Buy/Drive/Burn: Alternative Japanese Compacts From 1998

by Corey Lewis

Published: October 13th, 2021

buy drive burn alternative japanese compacts from 1998

Our last two Buy/Drive/Burn entries covered the 1998 and 2008 versions of three mainstream Japanese compact sedans: Civic, Corolla, and Sentra. Today we look at the alternative offerings in 1998 from Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru.

Our last comparison focused on the cheapest model of each compact. Here, because the Subaru has all-wheel drive standard and is more expensive, we’ll focus on a price point instead: $15,000.

Mazda Protegé

For 1998, the eighth-gen Protegé is in its final year; it’s been with us since 1994. Available in hatchback and all-wheel drive styles elsewhere, the North American market receives Protegé strictly as a sedan with front drive. Three trims are offered this year, DX, LX, and ES. Protegé’s price ranges from $12,000 to $15,000. A top-tier ES with a five-speed manual is powered by Mazda’s 1.8-liter inline-four, good for 122 horses. Yours for $15,295.

Mitsubishi Mirage

Mirage entered its fifth generation in 1995, at which point it grew from subcompact to compact size class. Coupe, hatch, and sedan varieties are offered in most markets, and Mitsubishi sends the coupe and sedan to North America (like the Protegé, sans all-wheel drive). Mirage is offered in both its body styles across two trims, DE and upscale LS. In an interesting pricing tactic, in base DE trim the Mirage coupe is cheaper than the sedan by around $2,000. Swap the trim for LS, and the coupe is about $1,000 more expensive than the sedan. Our five-speed LS sedan is powered by a 1.8-liter inline-four that produces 113 horses. The value option Mirage asks $13,300.

Subaru Impreza

While initially available with front- or all-wheel drive, Subaru changed tact in 1997 and made their all-wheel-drive power train standard on every car the company offered in North America. Subaru has made the first-gen Impreza for a while now, as it arrived in 1993. Here in present times, Impreza is available in base L, very sporty RS, and a cladded Outback Sport trim which will likely not catch on with consumers. Body styles cover coupe, sedan, and wagon. Our choice today is the base L sedan, with manual transmission and 2.2-liter boxer four. That engine produces our top power of the trio: 137 horses. But boy are they gruff. Yours at a heady $15,895.

Which of the three alternative compacts is worth a Buy?

[Images: Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru]

#1990s #AffordableSedans #Buy/Drive/Burn #CompactSedans #Compacts #EconomyCars #Editorials #Imports #Impreza #Japan #Mitsubishi #UsedCars #Mazda #Subaru #Mirage #Protege #JapaneseCars #SubaruImpreza #MitsubishiMirage #MazdaProtege #NewsBlog #Nineties

Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

More by Corey Lewis

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 31 comments

Bullnuke on Oct 14, 2021

My fathers last vehicle was a '95 Mazda Protege. It may have been a good handling car but it was so gutless that I couldn't flog it enough to try out the handling other than around a corner at the traffic light. It was a pretty harmless vehicle for an 83-year old man to drive around town.

Like Reply
Pianoboy57 on Oct 14, 2021

Will there be a Buy Drive Burn for European compact sedans for 1998 that were sold in North America?

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Ajla Remember when Cadillac introduced an entirely new V8 and proceeded to install it in only 800 cars before cancelling everything?
Bouzouki Cadillac (aka GM!!) made so many mistakes over the past 40 years, right up to today, one could make a MBA course of it. Others have alluded to them, there is not enough room for me to recite them in a flowing, cohesive manner.Cadillac today is literally a tarted-up Chevrolet. They are nice cars, and the "aura" of the Cadillac name still works on several (mostly female) consumers who are not car enthusiasts.The CT4 and CT5 offer superlative ride and handling, and even performance--but, it is wrapped in sheet metal that (at least I think) looks awful, with (still) sub-par interiors. They are niche cars. They are the last gasp of the Alpha platform--which I have been told by people close to it, was meant to be a Pontiac "BMW 3-series". The bankruptcy killed Pontiac, but the Alpha had been mostly engineered, so it was "Cadillac-ized" with the new "edgy" CTS styling.Most Cadillacs sold are crossovers. The most profitable "Cadillac" is the Escalade (note that GM never jack up the name on THAT!).The question posed here is rather irrelevant. NO ONE has "a blank check", because GM (any company or corporation) does not have bottomless resources.Better styling, and superlative "performance" (by that, I mean being among the best in noise, harshness, handling, performance, reliablity, quality) would cost a lot of money.Post-bankruptcy GM actually tried. No one here mentioned GM's effort to do just that: the "Omega" platform, aka CT6.The (horribly misnamed) CT6 was actually a credible Mercedes/Lexus competitor. I'm sure it cost GM a fortune to develop (the platform was unique, not shared with any other car. The top-of-the-line ORIGINAL Blackwing V8 was also unique, expensive, and ultimately...very few were sold. All of this is a LOT of money).I used to know the sales numbers, and my sense was the CT6 sold about HALF the units GM projected. More importantly, it sold about half to two thirds the volume of the S-Class (which cost a lot more in 201x)Many of your fixed cost are predicated on volume. One way to improve your business case (if the right people want to get the Green Light) is to inflate your projected volumes. This lowers the unit cost for seats, mufflers, control arms, etc, and makes the vehicle more profitable--on paper.Suppliers tool up to make the number of parts the carmaker projects. However, if the volume is less than expected, the automaker has to make up the difference.So, unfortunately, not only was the CT6 an expensive car to build, but Cadillac's weak "brand equity" limited how much GM could charge (and these were still pricey cars in 2016-18, a "base" car was ).Other than the name, the "Omega" could have marked the starting point for Cadillac to once again be the standard of the world. Other than the awful name (Fleetwood, Elegante, Paramount, even ParAMOUR would be better), and offering the basest car with a FOUR cylinder turbo on the base car (incredibly moronic!), it was very good car and a CREDIBLE Mercedes S-Class/Lexus LS400 alternative. While I cannot know if the novel aluminum body was worth the cost (very expensive and complex to build), the bragging rights were legit--a LARGE car that was lighter, but had good body rigidity. No surprise, the interior was not the best, but the gap with the big boys was as close as GM has done in the luxury sphere.Mary Barra decided that profits today and tomorrow were more important than gambling on profits in 2025 and later. Having sunk a TON of money, and even done a mid-cycle enhancement, complete with the new Blackwing engine (which copied BMW with the twin turbos nestled in the "V"!), in fall 2018 GM announced it was discontinuing the car, and closing the assembly plant it was built in. (And so you know, building different platforms on the same line is very challenging and considerably less efficient in terms of capital and labor costs than the same platform, or better yet, the same model).So now, GM is anticipating that, as the car market "goes electric" (if you can call it that--more like the Federal Government and EU and even China PUSHING electric cars), they can make electric Cadillacs that are "prestige". The Cadillac Celestique is the opening salvo--$340,000. We will see how it works out.
Lynn Joiner Lynn JoinerJust put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Lynn Joiner Just put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Ollicat I am only speaking from my own perspective so no need to bash me if you disagree. I already know half or more of you will disagree with me. But I think the traditional upscale Cadillac buyer has traditionally been more conservative in their political position. My suggestion is to make Cadillac separate from GM and make them into a COMPANY, not just cars. And made the company different from all other car companies by promoting conservative causes and messaging. They need to build up a whole aura about the company and appeal to a large group of people that are really kind of sick of the left and sending their money that direction. But yes, I also agree about many of your suggestions above about the cars too. No EVs. But at this point, what has Cadillac got to lose by separating from GM completely and appealing to people with money who want to show everyone that they aren't buying the leftist Kook-Aid.