The Mazda Protogé isn’t typically a seeked-out car in the car community due to Honda Civics, Accords, and Toyota Camrys having control over the market on small 4-door sedans; however, the Protogé has gained popularity with teenagers within the last few year as they are small reliable cars that can be easily modified.

Jose Luis Vargas ´19 owns a mostly stock 1999 Mazda Protogé that he bought from his uncle.  The car has a 1.6-liter inline four cylinder engine. It’s also paired with a five-speed manual transmission, making 120 horsepower to the wheels. Some of the modifications he has completed are lowering springs, changing the wheels, inserting blacked-out headlights, adding two front windshield banners, and installing a DIY spoiler. Vargas plans to rebuild and turbo charge the engine, buy a set of new wheels with Federal 595 RS-Rs track tires, and repaint the car. Vargas expresses that ¨this Protogé is important to me because it is my first car and I want my uncle to see the transformation.¨

Vargas is part of the car group called ¨Unique Clique.¨ The group is made up of LQ students who are enrolled in the district’s Career Technical Education (C.T.E) Auto program at Amistad High School. Vargas´ post-graduation goals are to find a job at a good automotive repair shop and buy a brand new car.