I'm dissapointed

chdesign

Member
OK guys...yes happy happy joy joy we have a turbo protege very cool and good but I'm a little let down. I was hoping to see a mimic of the HKS protege. I mean it looked great it can perform and it makes 175 HP and 205 ft lbs of torque and thats with the 1.8 motor!!!!!!!! Come on Mazda we all know you can do better than this...turn to HKS for guidance.
 
I agree. I think that if Mazda really wanted to compete. They should have turned to a real tuner company. No disrespect to Calloway, but one would have to agree that HKS probably could have done a better job. Especially with a Turbo Kit. Seeing the numbers on the 1.8 makes you wonder what they could have done with a 2.0
 
Calloway is no spring chicken in the Tuner biz...look at Corvettes he's turned out. Rock solid performance.
 
Bob has a real good point, Calloway dosen't mess around. We might have to take his word for it when he says that they have brought the MPS Protege to perfection...
 
remember guys th car isnt out yet. so we dont "REALLY" know what its pushing out. and inst the 1.8t set low boost from the factory.
 
Guys, as far as Callaway goes ... one of the best tuners around. I live in Connecticut, home of Callaway, so during the summer months, it is not uncommon to come across Callaway Vettes, Camaros, and project cars at local car shows. A buddy had his 87 Iroc worked on by Callaway, and the thing would get sideways! His NA Iroc was like 600hp, street legal. It was a bad ass car, and for anyone who says that Camaros can't handle/too heavy~~ the car cornered like a BMW. Respect to Callaway. You must realize that Callaway dosen't determine the extent of the work~~ Mazda's design and development teams do. I guarantee, with all of his experience, he could build a faster protege that HKS, greddy, you and me could only wet dream about. But Mazda knows they cannot charge that kinda money for a pocket rocket. They would loose money.
 
Didn't I say no disrespect to Callaway.:rolleyes: Anyhow, they do churn out some power vehicles, all of which that just so happen to be American muscle cars. The MS-P, if I'm thinking correctly, will be Callaway's first at bat with a Japanese car. And I believe I'm right when thinking that Japanese tuning is almost always done best by Japanese manufacturers. Sure Callaway, may be raising the bar of the Protege with the MS-P, but I highly doubt that it will be perfect. Perfection is a matter of opinion. But, the MS-P will be a good performance car, but it will be far from rulling the scene.
 
170?? Come on. The 1.8 puts out what, 130 stock? That is only a 40 HP gain. A good turbo should put out about 10 HP per psi. That would mean they are only running about 4 psi or that the kit is not effecient. They should have run about 8 psi and got 200+ HP out of that car.
 
remember that mazda is putting a full warrenty on this car and they know it will be driven very hard. More than likely, they are striving for reliability and performance. Sure, they could get 200whp out of the MS pro but, how long would it last? That's where the aftermarket comes in and lets you decide how much hp you really want.

BTW, VW has been making a 1.8turbo for years. The newest edition is putting out 180hp. Only a couple years ago the 1.8t in the Beetle was a mere 150hp. So, I think mazda's efforts are very reasonable.

Anyway, we still don't know the FINAL power numbers.
 
eeterp said:
Anyway, we still don't know the FINAL power numbers.

Yes, that is exactly why we can't speculate a whole lot. Damn, I hate waiting.:mad: Good this is that once the final numbers are released, SCC Magazine, Super Street and virtually every car mag will have their shot behind the wheel of the MS-P. Which means we'll have a whole lot of opinions......and complaints. I bet you guys ten bucks that Car & Driver will compain about the cup holders being to small or something stupid like that. ;)
 
I don't know Apexi...it wasn't like the MP3 got trounced in reviews really. For the most part the universal complaint was about power and not having enough of it. I mean if the Mazdaspeed was what Mazda originally came out with as an MP3...including the Blue and Yellow colouring....and at not too much more than what we all paid...then it would have been a huge smash that everybody would have talked about even more so than our MP3s. It's just because the bar has been raised in the last year or so with a lot of other cars like the Spec V, Civic SI, Focus SVT etc.
 
Don't get me wrong guys I think Callaway is a great tuner but we have to face another fact imports and domestics are two totally different ball games Callaway may be able to squeeze every last drop out of a big honkin V8 but a Jap 4 banger is another story.
 
VW 1.8t

My buddy has a 1.8 t GTI and it is f'n A fast...its rated at 180, but there are a ton of rumors floating around on his respective site (i think it vortex.com or something) that cars made after a certain date had some re-routing of air done on them that bumped up hp to 200...VW didn't feel it necessary to tell anyone about the change in mid production of the years run...(figure for a good reason, because everyone would only want to buy the "fixed" ones) There are dynos and what nots to prove the theories apparently.

Anyway, true or not, that car is DAMN FAST, and really nice (granted, its a good amount more expensive):D
 
chdesign said:
Don't get me wrong guys I think Callaway is a great tuner but we have to face another fact imports and domestics are two totally different ball games Callaway may be able to squeeze every last drop out of a big honkin V8 but a Jap 4 banger is another story.

But the principal theories behind each are pretty similar, particularly when it comes to turbo charging.

Calloway did what Mazda wanted it to do. Nothing more and nothing less. Making 200 hp would probably be easy enough, but making it reliable is a whole other ball game.
 
Two things:

1. I used to work in New London, CT (just down 95 from Old Lyme) at WNLC/WTYD and remember having an early Callaway Corvette prototype go wailing past me at Warp 9 (or damn close) on a breakin run. I used to travel back and forth to New Haven in a heavily modded Capri (euro style, not Mustang) and was doing close to an hundred at the time. Saw the lights in the mirror approaching and a blur go by the door. Shook the car like a strong wind.

2. In talking with the guys at the dealership, we were discussing the Mazdaspeed Pro and the manager told me that one of the west coast Mazda reps has been driving an early prototype of the 'Speed and it puts out 217hp.

:p
 
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