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1 5 i- f it sa 31 ii is el i i i t r c fi 1 advertising feature v v c w economist sun stouflville tribune thursday dec l7 1998 25 automobile journalist association of canada recently honoured the mazdas protege with this award jim robinson metroland staff the centre console on the instrument panel is interesting because it uses a textured plastic to the japanese have this thing about changing give better feel to the interior caf models every four years this material can be found elsewhere on door ifit aint broke they still aregdingjo try and fix pulls for instance the cloth interior and seats it casein point- the mazda protege the current have been improvedthe fabrics in particular version of which is a little more than two years old accounting for more jhahhalf of mazdas canadian sales the 15litrese the rather wellequipped 18litre lx brought the companys optispace concept to the fore have a 626 look and feel to them a nice touch is cd storage integrated into the console and a cov ered storage pocket below the radio that can also be used to put in a cassette player if desired there has been a lot of interest in the car by cutting out the doors aridthe front seat- people have seen a huge improvement over last backs the seatcushions thin ner but wider and positioning controls higherfof better lineofsigtit the x protege carried pn the long and happy 1 relationship canadians havehadwith mfazdasirice the dawn6fthe glc gfeaf little car some tvwrdecades ago instead of racking up the sales with the current car mazda has decided riot to wait around while others bring in newer peppier models in the compact segment an area where mazda fiercely protects its market share j i honestly thought mazda couldnt improve on themx5 miata sports car but they did earlier this year by going over the entire car in minutedetail and r making subtle but telling improvements an example was makingthe fearfenders bold er and wideriwhich created trunkroomthe car never hadbefore another example was changing the cut ofthe doors making it much easier to get m and out of 7 theve has been a complete redesign of the protege said jpkovac of kovac motors the changes begin with the engine the 15- litre dohc four of the se is being replaced by a f 1 6litre dohc four the 18 unit of the previous l an auriew l8uhit derived from trie 20litre engine found in mel326 sedan power for thel6 is505 hp 107 ftlb while the r 18 makes 122 hp 120 ftlb the fivespeed man- ual transmission is a carryover from the previous xar and a fourspeed automatic is optional jp kovac owner kovac mazda years they like the handling its a lot quieter inside there is a lot stiffer body and its a solid car on the i- road its the best performer in its class said kovac i spent a very enjoyable day with takahara koby kdbayakawa current- ly mazdasdifector of advanced engi neering based at mazdas california- based north american operations rd centre- and for some 35 years one of the major playersin the design of every car produced by the hiroshimabased automaker i took the base protege se with fivespeed as my tester because i have a lot of experience with the pi e- yious se the most immediate impression was of more power not great thump- ingwads of it but enough totakethe white- knuckle out of passing ori a twolane blacktop on a jong ramble through st jacobsmenrionite country kobysan and i tried everything from highways to- long gravel roads leading tomennonite farms with clothes flutter ing in the bfeeze and a rack of kids pouring out from the farm house to look at the outworiders kobysan was of particular interest to one youngster whod probably never seen a japanese before this and the black buggies and wagons in the shed brought much amusement ah thertirrie the little protege surged along eagerly we tried the radio and the cd with its cd- capable speakers that really pumped out the our prices are too low to print all vehicles will be windshield priced burtoncurrimings a well developed ventilation it has more power than anytother coupe ihjts system for the air conditioning meant getting ssincludine butnot bnlv thecivic and even really cold air with the fan at two i imagine we class including butnot only the and even the saturn products kovac said there are three versiohsof the 1999 car a very basic entry level car cajledthe dx a wellfitted out se and thetoplinelx with lotsqf stuff like power windows and cniise mazda expects sales pf the protegeby percehtage perxent djc 635 pef xent seand3p per cent ix y ts braking is disc frqntdrumfear on all three cars could have hung meat in the back with the fan on four styling wise the1999 mazda is a bit more for mal in the roof line and italso sports larger fender flares to setoff the standard 14inch wheels koby wasprbud of what mazda calls jts triple consfructionra first it is triree sets of jflf shaped girders that are usedto form thejtppvbbt aridabs which previouslywasfri6t available on torn and sides of the passenger cabin area vthe se and is how optional on both mazda delet- mazda made a big deal in 1996 about ed airbags ion the se previously but they are now optispace they dont use that nameany more standard on se and lx but the concept is still there with an interior giving f lnwnatmustbeafirstihanecqnomycar acd 926 cujt and trunk of 129 cu ft currently player is standard issue with the amfm stereo roomiest in class you can order a cassette player as ah option that fits into a slot on the dash see our next advertisement for honda canada finance inc low lease rates north markhamim om ho ji r 46 1 1 h wyi 7 west of kennedy rd unionville a m i