theyre a sweet car for the money, i went with my cousin to test drive one. They wanted 3k over sticker so my cousin backed out.

I approve =-)

 

I owned one before I bought my Evo RS. They are fantastic little sedans. Anyone who was poo-pooing the FWD aspect of that particular car can't drive, period. It handles as well as an ITR. I had my MSP setup for STX with a turbo-back, coilovers (cheap-*** K-Sports) 16x8 wheels with 245/40-16 FK-451's. Perrin intake and the AWR 22mm rear bar. The front sway bar was disconnected so I didn't get wheelspin out of tighter turns. Handling wise with the mods it handles nearly as well as my Evo. With a MBC the car was absolutely WICKED. I scared the poo out of my neighbor on some "closed course back roads". I also won every autocross in the STX class that I ever entered with that car too.

Now the reality. With coilovers the car is HARSH because it is so light. The engine had some driveablility issues but I think they can be fixed with more tuning.

All that said, I'd whole heartedly recommend the MS3. It's a friggin' rocket AND it handles VERY well.

 

my wife has an 03.5 as her dd, the car has 100k miles and no problems what so ever.

 

Mazdaspeed protege's have amazing type R like handling, however the powerplant is rather weak and not mod friendly unless you upgrade your internals, it is a regular protege motor... boosted. Cannot run high boost because it will ka-boom and due to weak internals. Also take into consideration they are not very reliable... suspension components can be weak and often break as well as the powerplant and catastrophic failure. I've done vasts amounts of homework on these cars and there is far better to be had then a Mazdaspeed Protege. I would suggest a 2005 or 2006 RS Type S... far better than previous years of the RSX. In styling and everywhere else. I owned an SRT-4, now if you want handling and POWER go for one of those however refinement is non exsistant but the seats are great.

 

if you want to mod I would recommend the SRT-4 much cheaper to mod and more POWAH.

I will have to admit my roommate had a MSP for a few months before trading it in for a T/A...but it handled very nicely.

 

i've never heard of any of the suspension components breaking. which ones? the only suspension related issues i know of are the clunk from the rear suspension and the squeak/crunch from the front. the clunk is a bushing that wears too quickly that mazda has been trying to fix since the MP3 but is a design flaw with the rear swaybar so their endless bushing replacements will never work. the squeak/crunch is from the front swaybar bushings running out of lube. neither of them are broken suspensions

 

Maybe I'm biased (hell I know I am) but I'd take a WRX.