The Protege offers an impressive amount of headroom and legroom. In fact the Protege is as roomy as many of the longer, wider and pricier mid-size sedans. Space is important for taller buyers and it's something many compacts don't offer. Front-seat roominess is comparable to that of a Honda Civic EX sedan.The rear seats are also roomy. Mazda's engineers cleverly mounted the front-seat tracks in a way that yielded more space for rear-seat passengers, whose knees are now mercifully spared from being scrunched up against the back of the driver's seat. Just as important, the interior controls are easy to operate. The stereo is placed higher up on the dashboard than on many cars, which allows drivers to flip stations and fast forward to favorite tracks with just a quick glance away from the road. We applaud the sturdy grab handles above the rear passenger windows. These handles work better for hanging up a sport coat or a dress than the puny plastic clips that come in many other cars. Another nice design touch is the use of a grippy dimpled pattern -- much like you'd find on the surface of a golf ball -- on the door handles. The seats are comfortable and supportive, though we found it a bit hard to turn the knob to adjust the angle of the driver's seatback. Rear-seat headroom is limited; at 5-feet, 11-inches, my hair brushed the headliner.
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