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Mazda Protegé

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Comments

  • newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    Good idea. I wonder how much a body shop would charge to paint it? In that case, I'd have it painted the same color as my car-silver.

    VW reliability- Statistically when compared with Japanese makes, the reliability is shoddy at best. I've also heard that parts costs are ridiculous. They may have gotten better recently, but a good reputation doesn't happen overnight and VW has had some issues recently. Mazda (purebred Mazdas that is) on the other hand have made reliable cars for a long, long time.
  • SporinSporin Member Posts: 1,066
    All I'm saying is that since the mid-1990s, VW has been experiencing more than usual reliability issues with their Golf and Jetta models, that are built in Mexico. Might be a coincidence, and as you said, maybe the company, engineers and designers based in Europe have done a crappy job. Nevertheless, I don't believe the cars are reliable yet, even though VW's quality has been improving for these models in the last couple of years. All I'm saying is that I would think twice before getting one.

    Dinu


    And I agree with most of that, but it's a far cry from your original statement.

    In actuality though, VW's quality has gotten better and better over the last 5 years. It was at it's absolute worst when they were making Rabbits in Westmoreland PA! (80's?)

    I'm not running to the defense of VW. I traded in my '99 Passat on the Mazda because of the Passat's problems and terrible dealer service. My eyes are wide open on VW. My problem was with the implication that the cars have a ... -: poor reliability record since they're made in méhico! Which jsut isn't true.

    Bygones. :-) Sorry if I over reacted.
  • dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    It's all good. Maybe I went a little overboard too. As a general comment, I trust Japanese (like our Made in Japan PROs) cars the most (reliability-wise), followed by Japanese brands made here or in the States, with Euro and Amer brands second. There are of course great cars and lemons with all manufacturers. If I had my choice I would either get a 3.2TL or Accord Sport. Euro cars are a blast to drive, but for now most are very expensive for me.

    Fowler: I'm surprised the ICQ chat didn't work for you. I use the newest version of XPLORR. I also have a high speed connection and it was instanteneous (sp?)

    Dinu
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    ...this goes back a couple years as I bought my '99 back in late Jan. 1999. So the Corolla, Civic, Sentra and Impreza have been updated since then. Those were the main competitors. The Focus wasn't out then, so I checked out the Escort (which, BTW, is/was based on preceding generation 323s and Proteges...but Ford would have you believe otherwise).

    I ruled out the Cavalier and Neon, having driven a few rental examples. They felt rough, the seat in the Neon was uncomfortable (the Cavalier's was OK) and visibility out of both was just plain terrible. The distortion caused by the curved glass gave me extreme eye strain (and headache) after only a few minutes in each. Trunks were small. Front suspension in the Cavalier makes "boinging" sounds when going over large bumps. Neither has a good reliability record. I also never liked car doors without window frames, as they inevitably start leaking.

    Civic
    + OK handling. Good controls and visibility. Decent rear seat space. Excellent reliability. Excellent fuel economy. Nice-sounding engines.
    - Terrible sales staff. A-pillar too sharply raked (kept bumping into it). Very uncomfortable seat.
    [I checked out the current Civic. While larger inside (including the trunk), the A-pillar is still in my way and the seat still hurts my back. Didn't bother test-driving it.]

    Corolla:
    + Excellet reliability and fuel economy. Oil filter is really easy to reach. Good visibility.
    - Interior looked tacky and felt cheap. Tiny, tiny rear seat. Tiny trunk. Tiny glove box (or was that the Sentra?). Wallowing handling (before they made the rear stabilizer bar stock). A-pillar also gets in my way.
    [Checked out the 2001 version. Stying still tacky, but less cheap feeling. Otherwise, not much changed. 2002 version is supposed to be larger and longer.]

    Impreza
    +Nicely-designed cockpit regarding seating and controls. AWD. Nice handling.
    - Cramped cockpit (but I didn't find the A-pillar to be a nuisance), front and rear. Tiny trunk. Low fuel economy for class, even accounting for AWD.

    Sentra
    + Above-average reliability.
    - Blah styling. Tiny trunk. Tiny trunk pass-through. Really cramped cabin. Some flimsy-feeling controls. Surprised how poorly I thought it fared against the others.
    [Checked out the current Sentra. Larger cabin up front, rear still puny. Trunk larger, but still on the small side. Trunk pass-through is still tiny. Plastic materials felt nicer. Styling from the front and side OK, weird from the rear. Some first year "teething" pains.]

    Escort
    + OK cabin space (except ZX2 version). OK trunk. Hey, it's based on a previous generation Protege! Good visibility. Wagon version available.
    - Ford build quality (tsk, tsk Jacque). Handling not as good. Wagon overpriced. Ford build quality.

    Focus (after I'd already made my purchase)
    + Larger cabin and trunk than Escort, roughly equivalent to Protege. Tilting and telescoping steering column. Competitive price. Lots of wheel travel for bumpy roads.
    - Styling turns me off. Ford build quality again. VERY uncomfortable seat (even worse for me than the Civic's). Lack of rear headroom. A-pillar again. Center stack controls visually confusing due to cut lines in dashboard. Telescoping steering column's range didn't afford me a good fit (why bother then?). Body roll too much for my liking. What's up with Ford's tiny side mirrors?

    Nubira
    + Inexpensive.
    - Cheap-feeling interior parts, although the upholstery felt nice. Rough-sounding engine.

    Elantra
    + Inexpensive. Good cabin space. Good visibility.
    - Styling kind of droopy. Rough-sounding engine. Some controls felt cheap (flimsy or difficult to move). Still wary of Hyundai build quality (I am going to wait another 3-5 years...Ford will have to wait another 8-10 before I consider a vehicle that contains any important Ford-originated parts...they've got a long way to go before I recommend them).
    [I think the current Elantra has better styling. I haven't driven this one, but I hear it's been moved towards the mainstream from sporty.]

    Mirage
    + Costs slighty less. OK cabin space up front. OK trunk. OK visibility.
    - Suspension less agile and not as good at absorbing bumps w/o throwing tracking off. Rear bumper doesn't integrate well with body and wheels. Small rear seat. Cheap-feeling interior parts and controls.
  • protegextwoprotegextwo Member Posts: 1,265
    #1976 of 1980 All right... by jonahb HOST Jan 18, 2002 (10:50 am)
    I'll do my best to respond to various things posted above:
    - Hosting chats costs Edmunds money (software, moderators), and we need to make sure that we're spending our money wisely
    - In general, weekly chat attendance has been rather low (4 users here, 7 users there, 15 users, etc.). Compare that to the amount of traffic we get on the boards, and it makes sense to reassess what we're doing with chats.
    - The solution is to still offer a place for members to hang out (the all-purpose chat) each week AND be more aggressive about soliciting sponsored chats from manufacturers.
    - Subaru pays us each month for their community page and periodic chat events, so yes, the Subaru chat remains on the schedule. Does this mean that Mazda won't sponsor a community page or chats about their vehicles? Of course not. I'm going to be working with the Edmunds sales folks to make sure that we present Town Hall to these manufacturers and show them the value of communicating with their loyal owners.
    - Yes, clicking on the banner ads will make Edmunds (and our advertisers) happy. :)
    - I realize that I'm not going to make everyone happy. Especially those that haven't been thrilled with my decisions over the past several months. But my mandate from the CEO of Edmunds is to make Town Hall financially self-sufficient so that it not only exists in its current form, but also improves over time. Sometimes that requires more commercialization of a previously commercial-free "space" -- sometimes that requires unpleasant cuts.

    Thanks for the feedback."
    -Jonah Brown


    I'm not leaving, nonetheless I've lost my enthusiasm for Town Hall. I appealed to Pat & Karen our hosts to go to bat for us. All I got was I'm sorry from Pat and zip from Karen. Did they go to bat for our chat? I don't really know, never got a reply. However, there was enough time to freeze my topic: "I think that sedan/car-specific chats ought to be encouraged."
    We are told to e-mail Mr. J. Brown. He don't care, our Mazda Protege chat ain't profitable. But, there is good news, per Mr. Brown! We now get to wait longer for the pages to load due, to the huge banner adds now displayed everywhere. I would rather pay $10.00 bucks a month for a nominal Town Hall subscription fee, IF!!!

    1.)86 the banner adds!
    2.)Bring back the chats!
    3.)Send Mr. Zero Personality, profit maker packing.

    Just my opinions. For the time being, I'm out of here.

    God Bless you all,
    Larry
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
    Larry, if you only posted here to Karen, she probably didn't see it, since I host this discussion. Also, she has her hands more than full these days. I'm sure she's not ignoring you intentionally.

    I have asked Jonah to stop by here. I'm not sure what his schedule is or whether he is even in the office this afternoon, but please be patient for a bit, okay?

    Surely everyone here understands that the Town Hall in and of itself is an extremely expensive venture. Overall, the chats have just not been attended well enough to be maintained in their present form. I know that you also understand that with or without the chats, you and our entire community are receiving tremendous value at no cost to you. Please bear with Jonah and with us while we try to make sure we can continue to exist for you. Someone has to pay the piper, and I know you understand that.

    Someone earlier suggested contacting Mazda and asking them to sponsor a chat here. I think that is a terrific idea. There is so much enthusiasm here, perhaps they would consider it. It's worth a try.

    Pat
    Host
    Sedans Message Board
  • jonahbjonahb Member Posts: 2
    Like I said, I'm not going to make everyone happy. We needed to make some changes in Town Hall in order to better serve Town Hall and Edmunds overall. Discontinuing chats may seem like a drop in the bucket, but *every* department at Edmunds is being asked to make some cuts and focus on projects that will bring in money.

    And hey, if a significant number of Town Hall members wants to pay $120 a year for a "premium" ad-free version of Town Hall (with chats), I'm all for it. Unfortunately, other web businesses have tried to do this with limited success -- so I went with the advertising route.

    I'll focus our sales folks' attention on Mazda and see what turns up. They deserve to know about you guys and how much you care about their vehicles. And if you have any independent success with them, please pass that information along. If we work together, we'll create a chat series or a community "page" that Town Hall Mazda owners deserve.
  • protegextwoprotegextwo Member Posts: 1,265
    I never said, Karen Host was ignoring us, however I e-mailed her last night and asked her for some help. I have not heard back. You see, if you guys cannot or won't try to help us, it's just very disappointing. I'm very sad and honestly disgusted on how this was foisted on us. Last night Dee the chat host acted like everything was honky dory. Yea, but click on a tiny little message button, buried in a sea of banner advertisements and there was the bad news being touted as good news and positive change! Come on Pat, how stupid does he think we are? I will state my opinion again. Town Hall in it's current make up is horrible. Charge me $10 bucks a month and 86 the banners, slow loading pages, the enforcement of Mr. Browns vision of the user agreement, and return our chats!

    I repeat, I'm outta here for a while, at least till, I cool down.

    Respectfully,
    Larry
  • elec3elec3 Member Posts: 160
    Who always means to make the chats but never does for one reason or another. I also understand why this came about. When the internet was booming, a lot of companies overlooked the fact that bandwidth is not free. It didn't matter, everyone was doing well, things were great. Then banner ads tanked. Places like DoubleClick realized that web surfers didn't like them and wouldn't go out of their way to click on an ad they didn't care about. Suddenly advertising was not enough revenue to pay for bandwidth, servers, and personnel. Something had to give. Some sites shut down. Others quadrupled the number of ads they featured. Still others resorted to pop-up, pop-under, non-closeable, and other sneaky ad tricks.

    Pat is not lieing when saying that we are given a lot of value for free with Town Hall. Ideally the ad revenue would be there to offer all current services and then some. But it's not, and something unpopular was done. This happens all the time on more message boards than you could count. It's also why I rarely frequent a message or bulletin board for more than 6 months. Without fail, a board will become boring, unfocused, or full of troublemakers (even moderated ones) OR the management of the board will make unpopular changes or simply shut down. So I find a new one. There are lots out there. And usually there are enough new people who run across a place like Town Hall never having known how it was "before" and like what they see well enough to stay. In this way unpopular actions are rarely punished. If you (Larry) leave and never come back, our Protege Town Hall community will be the worse for it but Edmund's will not because it's only a matter of time until another new user comes along and takes your place (even if he could never replace you).

    This is the unkind reality that is online message boards.
  • maltbmaltb Member Posts: 3,572
    oh shutup! leave us to [non-permissible content removed] and moan...lol
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
    Good post elec3, thank you.

    No one - least of all me - wants to see Larry leave.

    I think maybe Larry was composing while Jonah was posting and maybe didn't take the time to read Jonah's post? Because I find the last paragraph of his message very encouraging in terms of the future possibilities. And, again, any of you who want to contact Mazda on your own about sponsoring a chat here can help tremendously.

    I guess the thing of it is that reality is cold and harsh.

    The bills have to be paid.

    The Town Hall has for a very long time done nothing but cost Edmunds money. Obviously it makes no sense whatsoever to continue a venture that is nothing but red ink.

    We all understand that most of us are entrenched in the status quo, and are not the least bit comfortable with change. Heaven knows, I am probably the most resistant to change person you will ever meet, I assure you. I've lived in the same house for over 25 years, I've worked in the same full time job for over 20 years -- well, this is not about me, I just want to explain to you that I HATE change! :-)

    But as I said earlier, the bills have to be paid. And if they cannot be paid, then there is no Town Hall at ALL. Put the chats aside, without sufficient revenue there will be no message boards upon which to moan and groan about the loss of the chats - and, obviously and more importantly, to continue your many other fascinating and helpful conversations.

    So I'm having a little difficulty understanding the intense anger that is being displayed at the changes, given that the entire purpose of these changes is to keep this community alive and thriving.

    That said, I vehemently repeat -- I do NOT want to see Larry, nor anyone else, leave. But I guess it is possible that some of you, our members, cannot understand that in this sink or swim world, we have to swim the only way we can in order to stay afloat FOR our community. I really hope that in the end, that will not be the case, though - I hope everyone can hang in here with us.

    Thanks for putting up with this very long post.

    Pat
    Host
    Sedans Message Board
  • newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    I just went back and read my first posts and came across some humerous material. This is a quote from Chikoo on Vocus trying to decide between a 00 ES and a 01 ES, Date February 21 2001:
    "vocus likes doing things which he can look back upon and kick himself in his butt!! vocus...keep a cool mind. mazda is not closing shop..."

    Later on that day....
    Vocus: "I am going to get the car that has the best deal, since I do have some negative equity to hide." Geez, I didn't know you had negative equity on your 99 too. Between the two Proteges and the Jetta, that's negative equity into negative equity into negative equity on top of serious depreciation. Holy Crap!!! That's a spendy Jetta. My finance teacher in college would have vomitted and then dropped dead if heard about those deals.

    February 22, Vocus: "The ES 2.0 is going to be kept for a long time. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought another Protege because their resale value sucks."

    Sorry Vocus, but I couldn't help it. Sorry to beat a dead horse. I know people change their minds, but dang.
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    The cost of hosting can be huge. Another chat service had to cut off it's paid hosts due to shrinking revenues. Paying hosts cost that service $1.5 million a year for fifty hosted chat rooms 24/7. They also had 1525 unhosted chat rooms. It's very expensive to do this on the Net, even with sponsors with deep pockets, and banners do not guarantee the sponsor will get enough hits to make it worthwhile. Add in the costs of server managers, web page designers, webmasters, and....well, you get the picture.

    If Edmunds charged $10 a month access I doubt they would get enough subscribers to pay the upkeep. Meade was talking about how wonderful the Internet and technology is that we can come here and exchange information and ideas. And so far, it's free, other than your dialup fee.

    Don 't feel cheated because a free service had to be changed...to keep it FREE. There are alternatives we can do ourselves without burdening Edmunds.

    Thank you, Jonah Brown, for taking the time to explain Edmunds' side of it. Working together we can accomplish more.

    If Mazda does partner with Edmunds at some point; and we have worked out an alternate chat plan, we can always dump that one and come back here to chat. Instead of complaining let's do a mail-in to Mazda. Numbers help tremendously, positive comments are heard and passed to higher ups.

    You know the survey you get from Mazda shortly after buying your car? I included a letter with mine complimenting Mazda, and in two weeks I got a telephone call from Mazda, in California, thanking me for writing. I still have the address of the VP of Sales...think I will drop him a line. ;)

    fowler3
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    Fowler: I'm surprised the ICQ chat didn't work for you. I use the newest version of XPLORR. I also have a high speed connection and it was instanteneous.

    Dinu01: I'm happy for you! My Net connection is by dialup with a 56K modem that only gets a 36K throughput on average. And I'm using an older 200Mhz Macintosh with only 64MB RAM. Oh yeah, and Netscape Communicator 4.5. Not the fastest, not the latest, but I get here. It's sort of like my Protegé, reliable, the workhorse.

    I never buy the newest, fastest CPU out. Like cars, how fast it goes depends on who is driving it.

    Across the room I have a new Mac G4/450Mhz not online yet.

    fowler3
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    From the user's side, all this seems so simple. They have no clue what all goes on behind the web pages. That it takes many hours from others to get any of this to work at all. Think how long it takes programmers to write the software which we see as a chat room. The bugs that have to be worked out, more hours of programming.

    I have Beta tested programs and know how buggy they can be long before the public sees the final one. And still they complain. They should have seen it when it crashed your computer every five minutes, and required several days to get it going again.

    Have you ever wondered why, when you click on a certain area on the screen or an underlined word -- the page changes? And yet, when you click in that same screen area later nothing happens. Why? That's HTML and knowing how to use it. That's programming, also called engineering. Those guys don't work cheap.

    fowler3
  • dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    Pat and Jonah: Thank you for taking the time to explain the Edmunds' pt of view. The truth is that we all have to make profits (be it salary or stock options, or just the chance to keep our jobs), and these very profits do sometimes come in the way of how things used to be run...

    This being said, I completely agree with Elec3 and Fowler. We have to understand that:

    1. It costs mucho $$$ to keep this site running. Keep in mind, it's not just the Protege sedans that exist on this planet. Try to figure out how many topics must exist on this site and the work needed to keep them running and the staff paid, and I think we all have to be a understanding
    of the current situation. People got s*r*w*d investing in Internet businesses very recently, and while Edmunds might have been able to find incoming $ 2 yrs ago, this isn't been the same today.

    2. Edmunds like any other company is not in this to lose $. Every company tries to make as much as possible, the same thing any of us would do if we ran our own bussiness.

    Larry: You are one of the regulars that post on this board and I think I speak for everyone when I say we don't wanna see you go. Your idea of a $10 fee is acceptable to me, but as an overall business plan, it's not viable since people will look elsewhere for car info. I think we are in the minority to like our cars this much. Most people don't care what they drive, as long as it gets them from A to B without troube. Styling, comfort, ride characteristics are what make the enthusiast, US.

    Dinu
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    Protegé Owner's Club:

    If you want to make this the best Club for Protegé owners here's what you need to do to get more members:

    1) While Edmunds works on its new chat sites:
    print small cards inviting Protegé owners
    you see around town, in parking lots, etc.
    to join us. Place them under their windshield
    wiper blades. Keep it simple, like a business
    card.

    2) Write to Mazda asking them to support a chat
    room on Edmunds.

    3) Post invitations on other web sites and BB's.

    4) If you have a web site, post a notice there.

    5) Talk it up whereever you go.

    fowler3
  • chicagoprochicagopro Member Posts: 1,009
    Boy, you spend one day away from the computer, and look what happens...very busy day on the board!

    Last night (Thursday) after chat, I wrote Jonah B an email all about how discontinuing chat would ruin my life (well, something like that) and why did Edmunds have to be so evil, anyway? After reading his response to me today, and the shpillion posts here that elaborated on the behind-the-scenes kind of stuff it takes to keep an operation like this going, I guess I can understand their decision. Still not too happy about losing chat, but...

    fowler: I've sometimes thought about leaving other Pro owners notes on their cars when I see them around town...which, as I've said before, is not very often (although today I was nose-to-nose with a 3rd gen sand DX in a parking garage downtown). Just not sure how that would play in the big city. I think if I found something like that on my windshield, I would think, "Jeez...what a bunch of kooks!" (or "Jeez...what kind of scam is this?" or "Jeez...is somebody stalking me?"...etc.) Maybe I'm just a paranoid kook myself :)

    Dinu: You don't have to worry about using run-on sentences in my presence...I use them myself sometimes! I won't be grading anybody's posts :)
  • chicagoprochicagopro Member Posts: 1,009
    ...I understand why you're taking a break while you cool down a little. I agree that this format change was kind of sprung on us, and I was disappointed, too. I said as much in my email to Jonah (although I hope not too disrepectfully). Unfortunately, this is a virtual world, not face-to-face...not sure how they would have been able to give us this info in any way that would have seemed less abrupt.

    Take your time, cool down, and then come back!

    --Dale
  • audia8qaudia8q Member Posts: 3,138
    For those of you interested...Starting in June the protege

    Mazda is expecting to change the headlights and offer a sportshift and leather as an options.
  • audia8qaudia8q Member Posts: 3,138
    The 2002 Mazda speed 3 will be based upon the Protege this year and come out in three colors...Black, Mica and orange. 190hp. 1500 units will be built. This is the 2002 answer to the 2001 Mp3.

    Rich
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    Welcome to the Mazda Protegé Owners Club boards. Tell us where you are from.

    fowler3
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    something about IRC (Internet Relay Chat) also called Ircle.

    theparalla wrote:
    IRC is a popular way to connect, but everyone would have to download and install a client (http://www.mirc.com) and we would have to create a room on a server somewhere. I don't have any experience with that, but IRC is very customizable and supports moderators and stuff...

    The above is true, it is very customizable and you can set replies from individuals in colored text as well as the moderator's text. Very easy to follow threads.

    The big difference between Ircle and other chat clients is the others are usually a window on a web site -- such as edmunds chat. Ircle is part of the Internet, but NOT on a web site, it is a standalone
    client which you launch separately from your browser.

    What you will see is a large window, fills your screen, with a tool box and a set up dialog box, and the place where you type. The set up requires a User Name, Nickname, and Password. We do need a server as the Host client and that is what I am looking in to. Users log onto the host and then launch Ircle.

    I can open Ircle and take a snapshot of the window and e-mail it to you, so you can see what it looks like. Just check my Profile and email your address to me.

    fowler3
  • dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    Thank you for this exciting info on the 2002 version of the MP3. Did you find this info at mazda.com or elsewhere? Could you please let us know the link? Welcome to our board!

    Dale: Now that I think about it, it seems a little strange to get those business cards under your wipers. I throw out those advertisements w/out reading them as we get a lot in our parking lot at university.

    Dinu
  • elec3elec3 Member Posts: 160
    Audia8q is a (Mazda) dealer. I thought he had posted here before but maybe that was only over on the Protege5 boards. It's kind of neat to get some early behind the scenes info from people in the biz before it's 100% ready for public consumption.

    I would love something like my Pro5 or a sporty Protege sedan with 190HP, but now that I think about it, I'm probably better off having the Pro5 for insurance purposes. I had an accident last year with my B2300 pickup (which was an accident waiting to happen) and my insurance went through the roof. The Pro5 will be paid off by the time I'm 25 or 26 and hopefully by then my insurance will have dropped to acceptable levels so I can afford to own something like a 190HP Protege or a WRX (I'm generally a careful driver and have not had a ticket in the almost 7 years I've been driving except for the one I got and had dismissed for my accident, which was truly an accident).

    Oh yeah, I almost forgot. IRC is a viable option for chat, but it's probably not what I would prefer. The thing about IRC is that it can be a bit shady...it's where the people who don't want to be seen or found often hang out. You can usually set up your channel with member lists and operaters and all that stuff so it's secure, but it's just not as nice a place as some of the private Java chat rooms you can find. Having said that, I like IRC, but when I go there, it's usually for very specific purposes and not to hang out and chat (I'll leave those purposes to your imagination so as not to incriminate myself). And fowler is right, coding, software engineering, and HTML for commerical use are no trivial tasks. The more I program, the more I realize just how hard it is to develop something commercially usable. I try not to even think about something like Windows with millions of lines of code - it makes my head spin.
  • kaiserheadkaiserhead Member Posts: 166
    .....about the status of the chat room and website is getting boring. Lets get back to talking about cars, tires, tickets and the things that make the Protege the greatest car ever built.

    BTW, the 2003 Corolla looks great!! Any thoughts?
  • audia8qaudia8q Member Posts: 3,138
    Yes, I am a mazda dealer...along with some other brands...Located in connecticut.

    the info I got was directly from the national dealer meeting in California...

    I drove the 2002 MPV, 2003 mazda 6. Saw mock ups of some Mazda speed cars too....hot stuff.

    Stay tuned. I will post any hot info as soon as I get it. Just don't get like the people on the MPV board. They just want to argue with industry people like me. It's too bad. I have alot of stuff to say about the 2002 MPV. Their loss!!

    Rich
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    You've got my heart racing! Thanks for the heads-up!

    Now, if Mazda'd only put something like that in a P5 format, I'd be all over it.

    Y'see, I appreciate the practicality of that large rear hatch, especially after I've been unable to cram something I know will fit inside the car because I couldn't shove it through an undersized opening. Yet, I want the agile handling of a sporty compact, like the Protege. I also want a compact (for instance, the 6 would leave almost no room between its rear bumper and my garage door). I love the RX-8, but have to wait and see if I fit. Plus, it's RWD, which may make it a 3-seasons car. Maybe when I have more $$$ to spend on such a thing.
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    ...in addition to sending Mazda NA Customer Service a nice letter, is to ask the dealership I purchased my Pro at to maybe recommend (or at least let me leave flyers) the Protege owners section at Edmunds Town Hall. Worth a call anyway. They'd be wondering what's in it for them (hey, a community of other owners who can offer useful advice etc. Several posters here have admitted they decided on a Protege after lurking and reading the very positive comments and experiencing the overall genial nature of the Protege boards.).

    Of course, I'd probably better be more diplomatic about expressing my opinion on the ability of drivers around here. ;)
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    Here's what is listed on MazdaUSA's owners site (no chats there, but at least it runs now):

    Phone
    800-222-5500 (M-F, 9AM-5:45PM ET, 9AM-5:45PM CT, 8AM-4:45PM PT).

    Land
    Mazda North American Operations
    P.O. Box 19734
    Irvine, CA 92623-9734 (Hey, nice location! Color me green with envy.)
    Attn: Customer Assistance Center

    Oops, I forgot to note their e-mail address. It's a hypertext link, so it naturally didn't come out in my print-out. I'll come back with a post later.

    Also on the MazdaUSA site, if you click on the new models (or future) models links, you will find images (including 1024x768 wallpapers) and movies of the RX-8 and the 6. They also have a VERY COOL CG animation of the twin-rotor Renesis rotary engine being assembled and running.
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    The web site I have in mind has hosts who can be called in if there are troublemakers. The service is based on safely chatting and the only place WebTV users can chat. At one time, it was the only service the Indian government allowed their entire sub-continent PC users to log onto.

    fowler3
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    I've been working on a database of all who have posted here and left their e-mail addresses. Starting with post #01 speedypt. If you didn't post your e-mail address in your Profile, it would be helpful if you would.

    Maybe, we could get some of the original posters to return. At least,
    I can send out a Protegé Owners Club newsletter and let them know
    what is happening and we are thinking about them. ;)

    fowler3
  • laurakatlaurakat Member Posts: 69
    It's probably been a couple months or so since I last posted. Job's got me traveling all the time. I stopped lurking for a month and had over 800 new posts to catch up!

    Good luck with your database, fowler. My profile should have my e-mail so you can add me to it.

    Update on my emerald mica LX 2.0 5spd: 4800 miles and no problems at all. I miss driving it, though. Been driving the standard GM rental sedans all the time (Malibu, Regal, Grand Prix, etc).

    Newcar31: How's the weather been back home in MN? I've been spending more time near Detroit for work. For the next several months, I'm basically working in MI but living in MN.

    I'll be back home for a few days on Tuesday night. Can't wait to hop back in my Pro and take her for a spin!

    Mike
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    Glad to have you back on the boards.

    Pro owners: How about a Mazda Protegé Owners Club decal, the film type that sticks to a window?

    It would be clear film with just the MPOC logo and the Internet address where we can be found. You could put it on the rear window. This would be better than the magnetic bumpersticker type.

    No national symbols so our Canadian Pro owners can use it. :) If the club grows, we can do new ones for each region.

    I can write to Mazda and get permission to use the Mazda logotype, which is their chrome nameplate, in combination with the POC logo.

    Instead of putting MPOC cards under windshields, carry them in your car and hand them out if another Pro owner asks about the Club. Simple to print on any inkjet in sheets and trim.

    fowler3
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    experiment with some designs, copy the logo above and add a font for Protegé Owners Club. Then a smaller font for the address under it.

    To copy: PC users place your pointer on the image and right-click. Mac users place your pointer arrow on the image and hold the mouse button down. A popup appears, click on "Save this image..."

    Here's a tip for increasing dpi of web site JPEGs. If you can find a larger image, copy it to your hard disk (as above). In a photo editing or graphics program, reduce the image 50%, this doubles the standard 72dpi to 144dpi. Still not as sharp as you would like? Print and scan it at +125% back into the PC, save it at 200dpi, and then reduce it again.

    fowler3
  • newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    Welcome back! The weather here has been un-seasonably warm. It's only been below zero once and when it was, it was only -2. I can't complain.
  • yooper53yooper53 Member Posts: 286
    But for us of the "userdumb" class, imagine yooper53's eyes rolling. I better understood Dr. Steven Hawking's thoughts and theories. :o)

    yooper53 out.
  • laurakatlaurakat Member Posts: 69
    Yeah, it's been unusually mild in the Detroit area as well. I flew home on Jan 9 and couldn't believe the ground was green over MN from the plane. It's been a weird winter this year!
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    whatever we do it will be a breeze for you, I promise. You will be informed by e-mail exactly what to do to connect. We know we are going to post here as always.


    For those curious about IRC take a look at the IRC Help pages. http://www.irchelp.org


    In time we will know more.


    fowler3

  • dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    Hope you and everyone else had a good weekend. It's 10.30PM in T.O. and I just read your idea about the sticker. I'm supporting it 100%. On Tuesday morning I will have a little time to "create" a logo. I'll try emailing it to you if you have your email public on your profile by Tuesday evening EST.

    Cheers!~

    Dinu
  • speedyptspeedypt Member Posts: 200
    I am reluctant to post it publically as I can not stand to receive SPAM. My Hotmail address is constantly bombarded with it, at a ratio of about 40 Spam to 1 real message. My "real" email address is delightfully spam free. I will send it to you directly, but I would rather not post it for the general public. I will send it at request to any of the regulars here.

    :-)

    Regards,

    Pete
  • chicagoprochicagopro Member Posts: 1,009
    ...to what PT just said, for all the same reasons.

    Fowler: You have my e-mail address, right? If not, let me know, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

    --Dale
  • speedyptspeedypt Member Posts: 200
    I sent you my email address...

    Dale...are you going to the Chicago Auto show next month? I'm planning on going the 9th and spending most of the day. Let me know and maybe we can say hi.

    Regards,

    Pete
  • fowler3fowler3 Member Posts: 1,919
    Thank you, I'm looking forward to seeing dinu01's designs.

    chicagopro: I'll check my address book list.

    Speedypt: I received your e-mail.

    Other members: You don't have to be a graphic designer to try your hand at creating the decal. Give it a shot. Use any graphics program you have, save it as a .tif for printing, and save it, again, as a .jpg doc for e-mailing to us.

    If you have a scanner and Mazda's Protegé brochure, scan the logo from that. Keep the whole design small: to fit an area 5.5-inches wide X 2-inches high, 11.5 centameters X 4.75 centameters. The final size will be whatever the decal printer suggests for best price.

    You can e-mail them to me and I will put all of them on a single page to be e-mailed to the members. :)

    fowler3
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    ...for making a static window clinger, don't forget to flip your image (horizontally) so you don't stick ink to the insides of your windows. :)
  • duh_sterduh_ster Member Posts: 102
    that sticker idea sounds great! u can add me to your email list too...it should be in my profile.
    'duh'
  • chicagoprochicagopro Member Posts: 1,009
    I've never been to the Auto Show before, but this year I was actually almost considering it. If it looks like I can make it on the 9th (it would probably be mid-afternoon), I'll let you know in advance.
  • vidyaevidyae Member Posts: 2
    Hi All, I am new to this message board and I would like to get your opinions on the following issue.

    I bought a new 2001 Protege ES in August 2001 (my first car) and unfortunately met with an accident in my car port in September, 2001. I have not been able to use my car since then because my car is in the body shop to date. Several of the parts were in National back order and the body shop received the last of the parts last Friday (Jan 18th, 2002) and they've told me my car will be ready later this week.

    I am very disappointed with Mazda for this. Has anyone had (or heard of) any similar problems with getting Mazda parts? Can Mazda be held responsible for this? Am I entitled to any compensation? A friend of mine suggested that I ask Mazda for an extension of warranty. Do I just have to live with the damages caused to my brand new car due to sitting idle in the shop for 4 months? Is there something I can do about it?
  • pjd58pjd58 Member Posts: 366
    My 96 Protege, only two months old, was in the shop for only two weeks after being in a accident. Others on this board have had their 2000 & 2001 repaired in a normal time frame( 2 to 3 weeks). I won't blame Mazda, it could be your body shop. Also, depending on the severity of the damage, there may be some latent damage and more parts have to be ordered. Call Mazda NA and plead your case. Good luck!

    Pjd58
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