That's all curious, and changing exhaust stuff on a car you will only drive 50 miles in 20 years seems odd. Not sure the collectors market for these things, but brings back some nostalgia for me. Regardless, the car looks great, and I'm sure it drives well, too. I'm sure if I looked longer I could come up with a few more oddities. Inside, the car has a headlight leveling dial, which does who knows what, and it has a fog light switch, but no front fog light? The 2003.5 version was slightly more rounded. It has been changed out for the 2003 version. This one looks like it had the mid-pipe changed out, and the rear muffler swapped for an earlier 2003 'round' tip Mazdaspeed muffler.Īlso, the rear bumper skirt is not the original 2003.5 skirt. The original 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege exhaust used the regular Protege mid-pipe with a rear muffler that had a tip with a more oval shape. Regardless, a common modification back in the day. Having owned a 3rd generation Protege sedan, I can understand why they were changed over. Then a refresh in 2003.5 was introduced that came in Blazing Yellow, Sunlight Silver, Laser Blue, or Titanium Grey Mica.įirst is the Protege5 headlights. The original 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege came in Spicy Orange or Black Mica. There are some things on that car that make me question the previous owners.

Protege speed