Friday, May 10, 1996 -- North Snore News — 33

SOMA a

Greg
Wilson |

Me Abana ODEN

MAZDA recently intro-
duced a new, lower-
‘pricedt version of the
compact Mazda Protege
sedan.

The new Protege SE starts
at $13,895, three and a half
thousand dollars less than the
Protege LX. Why did Mazda
introduce the cheaper model,
more than a year after the
more expensive one?

Well, when the current
Protege was introduced in the
Fall of 1994 with a starting

. price of $17,110, Mazda
decided to keep the “old”
Protege model, with a base
price of $13,970, as an entry-
level modej. Mazda soon

_ found that.the old model was
outselling the new one by a
factor of three to one.

_ . Further research by
Mazda indicated that the
majority of compact car buy-
ers will spend no more than
$16,000 on their new com-
Pact car.

So when the old Protege

as discontinued, Mazda

THE 19SS Mazda Protege SE is a new, entry-level mode! starting at $13,895. Standard equipment Includes a 92 horsepower 1.5-litre four-
cylinder angina, power steering, 69/40 split folding rear seats, AM/FM radio/cassette player with four speakers, and five-passenger Iriterior.
Test drive the new Protege at Wolfe Mazda, 1595 Boundary Ad., Vanceuver.

‘decided to take some features out
“of the LX, put in a smaller engine,
and sell it for a lower price.
While this could have been a
recipe for.a poorly equipped,
under-performire car, I'm happy to
report that the Protege SE is not a
bare-bones “stripper.” The base
model has just about everything
you need. Standard equipment
includes a 92 horsepower {.5-litre
ur-cylinder evigine with dual
overhead cams arid four valves per
cylinder, five-speed manual trans-.
mission, power steering, AM/FM
Cassette stereo with four speakers,
intermittent wipers, tilt steering
Wheel, 60/40 split folding rear
Seats, dual mirrors, and rear
defrester.,: uo
“ie, Dhe Protege SE offers Mazda's
excellent three year/80,000 kilome-

. Corolla SD, the Protege SE offers

However, unlike domestic com-
petitors like the Chevrolet Cavalier,
Dodge Neon and the new ‘97 Ford
Escort, airbags are not standard

tre warranty and five year/100,000
kilometre major components war-
ranty. The only options are dual
airbags, air conditioning and a
four-speed automatic trans-

mission which, when com- ; :
bined. boost the price to RECA ULY Wy
$16,845. elas .

I was disappointed to
see that anti-lock brakes
are not available on the SE
even though they are avail-
able on the LX. |

Compared to its major
import competitors, the
Honda Civic LX, Nissan
Sentra XE, and Toyota

Base price: $13,895
Price as tested: $16,845

Horsepower: 92 @ 4,000 r.p.m.
Torque: 117 ft.-lbs. @ 4,000 rp.m.

an"

equipment.

While the new 1.5-iitre four-
cylinder engine is not as powerful
as the 1.8-litre four available in the
LX, it is a delightfully free-

the roomiest interior in its class,
the biggest trunk, the widest track
and the best standard stereo sys-
tem.

Type: four-door, five-passenger compact sedan
Layout: transverse front engine/front-wheel-drive
Engine: |.5-litre four-cylinder, DOHC, 16 valves

revving, smooth and willing power-
plant that pulls the 1,100 kilogram
Protege with relative ease. The SE
accelerates from 0 to 100 km-h in
11.2 seconds compared to
9.8 seconds for the LX.
The five-speed manual
shifter offers satisfactorily
snicoth shift movements
while the four speed auto-
matic, which has an on/off
overdrive button on the
shifter, is very smooth
except under sudden, hard
acceleration.

Fuel economy is fantas-
tic with the manual trans-
mission: 7.7 litres per 100 kilome-
tres (37 mp.g.) in the city, and 5.7
litres per 100 kilometres (50
m.p.g.) on the highway. With the
automatic transmission, it drops to

$.1 1/100 km (31 m.p.g.) and 6.2
1/100 km (46 in.p.g.) — still pretty
thrifty, With a wide track and a
fairly long wheelbase, the Frotege
rides and handles very well. The
standard 175/70R-13 inch radials
are smaller than the LX‘s 14-inch
radials, but they're not too srnall to
do the job properly,

As I mentioned, the Protege has
a very roomy interior, with plenty
of hiproom, legroom and headroom
for four or five passengers. The
standard 13 cubic foot unk is big-
ger than almost every other car in
its class, and folding. split rear
seats provide extra cargo room
should you need it, ;

I give the Protege SE the
thumbs-up, though I think Mazda
should have made anti-lock brakes
an option.

2 ee NS

3

SPECIAL EDITION
AS SEEN ON TLV. “NED’S ZED”!
The 222 VERSION with bigger wheels & tires, spoiler, tach., etc. -
one of many models in stack now - including 2-doos, 4 door,
luxury series, Z24 and convertible - all with antilock brakes ©
& dual air bags!
1996 CAVALIER

#TIN CANADA

OUR TWO BEST SE
LIMITED EDITION
FEATURING THE “ROCKPORT EDITION”)
SS Incorporating a $2,500.00 SAVING plus Top-of-the-Line
moulded running boards, aerodeflector, Rockport emblems
Band fioorrnats plus, exclusively, a Rockport gift kit
of shoes, sweatshirt and a. hat!

LATE BREAKING NEWS ...

SCRAP=(T?

WE SUPPORT THE
MONEY-FOR-CLUNKERS DEAL

1996 BLAZER.
MOTOR TREND'S
TRUCK

WE'LL GO YOU ONE SETTER

than the Goverriment's announced scrop-it
clean air program. Drive it in or have us tow ,
in your old clunker - no mileage, aircarn or ; enh |
age restrictions — anc! no junk yard visitations! (
E LOOK AFTER THE PAPERWCRK!
wee ONE STOP ... NO HASSLE ...

(Sorry - no bus passes avaiiable}

Wi Ri SASY TO FIND!
OME BLOCK EAST OF CAPILANO
| MALL (RIGHT ON MARINE DRIVE)

DID YOU KHOW?
if YOU HAVE A TEADE, YOU NOW
PAY GS