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- 2000 Protege ES
Is Mazda The New Porsche?
In an article published in the August 2010 issue of Grassroots Motorsports magazine, staffers Wayne and Will Nonnamaker posed the question of whether “Mazda, particularly their Mazdaspeed division, (is) replacing Porsche as the go-to brand in the hearts and minds of sports car enthusiasts”. Having campaigned Porsches and Corvettes for many years as members of Team Sahlen, their current racing stable consists exclusively of Mazdas, more particularly Mazdaspeed 3’s and RX-8’s.
The authors start by giving props to Mazda owners by saying that “having a Mazda in your garage today designates you as a true gearhead. It’s a brand that has fostered its own cult of sorts. It’s amazing the number of fans that come up to us at the track and share the details of their own Mazdas. It’s almost like there’s a code of passage between members of the Mazda family.”
The article then proceeds to draw several similarities between the two marques with regards to their motorsports programs, then goes on to answer their own query by stating that Mazda ever truly replacing Porsche is a lofty goal, but more importantly though, “it’s nice to see another manufacturer who understands how to deliver a car with heart and soul, a suspension that takes a corner with panache, a muffler that has a little bit of a roar to it, and a transmission that feels tight and precise.”
They conclude the article by stating that “Porsche isn’t going away anytime soon, as the firm knows how to build fantastic street and race cars. Mazda is closing the gap, however, as Zoom-Zoom is more than just a marketing slogan.”
In an article published in the August 2010 issue of Grassroots Motorsports magazine, staffers Wayne and Will Nonnamaker posed the question of whether “Mazda, particularly their Mazdaspeed division, (is) replacing Porsche as the go-to brand in the hearts and minds of sports car enthusiasts”. Having campaigned Porsches and Corvettes for many years as members of Team Sahlen, their current racing stable consists exclusively of Mazdas, more particularly Mazdaspeed 3’s and RX-8’s.
The authors start by giving props to Mazda owners by saying that “having a Mazda in your garage today designates you as a true gearhead. It’s a brand that has fostered its own cult of sorts. It’s amazing the number of fans that come up to us at the track and share the details of their own Mazdas. It’s almost like there’s a code of passage between members of the Mazda family.”
The article then proceeds to draw several similarities between the two marques with regards to their motorsports programs, then goes on to answer their own query by stating that Mazda ever truly replacing Porsche is a lofty goal, but more importantly though, “it’s nice to see another manufacturer who understands how to deliver a car with heart and soul, a suspension that takes a corner with panache, a muffler that has a little bit of a roar to it, and a transmission that feels tight and precise.”
They conclude the article by stating that “Porsche isn’t going away anytime soon, as the firm knows how to build fantastic street and race cars. Mazda is closing the gap, however, as Zoom-Zoom is more than just a marketing slogan.”
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