P5 handling capabilities

Red5_02

Banned
:
2002 Protege5 !?STOCK?! T.T
So on my way home from work this evening, I look in my rear view mirror to catch some jerkoff in a Civic weaving in and out of traffic like a mad man. I stay in the right lane to catch my exit and he flies right up to my bumper. He's practically pushing me into the exit so I downshift and nail it. It's not too long before he's off my tail and struggling to be a cool racer boy again. We're talking major leaning on his part (ughdance) . All the while, the P5 has plenty room to push it. This is a stock car too! I've pushed this thing to the point of screaming tires and it wasn't anywhere close to that point. So as i pull off the ramp, he's about 4 car lengths behind me and i get up to the speed limit and keep goin. He starts swervin in and out of traffic to catch up to. As he drives by, he stares at my wheels to notice...STOCK RIDE HEIGHT(first) . The look on his face was great (shocked) (omg) . I give him my best smile as he swerves around a school bus and takes off down the road. I love this car more and more every day.
 
We're only talking like 50 mph, it wasn't even a hard turn. I try to be smart
 
on our trip to Tail of teh Dragon, taking a corner at 35 MPH was enough to flip one of the MSPs in front of me

don't get me wrong, i corner faster than i should sometimes, it's not smart but it's cool
 
The protege 5's handle extremely well in fact thats what sold me into buying my first mazda. The power was lacking but no matter how hard I pushed the car the better it responded. I believe Sport Compact Car mag stated the P5 out handeled the WRX. Took the car for the weekend and really fell in love with it. Now I own 5 mazda vehicles thanks to the P5.
 
Well since we are telling on ourselves

Way back in feb of 2003 we just got our P5. A friend of mine worked at an outo parts store so we stopped by to see him with our new car. He had a truck come in and was really busy. He wanted a ride in the car so he asked us if we could come by at closing. Sure enough, my wife, daughter & I would go grocery shopping.

We got our groceries and went back to Checker Auto to go see Dan. Its 10 pm and traffic is fairly light to non existant. In my mirror I see the stereotypical ricers bouncing from lane to lane.

I get into the left lane because I'm going to make a left at the next intersection. Suddenly on my bumper is a civic with a monster tach. I know cause I can clearly see the drivers fce from the light on it. His shift light is distracting me and I'm infront. Thats how close he was behind me.

Well I have had professional driving instruction and have a pretty good handle on driving. Any way its me, Dan, my wife, & my daughter and a full hatch full of groceries including a couple cases of soda.

As we approach the intersection the arrow turns green and I'm slow enough to put the car into 1st and go. Honda boy tries to keep up. I was at the begining of the turn lane when I got the green had built up speed for the corner. I make my corner and continue into the left lane. The street was completely empty.

At the speed of the corner honduh boy couldn't hold the turn and slid sideways into the curb across 3 lanes and bounced back and continued to catch up to me. I decided to wind up the motor let him catch up then upshift and pull on him. He got behind me and I made a quicl left onto a side road with a 45 degree exit. I never slowed for that left.

What makes this funny is that my bone stock, grocery getter, family wagon fully loaded spanked a riced out civic.
 
How much HP do those Monster Tachs add?

I mean, you add that together with the wing, type r stickers, 6" exhaust tip...
 
the P5 handles very well - mine is stock and the spoiled little suburban kids with the WRX's and the EVO's cant touch it in terms of handling.

i take a very curvy parkway to work each day and i run about 70 mph average and BMW's cant corner or move like my P5....woohoo!

my tires suffer though. i will need new ones soon already :)
 
yeah, it's all fun and games until you have bald tires every 10k miles
 
yeah - sux, but there are not many cars u can take sharp turns with and not be plastered into the door or sitting on the center console...i don't do it all the time, just when i am feeling fun.
 
you think it handles well stock, just wait til you drop it and start upgrading suspension parts. im still running the dunflops and my car can almost out handle my friends msp
 
oh the p5 handles amazing (and all my friends who have drivin my car love it for the handling) ive thrown my car around a turn (and not some weak ass one either...a pretty sharp turn) at 65 and it pulls through it like its nothin. i love the way this car handles...it drives like a dream. my friends 3000gt handles good, but cant pull turns like the p5 :D
P5 FTW!(first)
 
So I am not the only one....:)

There are some nice s-turns (nickname is 'cemetary curve') on my commute and I just love to throw the P5 through them. I am running stock and it scares me to think of how fast I could take these with some suspension mods.
 
I am on Eibach springs with an SR Motorsports 19mm rear sway bar and nitto 555 tires attached to 8 lbs rims.

Mingus Mountain, that I can take home everyday if I want, is all about cuves.

The most traveled spot is between Jerome and Prescott Valley. its 158 curves in 12 miles.

If you have a myspace account I have a midnight run video on Mingus

Check out my myspace page and go to the video sections for my uploaded videos.Link is in my sig.

This might work butI still think you have to sign up/in


http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&n=2&videoID=882683727
 
Just FYI, you P5-ers don't have all the fun. There's a nice twisting road that leads to my office.
I was talking about this one sweeping curve on that road with one of the guys at an accompanying office who has a supercharged Monte Carlo (SS?). He was bragging how he can take the turn at 40mph. I chuckled and told him how I can easily take the same turn at 60mph with my snow tires on. Even offered a ride to prove it...
I don't do it often, but once in a while, when there's no one else around...
 
Protephile said:
Just FYI, you P5-ers don't have all the fun. There's a nice twisting road that leads to my office.
I was talking about this one sweeping curve on that road with one of the guys at an accompanying office who has a supercharged Monte Carlo (SS?). He was bragging how he can take the turn at 40mph. I chuckled and told him how I can easily take the same turn at 60mph with my snow tires on. Even offered a ride to prove it...
I don't do it often, but once in a while, when there's no one else around...

there is a 20 mph curve on a road by my house...its real sharp...i can take it 50 mph with my P.
 
Every weekday morning's a grin when I head for work at 430 down a three lane stretch of nearly empty concrete that turns into a 2-lane, 90-degree right turn exit ramp to the interstate.

Running 55-60, drop to third, maintain speed with a feathered throttle, cut in allowing for a slight slip angle, floor it at the apex and watch the panic moves in the mirrors of those who thought they could hang.

MSP coils, Tokico blues, Goodyear 215/45 F1 FS-DEs on ADR 17/7s add to the zoom-zoom; the P5 was a handler stock.

The only way to start the day... :D
 
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