yep, the Protege is still kickin' been spot-on since it was put together. had a little leak at the cv axle on the trans, just needed a new seal. Car has been getting around 27mpg and pulls hard. I put a proper 3" aluminum tube and coupler on the intake going to the filter and now the air going through the MAF seems to be more stable. I can actually feel the two torque pulses through the powerband due the the variable intake runner valves VRIS system. had a fun run against a mazdaspeed3 on the hwy, got the thumbs up too lol. probably more like ouch that old BG just took me down hahaha.
Got a working stereo, gps mount and new dunlop graspic DS-3 snowtires on the factory MX3 enkei wheels. it's pretty blah, but perfectly stealth. little exhaust note is the only real giveaway. the sound from the Thrush muffler and mandrel 2.5" system coming from the headers off the DOHC V6 doesn't exactly say stock. The stock MX3 springs are actually really beefy, much more beefy than the Sprint springs i had on the protege before. even though the car sits high (which is fine for snow) it handles great and takes potholes and road junk like a champ. based on experience so far, i'm sure this car will easily run out of gearing at 240km/h.