Email to Sport Compact Car Magazine

[Leonardo]

that I sent regarding their October Issue with a "100 Best Sport Compact Cars of All Time" list that omitted the MSP:

I must have missed something. Looking through your list of the 100 greatest sport compact cars of all time, I noticed the Mini Cooper S at #8, the current Sentra SE-R Spec V at #27, the Ford SVT Focus at #46, and (Wow!) even the Hyundai, yes, Hyundai Tiburon at #77. Ok, I can deal with that. What perplexes me is (and I checked the list twice, just to be sure) how nowhere to be found before, after or between those cars is the Mazdaspeed Protg. The very same car that beat those cars in a recent comparison test you guys did. In fact, it came in a surprisingly close second to the Dodge Neon SRT-4 (ranked #16). How does that make sense? Looks to me like the MSP, maybe due to the limited production, just got plain overlooked and underestimated. Somehow, I bet there are a lot of MSP owners who dont mind that so much.<O</O

 

[jersey_emt]

Nice.

 

[chuyler1]

Was the MP3 in the list?

 

[JOS3]

(mswerd) they probably wont give a s*** though

 

[misbehave]

I bought that magazine once. It is simply not the kind of magazine that I would consider as a car mag. It is more like you are paying for all the advertisment craps.
Never bought it again. I stick to Car and Driver and Road & Track.

 

[mspeed101]

Cant wait to see the response. But of course they may overlook your email as well!

 

[Leonardo]

Was the MP3 in the list?

Nope. No MP3 either.

 

[RyanJayG]

they will either ignore it or print it

 

[Leonardo]

Cant wait to see the response. But of course they may overlook your email as well!

I hope I get a response as well. If I do, I will post it. Big IF, though.

 

[tyusha]

yeah, i was pissed off about that as well. None of the current proteges were listed. At least 323 and the last gen familia were there. But man, oh man. There was sooo much talk when the p5 and the msp came out, and they don't even get mentioned. That is BS. The flat black STI was sweet though : )

 

[AJsMSP]

Who did you send it too? Hopefully you sent it to everyone over there that has an email address. I to was wondering why the MSP didn't make the list. As I recall from the Sept. 2003 issue they had a "8 Best Cars Under $30,000" section. This is from this article quote as of the date of the issue "It also happens to be the best-handling front-drive car on sale in the United States today" and "It holds our record for stock front-drive cars through the slalom (71.4 mph) and pulls a superb .88g around the skidpad." Frankly the more I think about it the more I am pissed about this. The 2004 S2000 only holds a .88g around the skidpad and cost $10,000 more. I think I will send an email as well. Not that it is going to do much, I just think that everyone under estimates our car. I raced V6 Tib the other night and spanked his ass. I am pretty much stock and he had exhaust and intake from what I could see and hear. And the Tib made it on the list. (fight) (notcool) (pissed)

 

[Mr. Win]

dont you know those lists are about he paid the mag for more coverage... mazda rarely pushes thier s*** esp if they know its limited production and thier embrassed about the rx8...

 

[AJsMSP]

Well I just sent and email directly to the editor of SCC. Like I said before probably won't do much.

 

[girth]

It's a magazine.

 

[Leonardo]

Well I just sent and email directly to the editor of SCC. Like I said before probably won't do much.

I sent the email to the address that is in the letters from the readers section. I forget the actual name of that section, but there is an email address listed. There are a bunch of email addresses on the website www.sportcampactcarweb.com under the "Contact us" link though. Feel free to send more to some of them, maybe we will get a response.

 

[I'm Allen]

I emailed them too, this is my letter:

Dear SCC,

First off, I really enjoy your magazine. Your articles were the biggest factor in my purchasing my car, a 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege. Comments like, "It does everything well and makes no apologies for being a true enthusiast's car." (Oct. 2002), and, "...this car is our new benchmark for production car front-drive performance. That's right, it has knocked the old Acura Integra Type R off the mountain." (Oct. 2002) is what made me want to trade in my 2002 Spec V for one...which I eventually did.

The car placed 2nd in the 8 car shootout of your January 2003 issue. "The Mazdaspeed Protege gives up 73 hp and a 100 lb-ft of torque to the overendowed SRT-4, and yet it was surprisingly close to nudging the Dodge out of the top spot." (Jan. 2003). "Hustling the Mazdaspeed Protege down a twisty road elicits the same slack-jawed amazement once reserved for the Integra Type R." (Jan. 2003).

Even with these comments, it still didn't get a spot in the top 100 cars list. I'm just wondering why?

Thanks for listening and keep up the good work.

Allen Hughes-
Newport News, VA

 

[mspdfreak]

SCC's Reply...

"Thank you for your letters. The reason we didn't include the MSP in our top 100 is because mazda never advertises in our magazine. As you may or may not know, we don't include ANY car in our prestigious list that doesn't either give us a free project car, or provide more than $50,000 in advertisement per year. We put performance and reliability aside, and use the almighty dollar as our benchmark for rating cars. Hope this answers your questions and concerns.
The Editors"


Fake, but true...
(fu)...SCC!

 

[chuyler1]

Were any other cars in the list limited production models?

 

[PhreakV]

they actually sent that response to you? wow...

 

[jeffmsp]

dont worry, you still have a great car. (boobs) regardless of what those slack jawed yokles say, we know what we have got, maybe its better that kids in tiburons and type-rs dont know how great we are so when we beat them we get the last laugh. "I dont understand how i lost, my tib was #77 and that ms wasnt even on the list...he must of had nawzzzzz" lol, i can see it now.....