. The time has come when no driver should experience brake fade from overheated or wet drums. And if Protegé had disc brakes all the way around, it would have the stopping power of the Miata and that would increase the already high fun-to-drive factor taking it over the top.

What We Like Most: Protegé is a well thought out, comfortable, fun-to-drive compact sedan that will make first-time new-car buyers really happy. The styling is pleasing, the performance, even with the smaller engine, is good, and the car offers great value.

What We Caution You About: Very little, we would love to see four-wheel disc brakes offered at least as an option, though preferably standard.

Major Competition: Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Mirage, Dodge Neon, Nissan Sentra, Saturn SL1, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Corolla