If you want a new car, I would get the new mazdaspeed protege, it is right around $20,000 and you will be able to get a lot more power from it with aftermarket parts, like a turbo-back exhaust, front-mount intercooler, and boost controller.The stock output was kept low by mazda to protect the tranny, so finding ways to get more power from this car will be easy and this car will stick to the road like glue stock.
