#1998 MAZDA PROTEGE TURBO MOVIE#
#1998 MAZDA PROTEGE TURBO DRIVER#

A revised Visteon engine-management program increases fuel flow. To keep costs down, Callaway sorted through the Mazda parts bin and borrowed an air-to-air intercooler employed in a European turbo-diesel Protegé, as well as a higher-capacity radiator. Callaway Cars, making its debut deal with an Asian manufacturer, was tapped to add turbocharging to the Protegé's powertrain.Ĭallaway adapted a Garrett T25 ball-bearing turbo with an integral waste gate for the project, developing a unique turbine housing for this application.

Although the cast of characters is essentially the same - Mazda, Racing Beat, RacingHart, and Kenwood - there's one new player on the team this time around. So here's the sequel, and this time the kid packs knockout power. We compared it to 'an aspiring welterweight fighter with all the moves but no punch.' And it prevailed despite a serious shortage of horsepower. The result was the MP3, a brilliant blend of supple ride and athletic handling that emerged as the winner of a five-car hot-compact free-for-all ( 'Budget Banditos,' November 2001). A little over a year ago, Mazda took its first cut at this project, enlisting the services of Racing Beat, the longtime Mazda tuning shop, to handle suspension development.

#1998 MAZDA PROTEGE TURBO MOVIE#

However, the truth is we've seen this hot-rod-Protegé movie before, albeit at slower speed. In our most recent econobox comparison test ( 'Little Cars 6.1,' June 2000), a Protegé ES took home the Oscar and has since been updated: more refinement, better handling, more power.

Given the foregoing, Mazda could have no more logical starting point than the Protegé, an entry-level compact sedan that also happens to be among the best in its class. It's called Mazdaspeed, and if it turns out to be a profit center, à la Toyota Racing Development, well, so much the better. It's conceived to demonstrate Mazda's commitment to fun-to-drive, and also to help establish a new performance subsidiary that will sell stuff to young owners who want their cars to stand out from the herd. If zoom-zoom is going to have credibility, some of the other Mazdas gotta get some zoom, too. It's equally clear the Miata can't sustain this image building all by itself. That's what the zoom-zoom ad campaign is all about.

#1998 MAZDA PROTEGE TURBO DRIVER#

It's no secret that Mazda wants to be perceived as a purveyor of vehicles that stimulate the driver gratification glands a little more than competing products.

1998 mazda protege turbo