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Duh, if you goto the dealership they sell hood deflectors made by "Form Fit". They are OEM, not exactly made by Mazda, but made to Mazda specs. I had one on my car for about 2 weeks. The putzes forgot to give me the little rubber stoppers that prevent the deflector from contacting the hood. I assumed (stupid me...) that because my package did not come with them, that they were not needed for that particular model. Boy was I wrong. It left some nice scratches. However, Kramer (the dealership) was good enough to take back the deflector (full refund) and they took out the abrasions in the hood for free. They did a great job.
PF
It had not caused any damage either. And it's also guaranteed. I am sorry, but don't have the original papers it came with though. Talk to me at my email address about it please.
I was fortunate to have a job lined up as soon as I graduate, so instead of subject myself to months of suffering in a beater while saving up the cash to get a better car, I decided to take the early plunge and got my brand new '00 ES right away. And with what I'm making now, I should be able to pay off the rest of the loan in a few months.
Yes taking out a loan put you in debt with the lender, but it also gives you much more flexibility with the cash in your hand, allowing you to enjoy other things in life. It's a calculated risk, so as long as you don't go way over your head in debt, a loan is a viable tool to get the most out of your money
p.s. I'm not a finance major, so forgive me if I missed some key points in money management.
My reason for purchasing a new Pro was because I don't know that much about cars (as if you all haven't figured that out).
If something goes wrong the first little while I have the car, I take it back to the dealership. End of story. (yes, yes, I know it's not really as simple as that...have to be able to trust the service dept., not everything is covered by warranty, etc.)
And that's the reason I chose the Protege...relatives with many years of Mazda ownership and few problems.
I'm very loyal to Mazda (Japan), My Wife has a 01 MPV. The MPV has a Ford engine(Duratec), but the Duratec is one of the best engines made, one of Ford's shining moments. Although, I believe Ford had some outside help with the design of the Duratec. I would only purchase a Japanese imported Mazda, too many problems with Ford's 626 tranny and the B series trucks are awful. The Japanese Made Mazda's are much better in quality than their "Ford" american made counterparts.
How many Protege owner's can say they have owned all 3 generations? Meade doesn't count 2- 1st, N0 2nd:)
Pro, I'm sure you will get many happy reliable miles out of your Protege.
Pjd58
How's the weather in Central OH? Off to Columbus tomorrow...not in the Pro, unfortunately...flying lovely Southwest.
pf: do u recall how much u paid for your deflector?
thanx
'duh'
Duh: I'm sure you can get a great view of the Northern lights up in your neck of the woods.
My first new car was a 82 Datsun 210 hatchback, a great little car, but what a RUST BUCKET! Up until I got my 01 Protege, my favorite car was my 86 Toyota Corolla GTS. What an awesome car, it had the same engine as the MR2, limited slip diff., and really tight suspension. The car was sooooooo fast, I got all 3 of my only speeding tickets in that car, I also was 26 and not married:) Since then, it's only been Proteges for me. Toyotas have lost their appeal for me and Hondas are bland, IMO.
Pjd58
Also, when did the Jetta not become an economy car?? :P
"Yeah, I used to spend all day Saturday in my dad's driveway, washing, waxing, detailing, wheel polishing, customizing, etc. I've got some pics of a heavily customized 1978 Corolla and 1980 Saab 900 I'd love to show you to prove it."
Do you have a scanner? I want to see that corolla!! I love the old school toyotas
I can say one thing though, my dealer retarded. I went up there Saturday, asked for a zoom zoom sticker...salesman told me that they were in the service department which was closed on Saturdays...told me to come back Monday.
Monday, I was slightly busy so I had no time to go up to the dealer.
Today I stopped by, went to the service department, because that's where I assumed they were, and the guy at the desk has no idea what I'm talking about. LOL.
I go back up to the front sales building and walk in, no one seems to notice me, until a woman walks up and asks if I've been helped...I say no, all I want is a zoom-zoom sticker. One salesman says "Oh! I know where they are" and walks over to a desk and pulls one right out of the drawer. So, the stickers WERE up front in the first place! LMAO!!
I think only one pic remains of the 'Yota. If you can imagine, in your mind's eye, a canary yellow (with black vinyl top) 1978 Corolla Deluxe 4-door (see, my affinity for small sedans goes way back) with chrome Cragar (sp?) wheels, Goodyear Eagle STs (with raised white letters, of course), air-adjustable shocks (to handle the overwidth tires & wheels), fogs, tinted windows, and of course (as was the trend back then) a TOYOTA decal across the top of the windshield. (I owned the car in 1985, by the way.)
Meade
Meade
Now say I decide to purchase a used 1999 Protege ES next spring instead. Checking Edmunds' used car pricing guide, I can expect to pay about $10,000 for the car. At 5.9 percent financing, and with the same trade-in I'm using for the 2002 P5, that comes to $234 a month for 36 months. So we're still in the mid-$200s for a 3-year-old car with probably about 40,000 miles on it.
Say I drive both cars for the terms of the loans. This is the end result, using my own mileage average of 20,000 miles a year:
New car: Five years old. 100,000 miles.
Used car: Six years old. 100,000 miles.
Either way, I paid in the mid-$200s for the entire time I had the car, and now I'm looking for another car and another loan. Which of the above will now get me a better price at trade-in or private sell? No matter what I end up buying the next time, the new car gives me a better trade-in.
Maybe my logic fails somewhere, but I don't see the big savings in buying a used car. In fact, it seems buying used as a rule will keep making me have to add more and more money to my trade-ins over the years. You could say the difference in the monthly payment is where the difference adds up, but $26 a month doesn't seem like a bad deal for a warranty, fresh paint and a car whose history I know.
Meade
Also, no I am not jealous. And don't get it going now, I will not be as nice and patient next time.
So when you wanna grab that beer? I am in the mood for a nice German one...
OK, I know it's off-topic and I apologize, but hey -- we can use this topic to organize picnics; what about a pub meeting? Here are some links, Paul:
http://www.legendbrewing.com/about_us.html
http://richmond.citysearch.com/profile/10555169
Gosh, I'm getting thirsty. Their pub is just across the river from my building -- I can see it from my office window. Might have to go put one down at lunch!
(J/K on the monthly payment thing, my friend!)
Meade
(BTW, I know the pic is small, but if you look closely at the pic of the Richmond skyline at the top of the second link, my building is the one in the center with the lighted roof. It's 20 stories; I'm on the 11th floor.)
I also have a friend that's into microbrews and the like, so maybe we will have to make a day trip out of it one weekend or something.
PF
To Meade: Whoever said that a true friend would ream Paul in private (over e-mail, presumably) was right. That and like Paul says, if you live a frugal life and die with $1 million in the bank and nobody to leave it to, what's the point? He has no housing costs for the foreseeable future, so why not spend your hard earned cash on a nice ride?
To Paul: Like I said, I don't really see anything wrong with what you did - as long as you're not planning on trading the Jetta in for a Beemer in about 8 months.
Re: New vs. Used
I will never buy used unless it's all I can afford. I once thought that with used, you can get a really nice car that's broken in for a reasonable price. My parents don't buy used. They had 2 or 3 used cars when they were younger that ended up being absolute POS's. Swore they'd never do it again. Guess what? I turn 16, they want to buy me a car, I get a 1990 Grand Am (it was 6 years old and had about 50k miles on it) for 6 large. My dad discovers he has to replace the tires. And the fog lights. And the entire exhaust system from the cat-back. And the brakes (I said they felt funny on the test drive - nobody believed me - hey, I was 16). Suddenly a $6000 car was $9000. Then the torque converter stopped working properly and the only permanent fix was a new tranny. At that point we dumped the car to buy a new Mazda B2300 pickup (only marginally better, but that's another story). My family has bad luck with used and, god willing, I'll never buy anything but new. If you have a job and marketable skills and good credit and emergency savings, financing a car isn't a huge risk. Some things in life you just can't afford to pay cash for up front. Sure you lose money just by driving it off the lot but, if you plan to keep it at least until it's paid off, it's not the worst investment you could make. I also put fairly low miles on my P5 these days meaning it should hold its value well.
Re: Good beer
There are a couple microbrews in this area - High Desert and Organ Mountain which are not too bad but nothing to really write home about. My current favorite premium is Shiner Bock because it's a fairly good beer and I can get $1.50 pints of the stuff at a local restaurant's happy hour (not to mention free chips and salsa). Makes for a good Friday afternoon after I get out of my Electrical Engineering lab
Re: Drinking and driving
It's just bad news and not a smart plan. I think Europe has the right idea and that most of our nation's alcohol problems are cultural and legal stupidity. If you gave your 5 year old a small goblet of watered wine with dinner and a beer during the football game, it wouldn't be such a big deal later in life. Age 21 is rather arbitrary and all it really does is create binge drinking in high schools and on college campuses because there is a certain mystique it holds for those old enough to want to drink but unable to do so, as well as the encouragement for over-21s to drink all they can because they're (finally) allowed. Also in Europe you can walk outside, hop on a train to downtown, catch a bus to your favorite pub, get sloshed, back on the bus to the train to your house. No fuss (assuming you are up on your public transportaion etiquette). In America there's often no choice but to drive. Illinois was one of the first states to drop the limit from .1 to .08 and for a lot of people, that was a problem. You see, in Chicago it's not a big deal to walk to your corner bar or use mass transportation like I mentioned above, but most of the state is very rural and farmer Joe, wanting to go have a couple brews with his neighbors, has no choice but to drive the 7 miles to the bar. There's only one bar, and it's not like he can call a cab or take a bus - because there aren't any. So he drives. He probably won't hurt anybody else if he wrecks (it's just corn) but that doesn't mean he won't get pulled over on the way home by highway patrol or county sheriff or whomever. Sucks if you a
mdaffron@the-rma.org
Meade
think letter bomb...I'm not up for the drive to VA. Actually, I was just thinking about this the other day...the truck that I am driving seems to have way more zoom than any other I have driven. It's a 4x2 raised susp, STD cab B3000 5spd. It handles better than any other small truck, IMO, mostly thanks to some fat front and rear sway bars. It was enough to get me pulled over the other night for a high speed left hand turn in front of Orange's finest. Anyway, still enjoying it and my only complaint is a clutch pedal that needs adjustment...yes, I'm lazy...hehehe.
PF
Yeah Malt, Ford realized what crud they had in the 2.3 liter truck. Old-as-the-hills motor technology, crappy front twin-I-beam suspension, no sway bars, etc. I'm sure your new 3000 handles like a Porsche compared to the old horse I had (funny, I wanted to take it out to pasture and shoot it too).
See you guys tomorrow. I gotta zoom-zoom to a meeting for the rest of the day. At least getting there will be fun!
Meade
Hey check this out...
img=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1793246&a=13894771&p=56129974&Sequence=0&res=high
(Copy paste that without the img=)
Don't they look great!? You can order them from here... http://www.knobmeister.com/licenseframe.html
Also I never noticed that my Jetta was anything much like an Audi. Went to the Audi dealer, they just got in the new A4s. They are to die for, maybe my next car in a year, but I would really like to be loyal to Mazda. We will see...
I have about another year and a half of school to go and will most likely drove the Pro5 until it is paid off. At that point I'll be 26 years old, my insurance will have made its major drop, I'll be pretty well established in my career, and ready to buy something more costly and more expensive to insure. Until then, it's zoom-zoom!
PS: The Protege is an econobox because it's small (passenger and cargo room), inexpensive, and is available with a 4-banger only. On the other hand, how can you call something with auto, air, cruise, power moonroof, 6 disc in-dash CD changer, power windows/locks/mirrors and on and on an econobox? Granted you can get one stripped but luxury equipment is becoming standard even on small, relatively inexpensive cars these days. Oh yeah - and most people who would consider the Protege a true econobox have never driven one
http://www.mazda.co.jp/motorshow/english/concept/index.html
Very cool.
PF
I wanted a new car, because I want to be the only one that drives it, and won't find any "surprises" due to poor care by the previous owner. Certified has taken a lot of the worry about that out, but you never know.
Carmax is great, I think. If your goign to by non certified used cars, I think the peace of mind that they offer is well worth the small price increase. I was very impressed with their inspection process.
Financing: A car is too big of a purchase for most to buy outright. Much more affordable making monthly payments, and as long as you owe less than what the cars worth, you're not really going in over your head. That's why its important to make a sizeable down payment if possible. Meade's payments are so low, because of his trade plus I would imagine he's putting a decent amount down. My car was 17.5, and I put 6k down when I bought it, I pay 240 a month. I saved up for about 6 months and lived at home so I could save up to do that. I realize not all have that luxury.
Another benefit of new vs used is financing. My bank wanted 7% on a used car loan for 48 months, Mazda gave me 0% if I bought a new one, with full warranty, road side assitance, etc. No question which way I'd go.
I just got my Pro back from its 7,500 mile service, I also got a cargo net installed in the trunk. They didn't charge me for installation, and it was 42 dollars for the service. Talk about a deal.
Steve
"You guys are young and still very affected by peer pressure."
Yeah, Meade, always young at heart. But not THAT young. FYI, I will be 71 in December. Bet you didn't know that by the way I type. I have owned two houses, built an apartment house as an investment and owned other commercial property.None of which is as much fun as a car, but a hellofalot better investment-wise.
Meade also said:
"I don't think my dad will ever understand this."
Dad's never understand anything because they were young once, too, and know how temptation gets young guys. Impulse buyers.
When I had more income I threw it away on boats and cars. Now that I am on a fixed income I wish I had invested at least 50% of what I paid out on cars. In 1967, $10,000 invested in a good mutual fund, with not a dollar added later, would now be $2.5 million. Interest isn't as high these days, but with compounding in 30 years $10,000 would still be about $1.5 million. You could then afford any car on the planet. Think about it. No matter how old you get you will want a car if you can still drive.
Meade, I understand where you are coming from. Also, I understand where Paul is coming from and he needs to read the above very carefully.
Paul:
I bought boats and cars to make up for losing my parents early in their years. I know the feeling. It doesn't work that way; you can't compensate with things. You have to choose between money and things and when you are old money is the most important. Make it while you are young, it gets a lot harder to find work later.
This doesn't mean don't buy a car. It means save as you go along and keep your car longer. Never make a bad deal just because you want it NOW. Think about your needs in the coming years, other expenses, other beautiful cars you don't know about.
Thanks Meade, hope you enjoy the P5 and I hope Paul enjoys his Jetta. Cars won't always be this cheap, but then, they were pretty cheap 30 years ago, too. I paid $5,450 for a new Buick Riviera loaded, it had a 350hp V8, power everything. My income then was $15,000 a year. We use to figure the cost of the car as a percentage of annual income financed over 36 months. Anybody making that today has to buy an economy car.
fowler3
Service? Great. That sums it up. I got my shipment and the packing slip indicated I was to get 16 new lugnuts. They were nowhere to be found though. 1 phone call and three days later, I had 16 polished stainless steel lugnuts delivered free of charge via UPS. Best part was that I didn't even know they were supposed to be included! Valve stems, mounting (tire to rim), balancing and shipping were all included in the price. (Best deal I could find locally was $597.62 through Discount tire on same package AND it didn't include the radios). So I saved $170.00 up front. Warranty? Can be administered by shipping the tire back to Tirerack or THEY will find me a local shop to have it repaired or replaced. If I use their suggested shop, Tirerack pays for the repair.
I have dealt with Tirerack on 6 occasions over the last 14 years. Never once have I been anything but totally pleased. Bought two sets of tires for my Rabbit from them, 1 replacement tire for my '92 Pro LX, a full set of RE930's for that same car (didn't care much for those tires but that's another story), bought 1 replacement tire for my wife's '92 Pro LX when Costco no longer carried the matching tire to the original set they sold me (Pirelli P600...great tires for the money), and most recently my snow tires/rims. I will definitely be buying my Potenza S-03's from them this spring.
Simply put...I have had great experiences from Tirerack. Nothing bad I can say about them. I recommend them to anyone.
Again though...if you don't want to change the tires yourself, go local. The extra money is worth it, especially if you use a trusted and careful shop. Nothing looks worse than dinged up rims.
BTW, I tried some 17" rims on my Pro about a month ago at my friends shop...I don't recommend them. Each ends up weighing about 12-15 pounds more than stock, and the acceleration and ride suffer a bit. Handling was noticeably better, but not worth the trade off in all aspects. The only way to really do it right is to get a set of REALLY light rims and Eagle F1 Supercar tires (also lighter) to keep the weight increase to a minimum and keep each wheel at about the same weight. I didn't get the chance to do so but my friend says it makes a huge difference and the car still accelerates about the same. He suggested BBS RX Ultralight rims with the Eagle F1 Supercar tires. Overall they weigh about 4 lbs less per tire than stock for my 2000 ES Pro. Downside? The full set like that goes for about $3400 smackers!!!! Not in this lifetime! I could see spending that if I had a showcar, but not my daily driver.
Regards,
Pete
I think Carmax is a good choice if you want a used car. On some cars it can even make a lot of sense. However, with Hondas holding so much of their value and domestics and Mazda/Nissan/Mitsu offering such low rates it's hard to find a used car that makes it worth it. Although since I work for Carmax I can get pretty good deals on the cars that we buy and can't retail. My fiance bought a 94 LS400 for $10,000. Now that's a bargain.
Speaking of the new MB C230 .. we drove it last week. It is a decent car ... but not for the money. For $25,900 you still have to add for CD, roof, leather, etc. so it really is a stripped Benz but it still has alot of safety equipment but for a few thousand more you can get an Acura CL-S and for a few thousand less you can get an RSX ... both of which offer more power and are still a premium brand .... just not as premium as the MB.
10,000*(1.05^30) = 43,000+
Of course, if there's a way to do that, tell me about it!
That said, I start on my first full-time job in a month or two, and do plan to keep my 95 Protege at least until I turn 25 (I'm 24 now). Six to eight months of 'real' income (I'm just a grad student now) and no car payments should be nice, as will (hopefully) my credit scores and insurance rates by then :-)
But then again, (I like to think) I'm passionate about cars, and I can see myself being tempted by a nice, but pointlessly over-priced car (read Audi, BMW) in the next few months/year. Hopefully the nice Mazda 6 hatchback will be out by then, but something like the RX-8 is a tempting car for someone my age.
And cars are bought more impulsively by the under-30 crowd than by anyone older, so I can understand how most people wuold do that once or twice in their lives :-) So quit picking on us young 'uns for now.
Paul, now that you HAVE bought yourself a really nice car, enjoy it, and keep it for a few years at least! You've been through the impulsive buying phase a couple of times now, so try to come out of it wiser (and happier, and not financially upside-down!)
And at least you've avoided the one thing that can get boring quickly - everyone wanting to car pool in YOUR car because of the huge back seat :-)
Someone once said that life is lived sort of backwards. When you're young and want to have all sorts of nice things, you don't have the money and when you finally have the money, you're too old to really care about all the nice things you wanted when you were younger. Sort of a variation of "Youth is wasted on the young." As a poor college student, I feel that all the time. I have essentially zero income and anything I do make goes towards school. There are times when I say to myself "I wish I could afford a motorcycle. Or an upgrade for my computer. Or a new pair of headphones (I like 'em expensive). Or even a 6-pack of good beer this weekend." I can't, and it often sucks. By the time I graduate and am making some real money, I'll be too busy and too old with too many commitments to have the same desires.
I just can't wait til I get my turbo motor installed, then ppl will be looking at my car like "what is that old peice of crap doing" and then i take off and run a 13 second 1/4 mile :P. Ohh ..i can't wait
Meade: can't wait to see them pics :P. I've been trying to upload your MAPP II Pics but my copy of Dreamweaver keeps disconnecting me from my server when i try to move the files. I'll post a link here when i get them up though.
To everyone: Would you all be interested in coming to a car show in early May? I went this to this past years Carlisle Custom Compact Power Jam and loved it. I don't know if any of you would like that sort of thing, but you can see some pretty insane cars there, and there are plenty of them (over 2000). I think it is May 3-5th, 2002. which is a weekend (friday-sunday). It is something like 20 bux to enter a day. If you show your car (i will be) it costs like 40 bux for all three days, and you get to park on the field (which i think is a better deal if your staying for all the days). Let me know if any of you might be interested in this?
Fowler ... Wow, was I off on ages! Hey -- where were you a few months back when we were trying to find out how old all of us were? I thought Larry was the senior member in his mid-40s, LOL! I never woulda thunk it. My dad just turned 68. Funny you mentioned a Riviera -- that's what he drives now. I used to think that after age 55, your heart died (or your [non-permissible content removed] got tired) and you needed a car that cocoons you in marshmallow velour and disconnects you from the road. You are living proof that there is hope for me.
Elec3 ... I don't know what you classify as "old," but I'm 36 and I still enjoy the good beer and a good pair of headphones. It's not that you lose interest in "the good stuff" -- it's just that your priorities change. Case in point -- I woke up this morning and walked downstairs to find the temperature about five degrees cooler than upstairs. A quick check revealed that the downstairs heat pump had thrown its reset switch and stopped running sometime during the night. Sure, a quick push of a button out on the compressor got it running again, but now I'm worried. This isn't the first time the downstairs heat pump has gone squirrelly on me, and a new outdoor unit is a cool (pun intended) $1,500. Ten years ago, if I had $1,500 to spend, I'd be planning on new wheels and tires, a new ham radio rig, etc. Today, it's these little "unexpected surprises" that keep you hanging on to your money and never seeming to have enough. Believe me, as your income grows, your expenses grow right along with it.
Well guys, Richmond was a balmy 70 degrees yesterday (ha ha all you Canadians), and I got off work early after my meeting. Went home and spent a nice two hours washing my Protege. Boy he's gleaming now. I paid for that little outing, however. On this occasion -- the ONE time I decided not to take the cordless phone outside with me -- my wife needed me. Boy, she rolled up at 6 o'clock and chewed me a new butt. "I've been trying to reach you for an hour!" Followed by the infamous, "What if I'd had an accident?" and "What if Sean had gotten hurt?"
Geesh. It was still fun washing the car though! Y'all have a good morning! I'm off to surf the net to find out why my heat pump's reset switch popped!
Meade
I went in to my dealership armed with the information I'd gotten from NADA and Edmunds regarding how much my truck was worth, MSRP and invoice on the car optioned the way I wanted it, etc. I had it all figured out to a monthly payment. I drove the car, went back in with the sales guy, and told him how much I wanted to pay. He initially squirmed a little, but I stood fast. I used the line, "I can always keep driving my truck a little longer. I don't really NEED a car right now." He went off to the sales manager and came back with papers for me to sign.
2000 ES 5-speed with everything (including cassette) except sunroof -- $269 a month for 60 months. While meeting with the finance guy I decided to go ahead and add the 7-year, 100,000-mile extended warranty. (By the way Paul, when you buy it with the car, you can wheel and deal on it just like you can with the car. It was a $1,100 warranty and I talked him down to $800.) Financed with the car it added $14 and some change per month, bringing my monthly payment to $284. Another cool thing they did was finance it through a local bank, and in return I got free checking at that bank and can pay at any of the branches -- and this bank is in Richmond's upscale supermarkets, so I can make my car payment while I'm buying groceries. (I could've gotten direct debit from my checking account, but I don't like people's hands in my pockets.)
Anyway, there you have it. $284 a month for a loaded 2000 ES and the warranty. Not too shabby, I don't think.
Meade
Meade