Look what I found on the solara forums !!!

[nonameheroes]

hey...nice sig pic...(hitit2)

 

[ards]

The road was curvy and at the speeds we were going....well (lol2)

 

[Turbo Matty P]

whats the weight of the solara?? i feel confident i could take one with my p5. Anyone wanna try it out??

 

[stdntDrvr]

(jacked)

any of you guys from AL coming to the meet in ATL on the 22nd?

 

[stdntDrvr]

i'd love to run against a solara.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

hmm, when and where....who all will be in attendence?

 

[stdntDrvr]

at dave and buster's in marietta...here's the thread:

http://www.protege5.com/vbb230/showthread.php?t=47053

 

[Turbo Matty P]

hmm.....no'one I know going to be there but Ghost and he's not keen on me.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

hahah serves him right ......

 

[Ceej]

The Solaras (sic) look sweet but are dogs. I laugh at the guy who says he killed an MSP in a GT, those cars are chick cars.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

chick cars for chicks who only drive automatics!

Celica's are ass...never been a decent celica except the GT4 AWD turbo 2.2L.....it was so good Toyota doesn't make it anymore.

 

[SubversiveSound]

and the Protege is so good Mazda doesn't make it anymore, same with the RX-7. Whats your point? There where lots of reasons the Supra was removed from the States (insurance, rising cost of car, sportscar market bottom fell out), same with the RX-7. And those two cars didn't stop being produced and sold in Japan until a couple years ago. Just cause they stop making a car doesn't make it a crappy car.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

you're right on some things.....the sports car market never "fell out"....maybe the Over-priced sportcar (rx-7, Supra, 300Z) market fell out, but mustangs and (until recently) camaros have always sold in the hundreds of thousands.

The supra is an ok car, but my comment was on toyotas in general...only 1 good model of celica, one good MR2 model and one good Supra model....their cars are crap, their trucks are crap and their vans are crap...there's not one special thing about the Toyota line-up. They excell in not one catagory....they are somewhat reliable and hold resale value....I don't ever sweat resale value and I sure don't mind replacing factory parts with aftermarket performance units when and if something goes worng. Toyota stands out in no way....Mazda may not be very profittab;e, but at least they haven't lost their soul.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

p.s. The protege only evolved....it grew....like it has when it was the 323.

 

[SubversiveSound]

From what I understand the Protege and the Mazda3 don't really share any parts. Car and Driver wrote that as nice as the Mazda3 is, it's not as much fun to drive due to added weight, taking away some of the character that makes the Protege the car that we love. That being said, I haven't driven a Mazda3, therefore I don't have any first hand experience to determine if this is just an evolution, or if it's a new and different car. Just because the Mazda3 is Mazda's new entry level econo box doesn't automaticlly make it just an evolution of the Protege. Just my $.02. Oh, and I don't have a problem with Toyotas, I just think they are as bland as IGA Corn Flakes.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

The mazda 3 uses the same transmission, same base engine, same bsic suspension etc as the current Protege. The new chevy cobalt....is a cavalier...they are changing the style and name but it's the same car.

 

[leungwingkei]

Tranmission-Yes. The manual is at least but they replaced the rod linkage with a cable .
Base engine-No. The Mazda 3 2.0 uses the new MZR engine line.
Basic suspension-No. The Mazda 3 has a E-type multilink in the rear similar to the Mazda6.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

oops....leung corrected me. My point was that the M3 is just an evolution of the protege as it was an evolution of the 323 before it. There's nothing wrong with that. I love the M3, i just love my lesser payment and more immediate mods better.

 

[misbehave]

he said:
"The road was curvy and at the speeds we were going"

thats all i have to say.

Obviously that guy only believe in straight line speed and power.

 

[Phoenix5]

That's right.What we lack in hp we make up for in TORQUE baby!! (evil)(rockon)