Decisions about MSP! -=I need your help!=-

[WAFutureOwner]

Hey just joined the forums! I am currently thinking about getting rid of my 09 mazda 3 hatch (mods: little to none, hks exhaust, tenzo dc-5's, snows, hid's) and getting a 2003.5 Mazdaspeed protege. Ive been thinking about this just recently. If i do decide to trade in it will prob. be in the summer time. I had a few questions:

BTW: * All these question's are for the Protege not the protege "5" *
(Lmao please dont flame me for some of these lame questions I could search, just looking for facts and opinions here)

1. Firstly, I dont really know a whole lot about the MSP and I would like to know more about the trims and specs?? (ie: steering wheel, half white or all black?, no fogs (which is what I want), skirts, spoilers (Prefer none but would like to buy a car w/ so i can have the tall spoiler), aval. car color choices for a 2003.5?

2. The difference between a 2003 and a 2003.5?

3. Not a huge fan of the seating, is it expensive to swap them out? (predicted costing?)

4. Type of exhausts? (I am a fan of Greddy, HKS, magnaflow)

5. Best websites for parts?

6. Does the badging/ emblems on the trunk have holes underneath? (I want to remove them all, 'curious')

7. Does anyone have a car that they want to sell me that is in really good condition? I'm OCD about my car. I go to the dealerships and they look at my 3 and they are suprised of how clean it is for a 17 year old. (I live near Seattle, WA)

8. Good places to search for a used vehicle? (I have never bought a used vehicle and this would be my second car)

Alright so basically why I am considering trading the mazda 3 is so my family can purchase an s4. Im looking for something around 13k, give or take. Sorry about asking all these questions at once, I figured I would ask people who own the car b.c you guys prob know better than i can search on the web. Also looking for fast responses.

Thanks in advance,
(popcorn)
-Greg

 

[DarkAngel]

I'll take a stab at some of them. Keep in mind....... searching will own you on this.

Hey just joined the forums! I am currently thinking about getting rid of my 09 mazda 3 hatch (mods: little to none, hks exhaust, tenzo dc-5's, snows, hid's) and getting a 2003.5 Mazdaspeed protege. Ive been thinking about this just recently. If i do decide to trade in it will prob. be in the summer time. I had a few questions:

BTW: * All these question's are for the Protege not the protege "5" *
(Lmao please dont flame me for some of these lame questions I could search, just looking for facts and opinions here)

1. Firstly, I dont really know a whole lot about the MSP and I would like to know more about the trims and specs?? (ie: steering wheel, half white or all black?, no fogs (which is what I want), skirts, spoilers (Prefer none but would like to buy a car w/ so i can have the tall spoiler), aval. car color choices for a 2003.5?

2. The difference between a 2003 and a 2003.5?

2003:

Rear bumper skirt and uses the P5 front bumper with fogs. Trunk Spoiler is larger. Rims are silver.

2003.5:

Rear Skirt is different, uses p5 front bumper with an attached lip which deletes the fogs. Trunk Spoiler has been revised. Rims are a darker grey.

I do not recall if they have the same Sound System though or that may be the MP3.

3. Not a huge fan of the seating, is it expensive to swap them out? (predicted costing?)

Seats are up to you. Depending if you want ebay stuff or name brands. You will have to research.

4. Type of exhausts? (I am a fan of Greddy, HKS, magnaflow)

Again up to you. You can even go custom.

5. Best websites for parts?

Check out the many vendors on here. As far as sites, protogegarage.com, *************** to name a couple.

6. Does the badging/ emblems on the trunk have holes underneath? (I want to remove them all, 'curious')

The Protege badge has the holes, the MazdaSpeed Badge does not.

7. Does anyone have a car that they want to sell me that is in really good condition? I'm OCD about my car. I go to the dealerships and they look at my 3 and they are suprised of how clean it is for a 17 year old. (I live near Seattle, WA)

8. Good places to search for a used vehicle? (I have never bought a used vehicle and this would be my second car)

Alright so basically why I am considering trading the mazda 3 is so my family can purchase an s4. Im looking for something around 13k, give or take. Sorry about asking all these questions at once, I figured I would ask people who own the car b.c you guys prob know better than i can search on the web. Also looking for fast responses.

Thanks in advance,
(popcorn)
-Greg

 

[We Are Ninja]

1. Firstly, I dont really know a whole lot about the MSP and I would like to know more about the trims and specs?? (ie: steering wheel, half white or all black?, no fogs (which is what I want), skirts, spoilers (Prefer none but would like to buy a car w/ so i can have the tall spoiler), aval. car color choices for a 2003.5?

The 03.5 has a different shift knob, a different steering wheel and different colored stitching throughout. The '03's came in black and orange. The 03.5's came in laser blue mica/metallic, silver, titanium and yellow. All of the colors have long, special names, but I only remember the important one...

2. The difference between a 2003 and a 2003.5?

03's have a p5 front bumper minus turn signals. It does retain the big foglights. The 03.5 forgoes the fogs for a tasteful (and nearly impossible to replace) front lip with fog deletes that match the honeycomb in the front grill and scoop. It also boasts a revised rear lip and spoiler.

3. Not a huge fan of the seating, is it expensive to swap them out? (predicted costing?)

I imagine it's just like any other car when it comes to seats; no more or less complicated. I know a couple of guys that bolted in Sparcos w/ no problems. I also know a guy with eBay specials that were bolted in w/ no problems.

4. Type of exhausts? (I am a fan of Greddy, HKS, magnaflow)

Both cars have the same exhaust, it's MSP-specific and is as replaceable as any other car, much like the seats.

5. Best websites for parts?

Don't know any offhand, as I never used any that weren't through gruop buys here... Defintietly check out the vendors section.

6. Does the badging/ emblems on the trunk have holes underneath? (I want to remove them all, 'curious')

Yah. Apparently, Mazda likes drilling holes. If I'm mistaken there are holes behind the Protege badge, the Mazda emblem AND the Mazdaspeed badge despite the fact that it's held on by adhesive and the holes are empty.

7. Does anyone have a car that they want to sell me that is in really good condition? I'm OCD about my car. I go to the dealerships and they look at my 3 and they are suprised of how clean it is for a 17 year old. (I live near Seattle, WA)

Dunno, you'll have to check the for sale section on that one.

8. Good places to search for a used vehicle? (I have never bought a used vehicle and this would be my second car)

I'm a big fan of Auto Trader myself...

Hope that helps.

 

[WAFutureOwner]

Thank you DarkAngel and We Are Ninja for the responses. I did alot of reasearch since then to see what type of mods i can get done. One of my concerns is replacing the back bench seating as well. I was thinking of getting Mazdaspeed 3 seating b/c I saw someone else with those and I have always liked the similar design in my 3.

Btw does anyone know where I would beable to purchase Mazdaspeed seets?

Now the hardest part is finding one in decent condition.

Thanks again.

 

[justinlansdale]

where are you located? i'll sell you my MSP for $8500 ;-)

 

[WAFutureOwner]

where are you located? i'll sell you my MSP for $8500 ;-)

I am in Seatle, Washington my friend. I think I saw your car on the youtube. Not sure if it was yours haha.

 

[HighwayUFO]

1. Firstly, I dont really know a whole lot about the MSP and I would like to know more about the trims and specs?? (ie: steering wheel, half white or all black?, no fogs (which is what I want), skirts, spoilers (Prefer none but would like to buy a car w/ so i can have the tall spoiler), aval. car color choices for a 2003.5?

Answer- You get a two tone steering wheel with yellow stitching in the seats, wheel and shiftboot, fogs didn't come stock, it has a complete Aero kit from Mazdaspeed on it, unless the previous owner removed it. There are two spoiler options.

This is the 03...
http://www.canadianautoreview.com/mazdaspeed-spoiler-800.JPG

And this is the 03.5...
http://media.photobucket.com/image/mazdaspeed protege spoiler/jdmsp/AMSP39small.jpg

Available colors are a Light grey, a Titanium Grey, Lazer Blue, and Yellow. The 03's came in Black Mica and Spicy Orange.

2. The difference between a 2003 and a 2003.5?

See above answer

3. Not a huge fan of the seating, is it expensive to swap them out? (predicted costing?)

Please refine this question

4. Type of exhausts? (I am a fan of Greddy, HKS, magnaflow)

Vibrant seems to be a favorite but you can find other exhaust options in the links I will provide in the next question you asked.

5. Best websites for parts?

www.protegegarage.com
www.corksport.com

6. Does the badging/ emblems on the trunk have holes underneath? (I want to remove them all, 'curious')

Yes, all three badges have holes

7. Does anyone have a car that they want to sell me that is in really good condition? I'm OCD about my car. I go to the dealerships and they look at my 3 and they are suprised of how clean it is for a 17 year old. (I live near Seattle, WA)

I would sell mine, but I'm too attatched

8. Good places to search for a used vehicle? (I have never bought a used vehicle and this would be my second car)

If you find an MSP that piques your interest, go take a look, they are here there and everywhere. Hell, I'm sure I could track one down for you here in Idaho.

Hope that answers all your questions.


-Greg

 

[WAFutureOwner]

thanks for the reply man. I am really into the blue color now.. There is one in NJ that is suppossed to be mint condition and im considering it when i take a trip out to NY. If you would like to take a look to see if you can find anything halfway decent be my guest. Everything helps. About replacing the seats, something that I want to do is put OEM Mazdaspeed 3 seats in the protege. (Front and rear) Dont know the pricing on that. Anyways, if you find any information on one selling in blue (2003.5) let me know. Thanks. (I have looked in my area and I want one with a clean title)

 

[ScratchNSniff]

I am the only one that I know of with Speed3 seats in the front and rear...mine are in the Protege5 which does not make much of a difference install wise between it and the MSP, not sure if you have seen pics or not, maybe there is someone else, but not that I know of or have heard of...

 

[christiansMSP]

all i can say is that i love my msp so freaking much..

 

[WAFutureOwner]

I am the only one that I know of with Speed3 seats in the front and rear...mine are in the Protege5 which does not make much of a difference install wise between it and the MSP, not sure if you have seen pics or not, maybe there is someone else, but not that I know of or have heard of...

Yeah yours is the one I saw. Is it hard/ what parts you kneed to buy for the brackets? My only concern is the rear.

 

[WAFutureOwner]

all i can say is that i love my msp so freaking much..

I hope one day I can say the same thing

 

[ScratchNSniff]

Sending you a PM...