Mazda Protegé

fowler3 · January 2003

plastic?!! Looks like an Altima almost. LOL!

Yep, that's a P5 alright and since when do they use smaller rear wheels than the front wheels?

Is that a Mazda3 in drag -- as in high wind resistance?

The former head of Mazda said it would "be unlike anything you have ever seen before." I believe it!

So THAT's who Paul sold his Protegé's bra to. LOL!

fowler3

chicagopro · January 2003

20,000 miles!

vocus · January 2003

It has to be smaller wheels. They hardly fill out the wheelwells!

vocus · January 2003

Congrats on turning 20K!

chicagopro · January 2003

My only regret is that unlike Clint, I couldn't take a picture of the odometer hitting the 20K as I was doing 85 on the way to my friends' house on New Year's Eve.

vocus · January 2003

Don't feel bad, I have turned 20K in THREE different cars in the past 2 years, and didn't get a pic of any of them.

dinu01 · January 2003

Nice going Dale!

I don't even keep my odo to display my total mileage for fear of a panic attack if I look at it. I just leave it on trip so it's always below 1.000kms. I think I have about 49.000kms on it so far?

Took it yesterday to 85mph and the engine is wonderful. With the new tires the ride is good w/out much noise and joint-breaking harshness.

Also had it at 4.500 RPMs from 1-2 and 2-3. I always make it shift at 2.500-3.000 max.

The more I drive it the better it drives. The car is so much better now at 49.000kms than it was at 20.000kms! Worlds apart. Very smooth, better power delivery IMO, still no rattles or issues.

Maybe b/c I changed the spark plugs and did an A/T flush 1 mth ago???

Dinu
A VERY happy PRO driver

dsm6 · January 2003

Say, leave the plastic costume on and we could be looking at the next Aztek.

anonymousposts · January 2003

vocus: I can't remember the last time we kept a car for 20,000 miles. And that's out of a bunch of cars. My SI WILL make it to 20,000 miles though unless someone turns in front of me again.

theparallax · January 2003

Speaking of taking pictures, my camera is ready and set.

The car has 49,200 miles on it. The big 50K is coming up!

mdaffron · January 2003

at 48,500 miles.

My extended warranty has me covered until 100K. Nyah, nyah, nyah.

Meade

vocus · January 2003

Mine will carry me to 150K...

And I am at 28.5K almost now...

fritz1224 · January 2003

number 31 of how many? 36,48,...? Hell, I saw a dealer commercial touting an 84 month loan!!! How would you like to be staring at a 7 yr. car loan, scarey. I just made no.29 of 36 and my balance is @1600 on a 2k es bought new 7/00.
The way this car depreciates and the low mileage I put on it, 18k so far, the extended warranty wouldn't make economic sense. In 5 yrs of ownership I will only have about 45k and the car probably won't be worth 3k. Be time to sell it and try something new.
I've seen new 2003 LX's with auto going for 12,300 and are similiarly equipped as the 2k es with a bigger engine to boot. The cheaper these new ones sell for the less the used ones are worth.

newcar31 · January 2003

I'm only at payment 15 on a 0% 48 month loan on a 2001 ES. I defered the first payment for 6 months though because I could. Balance is $9700 right now. Fritz is right, they gotta stop selling these things so cheap. I thought I got a good deal when I bought my freshened and newly introduced 2001 ES model for $15,300 in February 2001. From what I've read, I know I could get a much better deal now.

fowler3 · January 2003

the_big_h · January 2003

vocus · January 2003

I am only at payment 12 of 48, so don't feel bad.

mdaffron · January 2003

Paul -- Your warranty will cover you to 150K miles, bumper to bumper? When did you purchase this? I just read not two or three days ago that you still "plan" to purchase an extended warranty for the car.

And once again, we're talking Proteges here. Take your Jetta warranty over to the Jetta discussion, please. Thank you.

Fritz -- It doesn't matter how many total payments I'm making, nor what interest rate I'm paying, or whatever. I made that statement about having made payment No. 31 to illustrate how long I'd had the car, in response to others saying how far they've driven their Proteges since they purchased them. All I was saying was, I've been 48,500 miles in 31 months.

I'm glad you don't need an extended warranty, but not everyone's like you. I average 20K miles a year, and my car will have just a touch under 100,000 miles on it in five years.

Plus I wouldn't say your five-year-old ES with only 45K on the odometer will fetch only $3K. Probably more like $4,500 or so. (I know; I owned two Proteges before this one. The last one, a 1992 LX, was only 28 months old and had 83,000 miles on it when I traded it for a B2300 pickup. I got $5,000 in trade for a 3-year-old, very-high-mileage LX that new in 1992 cost only $12,900.)

Meade

fritz1224 · January 2003

What you got in trade has little bearing on what it can be sold for. In a trade there is also the factor of how much you are paying for the new vehicle. You think you could have sold that car out right for 5k. No way. Or at least I wouldn't have paid it.
And I couldn't care less how many payments you have left. Just making conversation. You brought it up(for whatever reason).
Have a nice day

moparbad · January 2003

According to Edmunds the Protege has a higher cost of ownership than the Sentra, Civic, and Corolla. Only the Ford Focus was higher.
Why would this be true? Is it due to depriciation, high initial purchase cost, higher repair cost? Since the Protege is a reliable car I would expect that the higher purchase cost of Protege and the high depriciation of Protege due to lack of demand and low desirability of the Protege is what raises the cost to own of the Protege. What do Protege owners think?

the_big_h · January 2003

Proteges are made and built in Japan, hence the expensive repair and insurance costs

at least that's what i think :-)

mdaffron · January 2003

And remind me to never try to sell you a car!

;-)

mdaffron · January 2003

What's the difference between "made" and "built?"

Meade

ashutoshsm · January 2003

What's the difference between "made" and "built"?

mdaffron · January 2003

I had it right. Go look in your high school stylebook.

Meade

ashutoshsm · January 2003

... and considering your previous and current profession, I don't think I'll argue with that

But you are sure, right?

Dang - thought I'd one-upped wordman, for a change

the_big_h · January 2003

and cars are "built" with parts "made" in Japan.

OEM Mazda parts are expensive, especially the ones that they had to import from Japan!

mdaffron · January 2003

I just went to confirm my all-knowing intellect of the English language, and lo and behold, the same rule that applies to commas does NOT apply to question marks! You, my friend, are CORRECT! WORDMAN HAS BEEN TRUMPED AT HIS OWN GAME!!!

(I hope you all are astounded that I admit my errors when they occur -- albeit infrequently -- but being wrong does "suck," doesn't it?)

;-)

Meade

P.S. Pat, are you enjoying this? Let's call it "Protege Punctuation 101." <--- And that's grammatically correct!

moparbad · January 2003

2002 Protege LX with auto, alloys, sunroof, with 1,650 miles and the asking price is $10,595 at a dealer. Is this a good price? Car would be for my wife. If resale is the only issue with the Protege then I am going to highly consider this car.

mdaffron · January 2003

That's not what you said. You said nothing about "parts." You said, "Proteges are made and built in Japan."

Had you wanted to say it the way you intended, then you should have said, "Proteges are built in Japan with Japanese parts" or "with parts made in Japan."

Nyah.

Meade

mdaffron · January 2003

(And now, in hopes of Pat redemption ...)

I just took the information you provided and plugged it in over at nada.com. The average trade-in for that car is $11,200, and the average retail is $13,175. So I'd say that's a pretty good deal. Nice mileage too!

Meade

ashutoshsm · January 2003

Find out what brand new (0 mileage) 2002 LX's go for in your market, find out how/who put those miles on the car, what the warranty will be etc. Since it seems its a demo or a quick return from a reluctant buyer, you may want to insist they let you have it checked out by a 3rd party mechanic for major mechanical issues.

Also, see if they'll throw in some extended warranty (a year or two) or a remorse period if you choose to return it (common for under-warranty used cars at a dealer lot).

mdaffron · January 2003

Meade

ashutoshsm · January 2003

Woo hoo!

And - if it makes you feel better, I didn't realize commas followed the same rule as fullstops (inside quotes), while question marks did not (I thought I knew this one, and did!)

What about semi-colons? How about ...
"Lets take a walk;", he said "you'll feel better in no time."

Don't think any other way is possible. And yes, that may not be the best example of where to use a semi-colon, but the best I could think of quickly - you know what I mean!

ashutoshsm · January 2003

Or is it 4/50 only for 2003 Mazdas first sold after November-ish 2002? Rich? MaltB?

mdaffron · January 2003

With a subtle change in an attempt to cool down our fearless moderator, your sentence should read:

"Let's take the Protege," he said; "you'll feel better in no time."

But when in doubt, you always could split that in two:

"Let's take the Protege," he said. "You'll feel better in no time."

Meade

mdaffron · January 2003

The change to four years was not "grandfathered back" to those cars sold prior to the change. The warranty is a feature of the car at the time of sale, and represents a contract between you and Mazda. At least that's what my sales manager told me.

Meade

mdaffron · January 2003

I just noticed post 1149 on the Mazda Tribute discussion -- made by none other than one of the Town Hall's newest members, my IT MANAGER who works in the office next door to mine!!! I referred him here; where's my hundred bucks?

Or at least a "Get Away With Off-Topics Free" card?

;-)

You go, Jeff!!!

(How convenient to have your IT Manager as a workplace co-surfer ...)

Meade

meinrad · January 2003

Plus,......

Na Na Na Na, You were wrong! Na Na

mdaffron · January 2003

;-)

... And since it probably would be the IT guy who would have to point out my infraction to the General Manager, then I guess I've got some built-in blackmail and therefore some insurance? How many of you who post at work do so with the full knowledge of your IT Department? Hmmmmmmm?

Meade

meinrad · January 2003

Since I am the IT department! LoL, small as Our company may be.

mdaffron · January 2003

gee35coupe · January 2003

Got so many posts.

protege_fan · January 2003

chikoo · January 2003

meinrad · January 2003

do you know where your Protege is?

ABQ News is reporting that more and more cars are not staying where their owners put them after arriving at work. The worst offenders are the Mazda Protege family of cars. "They leave the lots soon after being parked", says one staffer. The cars appear to be looking for fun. What happens if the owners want to leave work early? It appears they are just out of luck and it's a rish the cars appear ready to take.

pat · January 2003

As soon as Meade goes home for the weekend, this topic will be renamed Protege Posse.

Then I will hurry to create a new topic that will be -- LO!! -- a place where folks can come to find information on a sedan called the Mazda Protege.

Just imagine how nice that will be for *all* the members of our community!!

:-D

Happy first weekend of 2003!!

protege_fan · January 2003

If this is renamed "Protege Posse," what is to become of the existing "Protege Posse" forum? Oh woe is me.

:P

mazdafun · January 2003

No wonder some folks experience low fuel economy. Not only do they zoom zoom, but their cars do it on their own on the sly.

mdaffron · January 2003

I hope you miss me; this discussion gets mighty dull when I'm not around.

Have a good weekend.

I'll find you Monday.

And this wasn't on-topic either.

But you can remind me of that with my next e-spanking.

Meade

Mazda Protegé

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