Toyota Matrix vs. Mazda Protege' 5

I'm interested in making my first vehicle purchase after a nasty accident a few months ago (I inherited a car from my parents). Since I will be graduating from college this year and can't ride my bike around anymore, I need to find reliable, yet stylish, and still yet affordable transportation.

I thought the Matrix or Protege 5 would be good choices after reading reviews on Consumer Reports, JD Power, and miscellaneous auto review sites.

Thought I'd throw this out to the "Street" experts to see what you folks think. Thanks for your help!

LT:sun:

Originally posted by inspoetica
I'm interested in making my first vehicle purchase after a nasty accident a few months ago (I inherited a car from my parents). Since I will be graduating from college this year and can't ride my bike around anymore, I need to find reliable, yet stylish, and still yet affordable transportation.

I thought the Matrix or Protege 5 would be good choices after reading reviews on Consumer Reports, JD Power, and miscellaneous auto review sites.

Thought I'd throw this out to the "Street" experts to see what you folks think. Thanks for your help!

LT:sun:

Between those two I'd pick the Protege.

Why? What are the benefits, atttributes, etc of the Protege that make it better than the Matrix? Pros and Cons? Thanks!
LT

Do you have a family? You are picking wagons and compact suv here.

I haven't seen much press about the Martix but I know it's supposed stats. I think it will end up costing more than the Protege5. That being said my friend bought a P5 about 4 months ago. He loves it. I'm also seeing the damn things everywhere, which is good because there should be a decent aftermarket for it. If you're into that.

I'd say if you can afford it get the Martix with the 180hp motor. Else get the P5.

Looking at Toyotas History, they will probably ask around 21,00-23,000 for the matrix, which in my opinion is entirly too much. Protege all the way. Better looking, better name, guarunteed to be a better value.

well....
the matrix has the 1.8 from the celica in it w/180hp... cant go wrong with that... they are already racing some of those in japan...
i would take that over the wayunderpowered protege5...
i like the protege, but i would rather have a matrix.
very flashy and mean looking...
the pontiac vibe (same car/truck/thingy) was on the cover of autoweek, and they had it looking sick mean.
i would go that route... as long as toyota offers a gt-s version, we are all good...
and for what it is, being a five door w/ power, i dont think that price bracket would be too high....

why do you wanna get a wagon??
I'd rather get a sportier car like an RSX

but outta those 2 i'd rather get the Toyota, it looks better, has more power.. and it's a better company. Mazda stinks, the only good car they have made is the RX-7 :devil: