Why would you buy a Protege instead of....

[sundevilMP5]

i think everybody has made some good points...as far as choosing the p5...i picked it because of the all around package...it's a great car to drive (still has performance potential) but it can still carry lots of stuff...i mountain bike, ski, etc...and i can't tell you how nice it is to be able to put ALL my junk inside...

i would have to disagree about the sentra being about "sheer" performance...it's just a little more performance oriented then the normal sentra...seriously if you look at the numbers none of them are groundbreaking...but doesn't mean that it's not a good car

yeah and here in the states i actually see more SE-Rs then i do p5s...

 

[DanMP5]

I considered the sentra spec-v before purchasing my protege5. I owned a 93 nissan maxima se and traded it in on the P5. I regret getting rid of that car everyday. Not because I dislike my Mazda but the maxima was such a sweet ride. In my opinion nissan builds good quality cars and I would be glad to own another one. There were 2 main reasons why I did not get the sentra, #1 it would have cost me close to $2,000 more than my P5 and #2 in my opinion it is just not a very good looking car. The only advantage as I see it, is the nissan is faster, and for 2grand more than my P5 it should be.


Nissan sentra styling(notcool)

 

[dmitrik4]

You drive a Nissan Sentra-What am I smoking?
Directly from nissans webpage-
2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder engine
175 hp @ 6,000 rpm
REDLINE ANYONE????

i think he was talking about the TORQUE number you stated..."105 lb-ft."

more like 180 ft-lbs at 4,000 rpm (also from Nissan's webpage). if you ever drive one, you will notice how torquey the engine is.

and the P5 makes its peak HP at 6,000 rpm and peak torque at 4,000 rpm as well.

and Equinox, the P5 DOES NOT have variable valve timing. and stock, you're not faster than a Corolla. neither am i.

and as far as not buying AC "for the weight," if weight is THAT important, why did you buy the Protege model that weighs almost 100 pounds more? why not get the sedan?

 

[ZiO]

Protege 5 -------------------> CAR OF THE YEAR.

 

[YellowMP5]

Re: Why would you buy a Protege 5 instead of....

The most appealing factor for the SE-R to me is that it's a very RARE car! You do not see one everyday, it's a very exclusive car, you feel special driving it.
QUOTE]


dude, where do you live? come to florida they are all over the place. i bought my p5 before the se-r came out. in fact, i did drive the sentra just to compare but my mind was set on a yellow p5. the only thing i liked about it better was the tighter brakes, thats it. while i liked the sentra when it first came out back in '99? it is to bland looking now especially compared to the p5. at local car shows/cruise spots nobody stops to look at the sentra. but people still look at the p5. i had everybody from 5 year olds on bicycles to 80 year olds in camrys and big dudes with tattoos on harleys compliment my car. no lie.

 

[YellowMP5]

I wonder how many of us P5 owners that love our rides are surfing the Sentra SE-R forums?!?! Hmmmmmm.

thats a good one. why would you go on another board? i admitt i look at mustang boards but i LOVE mustangs and own one which needs a little tunning once in a while. i am sure many of us surf rsx, maxima... and other boards. yeah right.

 

[Liquidturbo2000]

I have both. What do you guys want to know?

 

[serge2100]

btw variable valve timing is not the same thing as V-tec.. there is no boost in power at any part of the se-rs powerband as there is in a vtec motor (once vtec kicks in). variable valve timing is always enganged in ur motors (se-r) vtec only engages after a set rpm.. depending on the car.. so what are u smoking? do a little more homework on YOUR car before u speak.

 

[70]

Hmmm...

Sentra SE-R is all about performance? Not really, but if you think so.

The reason I bought the Protege is simple. It is a far better car than the Nissan. I looked at buying the Jetta 1.8t, I looked at buying a Corolla. I thought about the Nissan.

But I ended up going back to the dealer for the Protege 5. Got an MP3 instead because it was there.

The main reason I won't buy a Nissan is simple, they don't send good cars here. They balied on the 300 ZX. They tried to placate the masses by saying the 240 SX was a sports coupe, same with the lame 200 SX SE-R... Then, they finally wisened up and thought the Sentra (which has always been worse than the Protege) in a performance version would do well again. But the SE-R just can't live up to old version. Sure it's "newer", but original was way better in my eyes. And now the 350Z is just a waste.

The Protege has always been more performance oriented than the Sentra. The MP3 and the Mazdaspeed Protege simply embody that idea completely.

Mazda in general has been more performance oriented than Nissan.

 

[Equinox]

...stock, you're not faster than a Corolla. neither am i.

I realize that, I'm just saying what does the corolla have to do with anything? It's an ugly piece of s*** and isn't a sentra, so I'm just wondering why he's mentioning it. I could say my friends Acura integra is faster than his sentra and comes with less horsepower, but why woudl I?

and as far as not buying AC "for the weight," if weight is THAT important, why did you buy the Protege model that weighs almost 100 pounds more? why not get the sedan?

Because I didnt want a sedan, I'm just saying if MY CAR, which is not a protege sedan, had an option of no A/C, I would have gotten that, because I don't use the A/C and it would then be lighter. There is a HUGE difference between the protege sedan and the protege5, if anything, you could say why didn't I buy an MP3, and I would say, because I can't get one =p

 

[WhiteZoomZoom]

...What are you smoking? Do a little more homework before you speak.

Thought you didnt want to start a flame war. Please keep down the attitude. And if you come on the Protege board and start talking about how your car is better than everyones, than you better start going to the BMW, Celica, Honda board and start bragging about how FAST your car is.

And the reason why I got the P5 instead of the Sentra SE-R is because
- The ass is very fugly (SE-R)
- Looks like a normal Sentra which looks like a piece of s***
- SE-R doesn't look sporty enough for me
- Girls digs the P5
- And I tell people about the Sentra SE-R, they say "Sentra ? I heard of a Sentra, but wtf is a SE-R ? "

 

[cjstringer]

Re: Re: Re: Why would you buy a Protege 5 instead of....

...anyways I just like to say that the two cars caters to different people. The SE-R is about sheer performance and the Protege caters to a more mature buyer that does not rank performance as the number one factor.

Sure glad I didn't buy my Protege MP3 for performance. I wouldn't have wanted to beat all the SE-Rs and SE-R Spec Vs that I did this year with my "small engine". I'll agree that more mature and intelligent people buy Proteges. You pretty much stuck your foot in your mouth on that one.
I DID buy my car for performance though, and you know what? IT PERFORMS! Check out my GS (Yes, that is in stock form with stock tires for 5 of 7 races) Class championship AND Overall championship in my region. Performance? Yeah, we got that covered too buddy.
Go back to your SE-R board where your head being so far up your ass doesn't bother anyone. Don't come here talking smack unless you wanna step up to and prove what you are saying. I have the trophies to back up my ride. Where are yours? Oh, that's right, you don't have any!
Personally, I do like the SE-R, but I don't need one for "performance". The car I have seems to work fine.

Sorry guys, but dumbasses like this piss me off.

 

[big_ben]

The Sentra is just ugly. Ass ugly.

 

[70]

The Sentra is just ugly. Ass ugly.

Short and sweet there Ben...

 

[fastdrvr23]

Hmmm... I drove a Se-R and a Se-R spec V a few times before deciding on my P5. I'll just list the reasons I didn't get the Sentra...

1. The interior... I mean damn, how many yards of bright ass red/orange thread is enough. Also, why in the hell do the numbers on the speedometer not sit horizontal. They had to follow the curve of the gauge all the way around. It looked freakish...
2. The 6 speed transmission in the spec V was worthless. It had such short gear ratios it was a pain to drive. About the time is started to build power, you'd either hit the rev-limiter or it would be time to shift. The 5 speed Se-R was much better, but hence no LSD and the ever present rev-limiter.
3. The powerband of the engine was not easy to get to. The rev-limiter would stop you about the time the engine really started to pull... The redline in the car should be around 7500 Rpms.
4. It had plenty of power at midrange, but at lower Rpm's the torque output from the 2.5 liter was almost honda-like.
5. On both cars that I drove, the brakes had a very vague feeling, like there was slack in the pedal or something, it was very disturbing.
6. The handling of the car wasn't anything near what I expected after all the media the damn thing got. I drove a Ford ZX3 that was more competent. The spec V was better than the SE-R but not by much, both cars seemed to have a bad Front/Rear weight distribution.
7. The nissan dealer here in Jackson smokes cheap crack.

I liked the exterior styling of the sentra line ok, but the interior almost gave me a headache. I was in the market for a fun to drive commuter. I have a motorcycle and a N20 powered truck when I want to go fast, so that wasn't really an issue. Reliability, gas mileage, comfort, and fun were my main factors.... The only thing that I enjoyed was straight line acceleration in the Sentra.

 

[Sentra SE-R]

Okay, just to clear up some confusion. I came here because the P5 was the car I would've bought if I didn't get the SE-R. But after driving the SE-R I realized how much more I would be geeting for the same price and fuel economy. I think if you're a person who only cares about performance for the dollar, the SE-R would be a good choice. P5 would not be considered a pocket rocket and I don't think Mazda intended it to either. If you're a tuner, you're better off starting out with the SE-R. P5 is more for practicality and good looks.
Secondly, The variable valve timing on the SE-R is better because it's continuous, I used v-tec only as an analogy. The SE-R Spec V has 180lb/ft of torque at 4000rpm. I don't know what people are talking about the SE-R is more common than the P5. There's 4 SE-R in my town and about 20 P5's. In my whole life, I have only seen about 5 other SE-R's on the road, and p5's are now more common than Civics. AS for Mazda's more into performance than Nissan, just do a research on the Nissan Skyline R34. As for the people who bash Nissan's brand name, I really don't know what they're smoking, All I have to say is that Nissan is not associated in ANY way to Ford!

If you have anything else to say about it, let's meet on the track. Let's see who wins. As for the Mazdaspeed, I could use the price difference between the two cars(4k) to get a turbo and blow any Mazda away. You guys better start liking the rear end of the Sentra, 'cuz that's all you're going to see.

 

[big_ben]

You must be sick. Do you realize that that SE-R has high compression. That car was tuned for NA applications. In order to get anymore power out of it, you would have to remove and de-tune the car from where the engineers that made the car have it. Then get some type of forced induction. By the time you have done that, you have now spent about $2000 on the instalation of lower compression pistons, then $5000 for the turbo. That's $7000, and a waste of money in my opinion.

Not to mention that the SE-R looks like total s***. I hope you are happy with your purchase of an ass ugly car. Maybe not too many people will make fun of you. If you ever want to get rid of it you can always have it stolen. No,...that won't work, no one would want to steal that ugly peice of s***.

 

[Sir Nuke]

Guys.....I am finally going to put my two cents in here....WE are ALL starting to walk the line here.....we have a few choices....I truely do not know what the real intent of this thread was....but it has taken an ugly turn. The choices we have is to do one of a few things.

1. ignore the previous posts and just let the thread die.

2. give only the reasons that we baught our cars.

3. keep heading down the road we are on and the thread end up in the flame wars forum.

Think about this.....is this thread really worth your time? Do you believe you are going to change anyones mind as to how they think about their car? Do you believe you are going to convert someone and get them to run down and trade in their car and get a Mazda because they have realized they made a mistake?

Personally.....I believe that the answer to all of the above questions is NO. Just let it go. you are only getting your blood presure up...and not for a good reason.

(stash)

 

[big_ben]

Do you believe you are going to change anyones mind as to how they think about their car? Do you believe you are going to convert someone and get them to run down and trade in their car and get a Mazda because they have realized they made a mistake?

No, you are right. But it's still fun to belittle him and make him want to commit suicide.(rofl) Just kidding,.......or am I? I'm sorry, I just have a mean sense of humor.

 

[70]

Secondly, The variable valve timing on the SE-R is better because it's continuous, I used v-tec only as an analogy. The SE-R Spec V has 180lb/ft of torque at 4000rpm. I don't know what people are talking about the SE-R is more common than the P5. There's 4 SE-R in my town and about 20 P5's. In my whole life, I have only seen about 5 other SE-R's on the road, and p5's are now more common than Civics....

More common than Civics...Ok pal, you obviously must live on a block full of Protege 5 then.

...AS for Mazda's more into performance than Nissan, just do a research on the Nissan Skyline R34. As for the people who bash Nissan's brand name, I really don't know what they're smoking, All I have to say is that Nissan is not associated in ANY way to Ford!...

The Skyline isn't offered here. One super car doesn't show the company is into performance.

Every car that Mazda has built has had better handling than each car in its class. Some people don't like the stiffer suspension that Mazda's come with, and that's fine. But Mazda has traditionally made better handling cars, regardless of what it is. Mazda is also the only Japanese company to have the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Nissan couldn't even come close. And being associated with Ford isn't a put down. Ford has won the 24 Hours as well.

...If you have anything else to say about it, let's meet on the track. Let's see who wins. As for the Mazdaspeed, I could use the price difference between the two cars(4k) to get a turbo and blow any Mazda away. You guys better start liking the rear end of the Sentra, 'cuz that's all you're going to see...

This comment is just plain off the wall. Yes the Sentra SE-R might make more power and torque. But power and torque doesn't equal a fun car. The Mazda protege is just a plain fun car straight out of the box. The MP3 and Mazdaspeed versions simply add to the fun. The regular Sentra is boring. The SE-R isn't much better in my eyes.

And I guess we will see what happens in racing as the SE-R is supposed to be in the World Challenge next season, with all the Proteges.