"Whoa!  That's sweeeet!" remarked my 14-year-old nephew in his immensely baggy shorts and oversized basketball shirt upon seeing the blazing yellow Mazdaspeed Protegé sitting in the driveway.  Which is, I think, about all you need to know about this car.  He didn't even wait to hear—or experience—the 170-hp 2-liter turbocharged engine (fitted with a Garrett T25 ball-bearing turbocharger; a system that was co-engineered with Callaway Cars, which goes a long way to certifying authenticity).  Inside, he was impressed with the yellow stitching on the cloth seating surfaces and on the leather shift boot.  His mother, who works for one of the major interior suppliers, took a look at the seams and said, "I don't know how they can get away with that."  And I nodded to her son and said, perhaps with an insufficient level of familial sensitivity vis-à-vis chronology, "It's not for you.  It's for him."  Aluminum drilled pedals with the Mazdaspeed logo; carbon-fiber look trim; 450-W Kenwood audio system.  Just the sort of things that moms aren't particularly interested in having their sons admire.

This is one hell of a car for $21K.

The only downside that I can see is that it is based on the Protegé, a vehicle, as noted ( http://www.autofieldguide.com/driven/0703dri15.html ), which has a hideously lame rear end.  There is a rather substantial rear spoiler on this model that helps deflect much of the attention from the underlying structure.  And speaking of the trim, there are the appropriate and obligatory airdams, side and rear skirts, stainless steel exhaust with an oval tip with the "Madzaspeed" logo, monocolor treatment, and Racing Hart 17 x 7 aluminum alloy wheels wrapped with Bridgestone Potenza RE 040 215/45ZR17 RE040 rubber—Z-rated tires in case you missed that in there.  (My brother-in-law said with some surprise: "Are those the stock wheels?1?")

The chassis setup for this vehicle is superlative.  Which goes to show you that when you go to a specialist like Racing Beat to help out, there is a vast improvement over the run-of-the-mill independent suspensions.  The steering has variable power assist (predicated on engine rpms), which ought to be de rigueur for cars much larger than this.  The brakes are certainly large enough to bring the vehicle to a quick halt: 10.8-in. veniltated discs in the front; 11-in. solid discs in the rear.

Despite that, I don't think my in-laws will be thinking about picking one up for my nephew when he begins his driver training later this year.  Well, maybe his dad might get it for him . . . .