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Secondly, I don't expect 190HP for $15,000. What I do expect is a smooth engine at all speeds with power that doesn't die 2000RPM short of redline. Especially since Mazda went from an engine that was smooth at all speeds to one that wasn't once you went above 75MPH or so. There's that Ford influence shining through.
"Especially since Mazda went from an engine that was smooth at all speeds to one that wasn't once you went above 75MPH or so."
If that's not a put down then I can't read English.
"There's that Ford influence shining through."
you just had to rub it in don't you >:(
the_big_h: I never said that post wasn't a put down Seriously, I don't consider that an insult. Saying that the car was a POS and I wish I'd never bought it is an insult to me. I've never said that and in fact I am happy I bought the Protege because I strayed from the "H" lineup and found that there are other good alternatives to "H" cars.
back to the screaming VTEC you go!
Yup, I'm still here Larry. I'm a wanna be Pro owner.
We're not an exclusive club here...True some debates (read H vs Mazda cars) gets extremely tiresome, but for the most part, I enjoy reading all of the posts here.
Also, lookit maltb...he has been an invaluable source of info for most of us here (don't get high on yourself now malt... :P ).
Meade
I scroll past rapidly. Jeez Louise!
But it's still nice to have you back
--Dale
What's the latest you can buy an extended warranty after purchasing the vehicle?
I didn't see Meade correct Tim.
Anywho, IIRC, you can buy the extended warranty anytime before the original warranty expires. Also, other companies other than the thru the dealership offer extended warranties. I beleive Paul (Vocus) knows the name of a company in the States that offers this.
Try http://www.warrantybynet.com and also try http://www.autoconnection.com. I had an AutoConnection warranty on my late mother's car, and they were pretty good (but took forever clearing payments). They were cheaper than the rest though.
Considering what I lost on my 2000 Chevy Silverado I thought ZZ79 got a great deal. Especially when she got out of a car that she tolerated into a car she loves and dropped her payment by $100 a month. If we hadn't taken tht $3000 check from the dealer when we bought the Pro we would have almost broke even.
Someone asked why we bought the car...You can't take an extended road trip during the test drive. As I posted before, we thought the Pro was great around town. Didn't see the "weakness" until we took it on it's first road trip. Engine was raucious at high speeds. So we fell out of love with it.
The comment about the SI being bogged down by the A/C proves someone has spent no time in one. In fact my 1996 EX has no problems with the A/C either. Of course it does take the edge off but then it did the same thing to our Pro.
Instead of making up stuff about a car that you have no experience with, it would be better to keep quiet. WE have experience with both for extended periods of time and have never posted anything that has not been validated.
Someone posted a quote by "Car and Driver" about the Pro. Here's one by the same magazine about the SI
"NICE CAR! Still there is that hummingbird pulse rate. Cruising at 80 shows 4400 rpm on the tachomter accompanied by a sewing machine symphony from the engine room...there's no nonesense in the ride motions"
and
"Listen to the changing pitch. You'll know when to pull the lever....Simpatico!!!!"
That's what I'm talking about. June 1999 page 53.
This is the main reason why some folks here are becoming increasingly annoyed with you both. C'mon give it a rest....
I've defended both of you in the past, but this is truly becoming silly.... you know the Si and the ES are not comparable.
There, that was my "Host" like post for the day. I'm TOE-ing the line. Okay, don't believe it...
BTW, Don't the bimmers come standard with 65H rated conti-touring tires? That could explain their more comfortable rides(alongwith a longer shock travel,albeit)?
To put in context:
I put BFG touring tires 205/55/15 on my 1.8L 99ES and reduced the PSI to 28-29 and the ride around town is without any jarring shocks that u might otherwise observe on the 195/55/15 with 32psi.
I know I have said the same thing before about my car, but that's my opinion. I have recently ranted about customer service, but I myself try not to keep saying the same thing over and over and over again. It gets old. Someone pegged it right when they said earlier about the horse being dead. Send it to the glue factory already!
I think my car is better for me, because that's my opinion. I don't wish for someone else to like my car because I do, that makes no sense.
Here it is:
Has anyone put platinum or iridium spark plugs and supposed "performance" ignition wires into their Mazda Protege? What type of performance upgrade, if any, should one expect to receive from upgrading the sparkplugs to platinum/iridium and changing out to performace coil pack and ignition wires?
Please feel free to comment from personal experience or just your personal knowledge on the questions.
Thanks in advance,
Tim
At least the snow is melting here....I'm looking forward to gravel removal so I can do some real zoom zooming. Hey you Eastern-Canada Boys...I heard that you guys don't use a lot of gravel over there...mainly salt. Do you guys have a lot of rusting problems over there?
But this guy said he did not like the results of the plugs, because they were not as working promised or something like that. And he said it was not worth the money.
Tim: I mailed your CD today. It's through Expresspost and they said you should have it tomorow (or Wed, Thur...).
I also have a Cd by Azul Azul that is pretty decent if you're into Spanish beats. Don't buy it! I will send you a copy of that one in May.
Dinu
Raining but warm (+10C) in T.O.
Yes, rusting is a huge problem here. Honda's and most domestic vehicles are quite problematic in this regard.
I had the Protege in the shop a few weeks back for it's 40,000km (kilometre) service. I always go and take a look when she's hoisted and check things out with the mechanic. The only rust on her so far are a few tiny specks on the main muffler piping. I was thrilled since she's a 2000. Even the "rubberized" undercoating on the steel chassis is in excellent shape and hasn't worn through to any large degree. I am going to be rustproofing her before this upcoming winter though. I typically do it after 2 years.
I say keep a good set of ND or NGK plugs in your Pro and steer clear of the fancy marketing on the SUPER-PLUGS.
If you have access to a dyno, maybe you could try a new set of standard plugs and then a set of hyper-crystalite plugs to see what works best.
I was pretty impressed when i saw the Protege hoisted recently. She really was in great shape. My previous SiR had a little more rust in the underbody over the same period of time. I was duly impressed with the lack of rust on the Pro.
Dinu,
Thanks for the CD. Makes me feel like such a goof for not sending the hubcaps sooner. I'm a terrible procrastinator to begin with...
On the rear chrome emblems (Protege emblem and M symbol), the chrome (plating) is kinda pitted in spots. The chrome at the front has no problems whatsoever. Any ideas as to the cause of this and any way to fix it?
Ford is hurting because of CAFE standards and the fact that they sell mostly trucks, they needed to find a way to fix that. Ford uses 5w20 oil in most of their vehicles now. By doing that, they have raised their CAFE rating by .9 mpg. Considering Ford's choice to switch to 5w20 for a minimal gain in corporate average fuel economy, why wouldn't they switch to the "special" plugs as well? Because those special plugs don't even give you a minimal gain in fuel economy. The only advantage I can think of for "special" plugs (platinum) is that they last longer. Who cares though when you can get regular plugs for 99 cents?
The thing about factory platinum plugs is that they are intended to go 60k+ miles and they cost 2-3 times as much as Bosch Cheapie Platinums.
About the sparkplugs, my H car used NKG and I thinkk the PRO comes with them too from the factory. I was looking at Bosch Platinum with the "+" pattern on them, but if NKG does the job as standars equip on H and possibly M cars, why change?
Todd: A sticker with "Bosch Platinum" adds 10 hp. The part is not mandatory, the sticker is what brings more ponnies to the PRO power mill
I should already have 140 hp then by that. Does my soccer ball air freshner around the shifter count for an extra 5hp? What about the ES 2.0 designation? What about my personalized plates?
So many questions about my PRO, so little stickers on my PRO....
Dinu
Should I swap it out for a Blue's Clues one???
--Dale
Dinu- I'm thinking about a VTEC sticker mod. I've seen them on Toyotas, so I know you don't need a Honda to perform the mod. I've heard it's good for about 30 hp, but it drops your torque down to about 90 lbs-ft. I'll have to think about it for a while.
So you should repaint the mirror in yellow and add a sticker on the side facing the windshiled with words like "Neuspeed/HiPerformanceRearview/MadStylzMirra". Adding an aerodynamic package to your mirror (can use play-dooh(sp?)) enhances its 0-60 times too!
Dinu
Your PRO-trained and trusted mod-if-y-R
Seeing that weird wild action I slowed down for the bump -- bracing for something to happen. Didn't feel a thing -- NOTHING. Must have been just an undulation in the pavement.
Vocus said: I am just happy VW will pay for a rental as soon as I walk in the door.
LOL!! I can see them now, on the phone as Paul walks across the parking lot. This is like when I use to go to Fuddrucker's for burgers all the time, they had my order in before I got to the cashier. You pay up front and they call you when your burger is ready.
Paul, the guy you are talking about, who tried the platinum plugs is jstanderfer.
That's some difference your dealer is giving you on service. Red carpet if it's a Jetta, burlap if it's a Protegé. Rags to riches, eh? One would think that dealer has his head where the sun don't shine if he expects people to buy another car from him. Very poor PR!
Protege_fan: Those "chrome" badges on the trunk lid are not real chrome. They are Mylar, think of aluminum foil bonded to clear plastic. The same goes for the "chrome" gas filler door on the Miata. I saw one in my dealer's showroom, it had cracked and was peeling off. Under the silvery stuff you could see the black pastic door.
Real chrome is electro-plated to copper over a white cast metal base. Very expensive to do.
Best thing is to just wait until it gets really bad and then order replacements. It's probably from the sun and cold causing the bonding to let flakes drop off.
One would think that ZoomZoom79 would be on the Civic boards bragging about how much faster her SiR is compared to plain, old, vanilla Civics.
I had dinner out tonight and took a table by the window so I could look at my Pro in the parking lot. It was the nicest car out there. And on April 16 I will have had it one year. I still have that New Car feeling.
fowler3
We keep hearing how the engine is the weakness of the Pro. A quick glance show's the Pro with a 2.0L, 130HP, 135 Torque. The Civic has a 1.7L with 127HP, 114 Torque, both at higher RPM's. Call me dumb but isn't that advantage Pro? Sure the more expensive Si has more power, but that would be like me comparing a Civic EX to a Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V. It's apples and oranges.
I've driven plenty of Civic's, and personally don't get any enjoyment out of redlining the motor just to get 114 Torque. As bad as we keep hearing the Pro is in the upper RPM's, the Civic is worse in the lower RPM's, and this includes the Si. It's just completely gutless, it really needs to be thrashed to get any power out of it.
I guess it's all preference, but I think most drivers in the US don't want to have to redline their engines just to get full power. I don't care how refined it is in doing so, to me it's still a pain and takes away from the driving experience.