Picked up a CSRT4 today

Went to check on trading in my 03 mazdaspeed protege today as the car was from up north and the underside looked horrible from rust. It was in about ever spot on the body where the sheet metal overlapped. it was low mile for an 03 though. It had 44k on it. Anyways saw an 08 CSRT and figured id test drive it. When I came back we did some paperwork and one of the guys from the back came out and saw the speed I had and started freaking out cause he wanted it. long story short, we worked a deal on the mazda and I got a decent price drop on the CSRT (I owed 8700 on the speed. They paid it off and took 4k off the CSRT, plus free lunch for the family and I said I needed a new hat so I got to go pick out a mazdaspeed hat to remember it by. lol)

So here it is: :)

Nice Gary, when ya moving?

8700+4000.... I hope your payoff is like 2k then.. but it sounds like you bought from a dealership and your trade-in was way upside down. Another day in USA lol

Never knew you had a mazdaspeed protege.. Care to compare the handling?

Vigo,
The speed way outhandled the csrt. I tried a corner in the csrt the way i used to run the speed and thought i was gonna lose it. the speed was way under powered but handled better than any car I've ever driven. When I bought the speed i was desperate for a car and the wife had ruined my credit so the interest on it was way through the roof. One of those deals where they know they got ya and I had no choice. Plus the old stealership screwed me pretty hard. Car was being detailed when we went to look at it and wasnt ready to be picked up when i signed the papers because of a bad brake caliper that they had to replace. when they delivered the car back to where I was living (bout 45 miles away) they had left wax all over the car to cover damage and mismatched paint. Car was in bad shape bodywise especially due to the rust. Plus the rims had been swapped out with ones way to wide. I bought a 4 door to use all 4 doors but the tires stuck out far enough that a hard corner or my small toolbox kit in the trunk made it rub. Basically in the end I'll end up paying the same amount for the csrt as I would have for the speed but now I have a rust free good driver. Really glad to be out of the bad deal on the mazda. Another 100-150 hp and the mazda woulda been a blast.

GLHNSLHT2,
Already moved man. Wouldnt have bought another car from the rust belt. LMAO Been in AZ for about 2 weeks now. Got in a house, got a job going, etc. Wanted to play Forza with you the other day but the mother in law was here and its a pain in the azz to have any tv time with her over. she talk way to loud. lol Maybe next thursday?

Vigo, pics of the old speed: No pics of the rust though. lol it was bubbling paint everywhere. it was ridiculous. I know it was a rare car as mine was #205/500 in Blazing Yellow Mica, but it had way to much rust issues for me to keep paying on it. It woulda rotted away before I got it paid off.

cool. Was gonna say that neighborhood doesn't look like Arkansas. :)

As for Forza's on thursday's they're a bit rare. I like to do the endurance race with everyone but it doesn't fit my schedule well. I think we need to start up Forza Friday's again :)

Sounds good man. lets do it. Also, side note... setting money back for an ms1k already... ;)

Newer heavy cars just aren't as fun and tossable like older light cars.

Thanks for the feedback, i had heard that the mazdaspeed protege was one of the best handling FWD ever made. Lots of complaints about the motor but sounds like yours had even bigger problems. :(

If that thing was going to rust away before you paid it off i guess you made the best of a bad situation getting out when you did.

Congrats on the purchase. Hard to not be happy about a 300hp turbo car purchase.. hehe

Very cool. I was quite impressed with the CSRT4 when I saw them at 18 in MI and when there were a couple at 20 in MD.

Well done on the finangliing, sounds like the guy from the back bought himself a 13k headache though :D

Readin' about that motor, wow, sounds like they had a pact with ford to make it as awful as the focus SVT (Think you can buy a N/A duratech with the same oomph now)

I are trying to find more things I like about CSRTs, my wife started liking Calibers... :eek: ... and I said the CSRT was the only one worth considering..

One thing i like about CSRTs is conceivably you could put most of the good stuff on a Jeep Patriot. But im a well-known caliber hater lol.

True. .... could buy an extremely beat up one, suffer it for a year, then say "it's no good hon" and rebuild it into a cherry Patriot.... :eyebrows:

I just got to drive my CSRT today for the first time in almost a month (vacation). Sure was nice to take a rip around the block in it.... was starting to miss the damn thing. Got to drive it about 250 miles back home from my brother's house. Great car for long road trips.