TRexPro5 said:
If I recall correctly, the sport20 is listed as 4wd but for some reason I remember reading somewhere that it is actually AWD and the way the Japense badge it, is diffrent from the way we Americans do. This could be an urban legend, which as I think about it I kinda sounds like it could be... Prove me wrong!
Anyway, for the money you are going to drop into the Protege why not just trade it in for a WRX?
It is my opinion that if Mazda wanted to make an 4wd/AWD car and bring it to the states they would.
Also do a search on the Mazdaspeed 6.... AWD turbo'd.... looks beautiful

again probably just an urban legend

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not intended to flame but to prove a point... and back you up...
the reason no Japanese hi-performance imports make it to the USA is cuz ur average american cant drive for s***, also ur average american wants comfort over performance, y do u think toyota is doing so well? ever been in a camry? corolla? god forbid i start mentioning other imports with comfort over performance (millenia, 626[J-spec was a beast, US-Spec was a shame], integra) now, lets move on into ur performance car enthusiast 15%-25% of the nation, of which it can be divided into sections, your domestic car, performace truck, and your import car... domestic car equals in to about 50%-60% (classic 60's Muscle to your current Z06 corvettes), truck in about 25% (big rig mud bogger to lowriding shows)and whatever is left to ur import car (super high performance included [ferrari, lambo]) about 15%-25%... so that leaves not very many that are actually into the import performance, you all have to remember that the import scene here is really new compared to the scene we used to have, the muscle era, who here has gone to NOPI, HIN, and other import affairs, i am sure u have noticed the wide presence of domestics and trucks... so given time the scene here will grow and we will get the imports that japan already has... now the reason they dont import here is because it is not finacially feasible... they will lose more money exporting to the US then what theyw ill make back, also, customs, emissions and other laws r restricting what they can import as well... so while they already have the AWD systems and super high performance cars, they cant import them cuz no one will buy them for the price they will set...
anyone here remember the Supra TT, 3000GT VR4, 300ZX TT, RX-7 TT... know y they stopped importing them? no one bought them, the market wasnt there for them, granted people actually bought them, but not in the flowing numbers people bought your econoboxes or domestic performance car, so they were losing money, so they stopped, cause and effect... if the market for these cars came back they would bring them in, however, there is no market so there is no import