Its NOT Right

[Sir Nuke]

I went to the dealer today....just to pick up some oil filters....the day was pretty nice so I rode my harley...it was a really nice ride..

ANYWAY.....as of late I have heard quite a few MP3 owners b*tching about the fact that the 2003 P-5's were coming out in lazar blue....well guys....that is nothing to be upset about....HOWEVER....what would be upsetting me is the fact that that the standard Protege is coming out in that color too!! There was an LX sitting in the parking spot right next to where I parked....it just sets up every tom, dick, and harry to make a counterfit MP3 with little or no trouble....all they have to do is get the appropriate body parts and have them painted to match the rest of their car and they are on their way......all the other stuff is strictly bolt on.....THAT IS JUST NOT RIGHT!!! next thing you know the regular protege will be offered in vivid yellow, then spicy orange....geeeez

 

[JasonTK]

Man......

I totally agree, that is definitely not right at all. This car is becoming less and less "limited edition" every day

 

[1sty]

It doesn't realy bother me at all. I love my car for its color and performance. Far be it for me to want to keep any of that from someone else. I didn't buy my car becuse it was limited edition. It realy wasn't. It was just a small production for Mazda to test the water with a better performing/looking sedan. Its not like our cars were ever going to have some greater value for it being an MP3 as apposed to a regular protege with same body parts and color.

 

[MPChi]

Yeah. Very soon, we'll see a lot of 4-door Proteges claiming themselves as #1501, 1502...etc., let them be blue or yellow. Heck, they may even have Mazdaspeed badges all over them. Oh well, at least I know my yellow MP3 is the real thing.

 

[MPChi]

Like I said in another post somewhere, I don't mind people dressing up their Proteges with MP3 body kits, as it is a very cool looking design. Kind of like Cruzer's sweet silver Pro. But as the exclusive colors becoming available for LX/ES (at least Laser Blue Mica at the moment), it wouldn't be too fair for the people who paid money for the real thing for both the performance and the unique look(color + body kit + rims + badges..etc combo), when the car was advertised as a limited editon (very limited indeed). I'm sure one of the reasons many of us MP3 owners are very proud of owning one is because of its rarity. You don't see one very often. And when you see one on the streets, you be like:"Cool!", as you know its a real deal. But now that the limited edition color is available for 4-doors, and so as most of the MP3 performance parts & body kit, its just more likely we'll see more and more fake ones (probably with MP3/Mazdaspeed badges as well ) all over the place. Thats's just not cool. We all know the stories of fake Type-Rs and Si.

 

[1sty]

What advertising?

I read sport compact car and car and driver and i never even knew about the mp3 untill it was in the dealer show room 2 days before i bought it.

 

[derrick1623]

as ive said before, i never knew of the mp3, now all these laser blue proteges, and p5's, plastered all over the 'net', and advertised at 0%...damn!!!

 

[MPChi]

Sorry. "Advertised" may not be very appropriate, as I don't mean by having commercials or ads everywhere. I guess 'labeled as limited edition' may be closer?

And yeah, I first learned about this car through car magazine articles too.

 

[Gyre]

Is it really the same blue? I saw a blue P5 today that wasn't the midnight blue but it looked like the color was less intense than I remember for the MP3.

 

[YellowMP5]

saw a silver protege with mp3 side skirts and rear bumper cover. front bumper and spoiler were stock.
actually you said that pro sedan should not be made in mp3 blue.
for the same reason pro sedans should not be made in black because mazdaspeed comes in black too.

 

[MPChi]

I think on the black Mazdaspeed, things are a little different. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 4-door Protege gets the Black Mica color first. So the issue is slightly different I guess, while the Laser Blue Mica is reversed.

I personally think that it would be ideal for Mazda to keep the exclusiveness of the MP3/Mazdaspeed colors, while introducing new attractive colors to the newer Proteges. Be it a blue, yellow, orange, burgandy, or neon green . As long as they are somewhat different, like a slightly different blue, or a Lancer/BMW yellow or something, that would be great. But I guess that will never happen.

So I don't think its wrong or unfair for other Pro owners to own these colors, as they pay for them with their hard-earned cash as well. But if Mazda planned things a little differently and keep the color exclusiveness to their limited edition models, probably we'll see less unhappy MP3 owners and less fake MP3s on the streets in the near future. Probably just more Pros with similar MP3 designs and in different colors. THAT would be cool, I think. I always look at the Pros on the street nowadays, whether its a 4-door, P5 or MP3. I like them all.

But no matter how many yellow Pros are going to be out there, I wouldn't love my yellow MP3 any less.

 

[JasonTK]

actually you said that pro sedan should not be made in mp3 blue.
for the same reason pro sedans should not be made in black because mazdaspeed comes in black too.

They have already been made in black for years though...

That is not a new color exclusive to the Mazdaspeed Protege.

The MP3 was the only car you could get in the Laser Blue when it came out.

There is a big difference.

 

[smp3000]

:wtf: <br>
Man, that really sucks. I'm sure I'll see quite a few counterfitters out there. But then again, I can't be a hypocrate-I bought a mazdaspeed badge and replaced it with my regular mazda emblem on the rear... It's not like I'm taking off my MP3 badges... No way... But let's just say that the new turbo addition to my car makes it worthy of the mazdaspeed branding. hehe

It's strange. I don't look at myself as a lamer, but then again whenever I seean 89 4dr Honda Accord with the TYPE R emblem on the back-I look at htem like their total tools..

 

[Kooldino]

Man......

I totally agree, that is definitely not right at all. This car is becoming less and less "limited edition" every day

Totally, man. My car isn't even a year old yet.

 

[BigBlue]

It's not really all that frustrating for me...I do have to say that the blue is such a beautiful color...but I guess there will be a lot more of it on the road now. As for people who try to just make their cars look like an MP3...well I think that's just unoriginal and at least in my area I'll know if they are the real deal or not pretty easily as I know the owners of the MP3s.

 

[njaremka]

what a bunch of cry babies. :'(

who cares if mazda offers the pro5 and sedan in laser blue, it's thier choice. obviously, they found the color to be very popular on the protege, and thier marketing research has shown they can make some money from offering it. and if you are worried that every little rice-boy is going to turn his car into an mp3 look-a-like, so what. it will never be an mp3, unless they alter the vin number. (major felony) true mp3's will still be limited in production, regardless of how many other protege sedans they offer in laser blue.

i say, mazda is on the right track. anything they can do to boost support for the protege, they should do. it is a great car, and more people should be driving them instead of driving civics.

 

[big_ben]

I kinda agree. The person will NEVER really have an MP3 or anything equal to it until they have put over $2000 into the suspension mods that the MP3 has on it. And most people don't ever do that. They ususlly just get some lowering springs and then they think their car will handle like a F1 car. I don't care about the colors because I know my car will always be 1 of 320 in the whole world. That's right, no yellow Familias in Japan. That's an American exclusive!

 

[1sty]

Not to mention they would need over $500 in suspension retrofitting just to handle the MP3s rear suspension. From my talks with racing beat many mounts had to refabricated and beefed up to handle the MP3s stronger rear bar and the rest of the suspension. They can throw in the same components all day long but the rear of there car will never be as tight.

 

[DooMer_MP3]

I'm not sure whether I want to be upset or happy. I'm actually looking forward to when one of these 03's come up next to me thinking they're pulling up to another 03 laser blue. Then they realize that its an MP3 and I will feel sorry for them. Whatever, I was pissed at first about the Mazdaspeed itself, I guess the laser blue stuff isn't that big of a deal. We should all write a complaint though to Mazda; I agree that these 03s will allow people to make their own MP3s... Oh well.

Chris

 

[njaremka]

We should all write a complaint though to Mazda;

gimme a break! what about all those people that bought a sony ps2 a month before sony dropped the price $100? should sony give them a refund? no. should mazda be basted because they are now offering a laser blue protege es? no!

this is the worst thread i have ever contributed to on this forum. you guys are childish.