My MAZDA

[Beef Boss]

I have a 2001 Mazda protégé. Yes the 1.6L.. But would it be worth upgrading a few things? I don't have the money for a new car, and this one isnt even at 100 thousand miles yet. 

 

First I was thinking a new exhaust. Keep in mind it is a tiny 1 and 1/4 inch exhaust pipe. 

[Guest]

In order to upgrade, you must know what you want. 

You might get a few more HP with a better exhaust, but not much. Is it worth it?

 

Quite often, especially for your first car, you should just keep it stock to keep it running for as long as possible.

[Drak3]

What do you want to upgrade?

[Dissitesuxba11s]

Maybe better tires?

[Ross Siggers]

I mean, regardless of what you want from a car...a nice exhaust is never a bad idea

 

[bcredeur97]

16 minutes ago, Dissitesuxba11s said:

Maybe better tires?

if you just want to go fast on every turn you see ^^ this is by far the biggest benefit. A good set of summer rubber

[Beef Boss]

22 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

In order to upgrade, you must know what you want. 

You might get a few more HP with a better exhaust, but not much. Is it worth it?

 

Quite often, especially for your first car, you should just keep it stock to keep it running for as long as possible.

I'd just like some more power. Maybe upgrade the air filter? Probably wouldn't help much. I know there's only so much power you can squeeze. 

 

22 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

if you just want to go fast on every turn you see ^^ this is by far the biggest benefit. A good set of summer rubber

I do drive in the winter lol. I'm not getting baldies. I plan on getting new tires sometime. I'm going with the intent of keeping this car for awhile. 

[Guest]

Just now, aki adaki said:

I'd just like some more power. Maybe upgrade the air filter? Probably wouldn't help much. I know there's only so much power you can squeeze. 

Some people tend to forget an air filter is just a filter. There's not much to gain from that either. With a Pod filter and a new exhaust you're looking at 5-8% more power. Usually you can gain much more power from a turbo, and as well add a new exhaust. You could probably get 20-30% more horsepower from a turbo. But it's all costly. 

[Beef Boss]

1 minute ago, RorzNZ said:

Some people tend to forget an air filter is just a filter. There's not much to gain from that either. With a Pod filter and a new exhaust you're looking at 5-8% more power. Usually you can gain much more power from a turbo, and as well add a new exhaust. You could probably get 20-30% more horsepower from a turbo. But it's all costly. 

How much would that cost? And how difficult is it of an installation? 

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Some people tend to forget an air filter is just a filter. There's not much to gain from that either

That's true if the filter isn't acting as a bottleneck. I've seen some older cars get a good boost just because the stock filter was too restrictive.

[Guest]

20 hours ago, aki adaki said:

How much would that cost? And how difficult is it of an installation? 

It depends on what tools you have, and if you can get a kit (You probably can with a Mazda). You'd need to do a bit of research as well if you're a bit unfamiliar, and it'll be a weekend project once you have it all to go. 

 

20 hours ago, Drak3 said:

That's true if the filter isn't acting as a bottleneck. I've seen some older cars get a good boost just because the stock filter was too restrictive.

It can be, but it's usually not much unless you're doing other upgrades as well. 

[Levent]

tires, head unit, seats, maybe coil overs, I would do the power mods once the chassis feels underpowered (also pls dont just straight pipe it or run a trumpet of an "cold air intake")

[Beef Boss]

1 hour ago, Levent said:

tires, head unit, seats, maybe coil overs, I would do the power mods once the chassis feels underpowered (also pls dont just straight pipe it or run a trumpet of an "cold air intake")

I have a head unit, replaced all the speakers and two twelve inch subs in the trunk. I don't know about seats, it wouldn't match the back.. 

[bimmerman]

Honestly, no.

 

Stereo, tires, and maybe suspension if you enjoy tossing the car in corners. Otherwise save for something else.

 

I had a 2.2L Subaru that made ~135 hp at the crank. It was slow. I did suspension and then bought an E30. That was also a slow car, but much more fun.

 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Don't bother, save up for something decent, even a Civic/Camry would be better

[Drak3]

43 minutes ago, aki adaki said:

two twelve inch subs in the trunk.

Welp, we can't be friends then.

 

/s

[Beef Boss]

18 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Welp, we can't be friends then.

 

/s

Why? 

 

18 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Don't bother, save up for something decent, even a Civic/Camry would be better

I view that as a downgrade. My car has a perfect interior no body damage other than scratches and some rust. The frame is rust free virtually. And it has very low miles. 

 

I might as well start building up credit and take a loan out for a car I want. 

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, aki adaki said:

Why? 

12" subwoofers. Only good for ruining music.

[Beef Boss]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

12" subwoofers. Only good for ruining music.

You have a funny misinterpretation. The music I listen to it works amazing

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, aki adaki said:

You have a funny misinterpretation. The music I listen to it works amazing

We already established that you listen to noise, not music, in another thread : p

[Beef Boss]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

We already established that you listen to noise, not music, in another thread : p

90's rap is not noise. You're white noise loser. 

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, aki adaki said:

90's rap is not noise

Unless you're listening to Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit, it's noise. The brown note to be specific.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

12" subwoofers. Only good for ruining music.

depends on which ones are installed. cheap subs and amps are terrible.

[DimasRMDO]

How big is the power you want? Upgrading your air intake to an open one doesn't help much, in fact you can even get a check engine light. You need to tune your car again to work with the new intake. Upgrading to a performance catback exhaust can help, but not a big increase either. Just don't remove the catalytic converter unless you want your car to fail emissions directly or check engine light to come on (it's against the law too), it doesn't really add a lot of benefits too for NA but more beneficial for turbo/supercharged cars though.

 

Don't forget to buy an OBD II Scanner just in case check engine light does come on when you do your modification, you can buy the cheap one operated with an app from your phone (like Torque on Android) so you can check the error code(s).

 

Like @Dissitesuxba11s said, better tires can really help without changing driveability.

 

Force induction is the way to go for huge increase in power, but you need to modify lots of parts (like exhaust manifold for turbo, intake, exhaust) to work more efficiently and it's expensive. Furthermore it decreases the reliability of the car, manufacturers design cars the way they are for reliability purpose.

 

Don't forget upgrading parts like suspension and brakes, high power = more danger = higher responsibility, your car may run faster but it needs to stop safely too.

[Drak3]

6 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

depends on which ones are installed. cheap subs and amps are terrible.

No, subs are made for ruining music.