The protege5 is nothing spectacular. But they are coming out with a mazdaspeed protege. Its basically the mazda mp3 with a small turbo. Gets like 170hp. The mp3 was supposed to be a pretty good handling car, and i would assume that the mazdaspeed protege would be even better. I still dont like the looks though. Other than wheels, it looks pretty much the same as a regular protege. Which is ugly. But thats just my opinion.