Why is my ES so...SLOW?

[drivethruecp]

I honestly love my Protege! And am not knockin it whatsoever but its has such horrible acceleration. I know its a blunt comment but idk what else to say. First gear and then shifting to second is where its slow. Off the line it just has horrible pickup, then the lag from 1st to 2nd is ridiculous. The only mods I have are: B&M SS, Kartboy Bushings, AEM CAI (short ram air soon), and the rest is subtle visual things that have nothing to do with performance unless you consider the Gemini R/C hood performance. I have my tires at 48PSI.... I have tried to try different ways of shifting and all which help.... idk, maybe I am not shifting efficiently enough with my car. Or our 2.0's are slow...idk, I'm in denial so. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Oh and the only other complaint I have is my engine is noisy as hell! Especially noticeable at idle.

 

[Blake]

get a turbo

 

[Rio Racer]

you have a N/A 2.0 protege... of course it's slow, just turbo it or buy an MSP.

 

[drivethruecp]

It seems like any 6 cylinder, whether it be a van, car, truck can beat out my slow ass car

 

[Captain KRM P5]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazd...ryZ33742QQihZ002QQitemZ120046889098QQtcZphoto

 

[Blake]

u drive a inline 2 liter....its not a damn ls1 put a turbo on it.

 

[drivethruecp]

I don't at all expect it to have crazy pickup or anything, if thats what your all thinking I'm saying...just not as horrible either. Its just acceleration from leaving a stop light or sign etc. I don't race or any of that.

 

[Blake]

then get some nawzzzzz

 

[B1GHAM]

I don't at all expect it to have crazy pickup or anything, if thats what your all thinking I'm saying...just not as horrible either. Its just acceleration from leaving a stop light or sign etc. I don't race or any of that.

If you have the 2.0, have you looked into upgrading to the MP3 ECU? I know there are a few people on here that have done so, but Im not sure if it just involves the ECU or if theres anything else you need to do.

 

[jersey_emt]

If you have the 2.0, have you looked into upgrading to the MP3 ECU? I know there are a few people on here that have done so, but Im not sure if it just involves the ECU or if theres anything else you need to do.

It's just the ECU.

However, in order to get the extra 10HP you need to use premium gas.

 

[Gaboost]

It's an economy car, it's not made for acceleration. A turbo can change that, however. A 75 shot of nitrous works, too.

 

[Kansei]

It's just the ECU.

However, in order to get the extra 10HP you need to use premium gas.

very much worth it in my opinion. If you drove my Protege5 with the MP3 ECU and then right after I switched back to my Protege5 ECU ... WOW it was such a huge difference. I really, really miss the MP3 ECU. The single best N/A mod on my car, and they go for like ~225 which isn't too bad.

But if you're looking to make good power (anything over 120whp really) go for the turbo. It's cheaper than the N/A route, seriously.

 

[Jas00x]

How about a light weight flywheel? Lighter wheels, smaller diameter wheels and tires will help gearing. Also, with the proteges that are a couple years old, you have to maintain them alot to keep performance up - clean the EGR/Throttle body, replace plugs regularly.
Higher PSI in your tires won't help accelleration- that makes less contact patch. Lower psi will get you better grip. With street tires (as opposed to R-compound tires or drag slicks), usually the dealer recommended pressures work just fine.
BTW, my Acura RSX-S is *just* a 2L- but its plenty fast!

 

[djarkitek]

ok wait wait.
i have an n/a protege too and i can assure you we have a insanely slow 2,3,and 4, but not first.

Trusstt me. For fun i go aout against my friends with 350zs, and turboed 240sx, and civics. My car had a lot of torque in first and 2nd. it's form the middle of second , then all of 3rd, and 4th, that our n/a engines really show they have nothing. so I would say, u less you are driving an automatic, you should be lifting perfectly well in first and second unless there is something wrong wiht your or you suck at take-offs.

i am 110% sure about this too, becuase i've heard some a lot of people and been in other N/A proteges, that have the same problem. it's in no way 1st and 2nd, it's eveyr other gear that is sad. and oh yea, i'm going turbo to solve that problem. but really i don't know how you have bad 1st and 2nd gears at all?.....what the hell are you racng, corvettes? lol

 

[djarkitek]

another way i know also is the street i do against n/a cars. try it yourself.

if you race a cavalier or or civic on like the highway..they will not only keep up with you, but prob. pass you unless you drop all the way to like 2rd gear doing 60. But if try to race them from a dead start at a stop light; as i have done also, you will have about 2 car lengths lead by 3rd gear everytime and they will catch up slowly. incase you did'nt notice also, our cars have more torque generally than horsepower, so we def. have the get up and go.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

stock or near stock proteges take about 9 seconds to reach 60mph folks, remember this

 

[Kansei]

:'( 8.6 seconds I think.. makes me feel much better haha.

 

[clicknext]

To the OP: Maybe it seems slow because of the short gearing in 1st/2nd? If you just granny it in those gears like I do, it'll take forever. But if you really stomp on it and get through the gears quickly, it doesn't seem that bad to me. 4th, however...

=/

In my opinion, the car's gearing isn't the best. I'd like to have seen slightly taller 1st and 2nd, maybe shorter 3rd/4th, and a taller 5th to get the engine rev down on the freeway.

 

[MaDz]

i agree with you there.. I think i'm already @ like 3200-3500 rpm when im hitting 100km/h on 5th gear... i don't see any problem there but it might be hard on gas if you go on the highway @ 130km/h for a couple hours and the engine working @ 4000 rpm ;P

To the OP: Maybe it seems slow because of the short gearing in 1st/2nd? If you just granny it in those gears like I do, it'll take forever. But if you really stomp on it and get through the gears quickly, it doesn't seem that bad to me. 4th, however...

=/

In my opinion, the car's gearing isn't the best. I'd like to have seen slightly taller 1st and 2nd, maybe shorter 3rd/4th, and a taller 5th to get the engine rev down on the freeway.

 

[djarkitek]

Mine is down to about 7.5 seconds as an n/a