Mazda Protegé

vocus

You are saying sorry about saying the Jetta is unreliable and costly and you are going to think about a Focus??? What's wrong with this picture?

And like I am going to keep the car long enough for the warranty to expire.. Just kidding.

tomciviletti

is the ford elipse

protegextwo

I did delete that post after a couple of hours.
:-) I really was kidding! I don't want to be a jerk, cause your a really valuable asset to the Mazda Topics. Also,...."your pretty fly for a California guy"!

BTW, I wonder what "ole Jerry standefer" is doing these days? I wonder if he still drives his 99 PRO-ES?

-Larry

vocus

Meade, the Crapalier has what, 60K on it now and it's a 1995? The VW would be covered for 4 years/50K (almost as good as Mazda's) and the TDI Golf hatchback would literally run forever. Also, the Golf/Jetta is alot nicer inside than the rest of the cars in this price range, according to Consumer Reports anyway.

maltb

I have to agree. When they released pictures of the new GT40, that logo looked even more hideous on a car like that. I guess even though it sucks, the brand recognition of the symbol is too valuable to drop.

mdaffron

(Had to do it)

Since you asked, Paul, I'll tell you. The Focus I'm looking at is about $15,800 and its parts are domestic. Your Jetta was how much? And would you like to compare parts prices?

And as far as reliability is concerned, I'll take the seat latch and wiper motor cover recalls over the 2001 recall for the Golf -- an insufficiently welded front suspension control arm that, in the words of NHTSA, "COULD GRADUALLY LOOSEN AND ULTIMATELY SEPARATE FROM ITS BRACKET IN NORMAL DRIVING WHICH COULD CAUSE THE VEHICLE TO BE DIFFICULT TO CONTROL OR RESULT IN LOSS OF CONTROL. AS THE BRACKET LOOSENS, LOUD METALLIC KNOCKING SOUNDS FROM THE VEHICLE WILL BE HEARD."

Wow. And to think the car would cost about $4,000 more than the loaded Focus ZX5. (That's about 25 percent more.)

Hey -- you did ask.

Meade

vocus

First of all, you stole my intro! Just kidding.

The Golf would be more expensive ($16,700 for a GL 2.0). You just wouldn't get the power windows and CD changer of the Focus. In TDI form (about $18,000), it would be a little (again, no PW or CD). They run a long time, I have heard. Also, better warranty and customer service than Ford. But also, it's not really up to you which car is better, it's up to your wife.

mdaffron

It's been a fun day of Town Halling. I'll be off Friday and Monday (thanks to my cushy government job and ethnic diversity). Next Tuesday, I'll let everyone know what we test drove and what we thought of what we drove.

Zoom Zoom!!!

Meade

mazdafun

I think these fall into the high end of your range Meade. Don't look at the Outback sport model. The 2.5TS wagon (more like a 5-door hatch) has an MSRP of about $17,500. It's actually the cheapest Impreza Subaru lists for sale in the US.

krotine

MAPP3?... Did I hear someone say MAPP3?
Hopefully not anywhere close to an "Ecoli-lodge" though.

Just kidding...

krotine

vocus

That is definitely one thing I will miss. Those meetings were definitely cool.

newcar31

Hey, you got something against Ecolilodges? I happen to be a frequent guest at the fine Ecolilodges of New Jersey (a state which is an Ecolilodge in itself). Sorry Jersey folks. It's just that NJ is radio-active and Bon-Jovi came from there.

dinu01

Chikoo: Saw that the 1st day it was posted and even though it was quite tempting to hit "reply" and make smart-*s* comments to the guy, I let it go. Some people amaze me sometimes (and not in a good way).

Ecoli-lodge: From the pics I saw, the place looks at least "dubious" in my eyes.

CHAT TONIGHT!

dinu01

If anyone's interested:

TV Times on Speedvision

01/17: 11PM-11.30PM
01/18: 11PM-12AM
01/19: 11PM-12AM
01/20: 11PM-12AM

DAKAR RALLY:

Tonight: 1AM-2AM
01/18: 12AM-1AM

Eastern Time

Dinu

Sporin

#7113 of 7119  Lower-end Impreza. by mazdafun  Jan 17, 2002 (12:38 pm)

"I think these fall into the high end of your range Meade. Don't look at the Outback sport model. The 2.5TS wagon (more like a 5-door hatch) has an MSRP of about $17,500. It's actually the cheapest Impreza Subaru lists for sale in the US."

And if you discount the AWD, which most people don't need, it is FAR less equipped and rides on a very soft suspension.

I looked at them when I was buying and dollar-for-dollar the Pro5 was a much better buy. Stressing again, if you don't want/need AWD.

theparallax

...someone here could host a chat from their website. I could possibly do this if I had enough patience to actually sit down and do it.

mazdafun

Don't mistake me on that. The Impreza still feels cramped to me after the last redesign. The P5, on the other hand, is nicely sized and laid out. I even sit comfy in the rear seat (something I can't do in my Pro sedan and most vehicles, even full-size cars and SUVs).

It still amazes me how Mazda manages to make the interiors of the cars so livable when compared to other cars of similar external dimensions. Ford IMHO is one of the worst at this ability. Their vehicles are usually like a "reverse Tardis" (for you Dr. Who fans out there).

pjd58

I guess Subaru's money talks, and we get to walk!

dinu01

Let's try and look around for a private chatroom we can use. There are free chatrooms available out there. Also, if everyone has ICQ or is willing to download it, we can create on the spot a chatroom at our regular hours! What does everyone think?

Dinu

mazdafun

Maybe drop someone at Mazda NA HQ a note. People on this board seem very enthusiastic about their Proteges.

I think MazdaUSA has some owners site too, but I've rarely been able to log in and use it successfully. Must have bad HTML coders working on it.

fowler3

I posted a web site URL that offers free Chat software to web site owners. I'll try to find it again, I remember where I ran across it.

For your information, I was a host on another chat service, founded by former Apple Computer enployees and 70 hosts, from Apple's defunct eWorld, which bacame TalkCity.com. I hosted chats five nights a week for four years until August 2000.

If you would like to give it a try I'm game. A web site is one thing I have not done yet. But I can help with the hosting and we could send out e-mail reminders to board members. I doubt Edmunds would like for us to get people here to go to another chat site.

We could have it one night a week to start out.

fowler3

protegextwo

"....In addition, we've decided to change our weekly chat schedule. As of February 1, weekly chats such as News & Views, Friday Freeway, and Owner's Clubs chats such as the Mercedes-Benz Owners chat will be folded into one Town Hall Chat, to be held on Wednesday evenings, from 5 - 7 pm Pacific Time. The Subaru Crew chat (Subaru is a Town Hall partner) will continue to be held on Thursdays, from 6 - 7 pm Pacific Time. Going forward, we'll continue to host periodic chats featuring special guests from the automotive industry."
-Jonah Brown
Manager, Consumer Services
Edmunds.com

I need to say this is very wrong. Why can the Subaru Owners Chat continue? Because (Subaru is a town hall partner)$$$$$! Can you say conflict of interest? We worked our buns off building the Mazda Protege Owner's Chat up to it's current level. Pat_Host or Karen_Host can you help us? I'm am TOTALLY disgusted!!!!!

PLEASE, E-Mail Pat and Karen are Hosts, ASAP!

Respectfully,
Larry

fowler3

In the late '80s, Apple programmers wrote some software called HyperCard, which let Mac users put text and graphics in small windows and do presentations. Too few used it to keep upgrading it. But some outside investors saw a use for it and bought it from Apple -- and the world got AOL, based on HyperCard.

Then Apple, seeing the $$$ signs, decided it would create it's own version. They licensed HyperCard back from AOL and re-worked it as eWorld. But it was too late to catch up to AOL.

fowler3

fowler3

By the way, if you have a homepage did you know you can get a free chat room for it? http://www.beseen.com It doesn't work exactly like on here, it's minimum, but it works.

How it works, you link to beseen's web site and the chat room.

fowler3

the_big_h

I created a Beseen chat room, the URL is below:

http://mercury.beseen.com/chat/rooms/k/22340

you need to create a handle (aka login name) to get in the chat, but it's very anonymous, no need to enter names and such, just create a login and you're in.

let's try this and see how everyone feels about this chat tool...

gotta get ready for the inevitable day when Edmunds no longer hosts a Protege chat...

boopoppa

did anyone see pics of this at the car show? everybody seems to be trying to gank mazda's great design and initiative to make the wagon cool again.

thankfully, i am still one of the few in my area with the best looking car on the road.

chicagopro

Well, thanks to big H (for setting up the room at beseen.com), there seems to be an alternative. He and I were just trying it out. It took a little while to post my responses, although it did seem to get faster right before I logged off. My difficulty could be AOL-related. (of course everyone here already knows I'm slow

I'm still going to respectfully and constructively voice my concern to Edmunds about the impending dissolution of our Town Hall chat, and I encourage others here to do the same.

chicagopro

...thanks to Fowler for pointing the way to beseen.com

vocus

I registered for it just now, pretty quick on my work PC (we are networked). My handle there is the same as here.

theparallax

...only thing about it I don't like is that it's not a realtime chat. It's an HTML page that constantly refreshes every X seconds or whenever you press the reload button. I don't think it'd be too viable when there would be a lot of people in the room.

theparallax

AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ all have chat room abilities. Maybe we could set up a specific time where everyone can meet in a specific room.

JAVA-based chat rooms are pretty good, but we would have to find one that works decent and supports more than 10 people at a time. I found this one but the free version only handles up to 10 people at a time.

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...

dinu01

Works well. I guess we can give it a try when Edmunds closes this one down in 2 weeks time. I also encourage the idea of MSN Messenger (very fast)! In the meantime, let's do some PRO talk and we'll see where exactly we're going (chat) the week of jan 28.

Dinu

protege_fan

Hi all,
I know we've kinda gone over this before, but I need a brain refresher. I've posted a similar question over in the Pro5 board, so if you have any comments regarding that, I'd appreciate them.

I have a friend buying a new car. On the one hand he's condsidering cars under $20k (CDN), such as the Pro LX, Honda Civic, and Toyota Corolla. On the other cars over $20k (CDN) such as the Pro5, Golf TDI, and the Impreza TS.

My question to all you Pro sedan owners is what cars did you consider when making your purchase? Why the Pro over your other choices?

I've said to him that the market in economy cars is fairly close. He'd probably be looking at the Pro LX, Honda DX-G or LX-G (Canadian...not sure what they are in the States), or the Corolla CE Plus (again, Canadian). I have told him to look at Nissan Sentras, but somebody must have told him that they have bad reliablility or something, because he just will not.

I'd appreciate any input. Thanks all.

PF

duh_ster

when i bought my pro, i was looking @:
acura 1.7 EL:
+ = sweet ride! smooth, responsive, quiet, looked nice, lots of features
- = a bit out of my price range, wood grain trim (YUCK), back end was really high, looked too much like a civic, no grad rebate

nissan sentra:
+ = 7 speaker, powerful engine, lots of compartments in the cabin, nice front end
- = didn't like the back end (too rounded), stupid 60 / 40 split, interior "felt" small, no grad rebate

honda civic:
+ = reliable, holds value, LOTS of mods available, reasonable price
- = interior felt small, no 4-door sporty model (at the time) like the pro ES 2.0 w/ GT pckg

toyota corolla:
+ = reliable, fairly smooth ride
- = bland (even the corolla S is pretty boring!)

so, there u have it! my buddy is seriously considering the toyota matrix (there's a model with the celica engine!), but he approximated the cost to be $28K (cdn, of course!). that's something that might interest your friend...but if it's a sport wagon he wants, i think u get the best bang for your buck with a P5...
hope that helps!
'duh'

protege_fan

Thanks Duh. That's some good info for him. He's not willing to go over $25k, so the Matrix is out.

In regards to the 1.7 EL, I have a friend who just bought a Civic LX-G. She looked at the EL, but decided against is because she felt that it was just a Civic in disguise. Plus she really didn't like the wood trim either.

Duh, are you going to World of Wheels when it comes to Calgary in February? I'll be going this year for sure!

duh_ster

LX-G? is that a new model for the sedan?

world of wheels?? what's that?? where are they holding it? where can i get more info? (remember, i've only been living here for 6 months...so i don't really know what yearly events occur!)
'duh'

protege_fan

The Civic used to be the LX-G. G just meant it had some group option package. Now they've changed it to LX-Sport.

World of Wheels is an annual event that is held in the Round-Up Centre (Stampede grounds). They usually have celebrities (models, etc.) and just a whole lot of nice looking cars. Performance parts dealers, etc. all show up there. I think I'm gonna look for a cool set of new pedals for my Pro.

Goto www.worldofwheels.com for more info. I read it's being held towards the end of February (22nd, 23rd, 24th).

Tickets are 11 bucks at the gate, but I think if you go to some participating dealer they give it to you for 9 bucks. I actually didn't think about it until I saw it advertised on the Autozeal website. I didn't go last year, but now that I have my Pro, I really wanna go this year. You should check it out.

the_big_h

try the one at Protegetech's message board

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/protegetech/

it's a realtime chat applet, full of features. Only thing though, it only works in IE, it's an ActiveX applet.

protegextwo

I posted a web site URL that offers free Chat software to web site owners. I'll try to find it again, I remember where I ran across it.

For your information, I was a host on another chat service, founded by former Apple Computer enployees and 70 hosts, from Apple's defunct eWorld, which bacame TalkCity.com. I hosted chats five nights a week for four years until August 2000.

If you would like to give it a try I'm game. A web site is one thing I have not done yet. But I can help with the hosting and we could send out e-mail reminders to board members. I doubt Edmunds would like for us to get people here to go to another chat site.

-fowler3

O.K. the Mazda Protege Owners can log into the Thursday Night Subaru Chat. They can have their thread and we can have our thread. I don't see the need to be uncivil? They will talk about Subaru's and we can talk about Protege's. Trust me, in our current Protege chat, there is often several threads flying around. You just respond and converse with the folks you wish to. I like this idea?

-Larry

topazmoon

While I love my 2001 LX 2.0 with its CD player, I really miss having a cassette player so I can play books on tape during long road trips. Can my Mazda dealer add a cassette player just below my CD player or am I out of luck? When I asked to add a CD/tape combo to my 1996 Honda Civic a few years ago, the dealer looked at me crossed eye and told me NO WAY. I ended up going to my local car audio shop who yanked out my radio and installed a CD/tape combo. The Honder dealer then informed me that by installed a non-Honda stereo, I had voided my warranty.

In any case...I just want to add a tape player to my car in the simplest and cheapest manner possible. I've been using my walkman, but that's against the law and not terribly safe. While I enjoyed the CD/tape player on my Honda, it never looked as nice nor fit as well as the original Honda radio. I like the look and controls on my Mazda radio/CD so I would prefer to keep it at all possible.

Thanks in advance!

dinu01

Looked at:

Civic:
+: In every Honda car, there's a Honda engine...
-: Reliability issues in 2001, Ridiculous financing@8.5%!!!

Accord: MY 1ST CHOICE W/OUT A DOUBT

+: EVERYTHING showed quality!
-: That 8.5% financing again!

Crapalier:

+: ABS standard
-: 80's engineering, looks and feels and is below the Pro's quality level, it's a domestic (don't like them)

Sentra:

+: Dealer willing to deal!
-: The one that would have made me happy (top trim level) was getting too close to an Accord's price. Ugly back, even w/spoiler.

Corolla:

+: might be reliable, but
-: looks horrible! the handling would have made me insane in a few days. I want a firm suspension!!!

Saturn SL2:

+: Polymer>no rust on it, especially with all the road salt here in Toronto
-: Fixed price that was ridiculous for a car whose interior was way too plasticky and rough for my liking.

Elantra:

+: ???
-: feels cheap inside, body rolling!

Focus sedan:

+: ???
-: seating position way way up there in the sky! felt too big, maybe b/c the rear end points upwards

Golf 4 dr h/b:

+: handling, very nice interior
-: poor reliability record since they're made in méhico!

PRO LX/ES/P5:

+: handling reminded me of my old 93 Civic h/b>meant to be driven! looks great in and out, 2.9% financing, great $$$deal with $0 down!
-: I wish I could have 4 wheel disk brakes, w/out paying for ABS.

So I ended up with an ES b/c I liked the black interior and wanted power windows and the white gauges and didn't like the look of the back of the P5, although I was willing to pay $2000 extra for alloys, a sunroof and the hatchback style, but that would mean I better get an Accord, so ES it was. <run-on sentence, I know, ChiPro

dinu01

Yes, you can have AM/FM/CD/CASS installed. To add the CASS, it is about a $245 ($150 US) option here in Canada. Fits just below the CD, in a rectangular slot where you now see "Multi-Purpose Audio System" written on it (I think thaty's what it says).

Dinu

Sporin

"Golf 4 dr h/b:

+: handling, very nice interior
-: poor reliability record since they're made in méhico!



Are you implying that Mexican people simply build crappy cars because they are "Mexican"?

Do you know that the Pueblo plant is one of the best, newest auto plants in the world and meets or exceeds the standards set in VW's other worldwide plants?

Did you know that it is one of the best jobs in that whole country and attracts the best educated, hardest working people because of it?

Do you think that the plant in Germany attracts Europe's best and brightest? Or do those people maybe have a bunch of better choices. (Porsche, MB, BMW, etc.)

They didn't have any better quality when they were made in Germany. Don't blame hard woking people in Mexico for problems created by engineers in Germany.

newcar31

I just notice that when I park at the transit station every day, I get oily black soot spots ALL over my car. They are constucting a parking ramp and I wonder if these diesely marks are coming from the equipment. I cannot figure out how to get these off besides hand washing (which isn't an option when it's 2 below outside). Grrrr!!!

Toyota Matrix---I've heard from many publications that the Celica engine in this car ain't cuttin it. Not enough torque for the weight.

I also ordered a strut tower bar yesterday. Can't wait till I get it. I only wish I could have gotten red instead of yellow. Oh well.

Sporin

What's to keep you from painting it before you install it?

fowler3

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...

That's the client TalkCity uses. They have now made any IRC client (chat software) work on their servers. Talk City has always been a chat service with other options, such as Clubs with pages you can upload photos to, post to the Club boards, and issue invitations to new members. Club members can also have their own chat room, unhosted.

Chat use to be free, it is now $1 a month payable through PayPal. I will inquire about it and see what they are offering now.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a universal chat shareware client, there are others. It's easy to download and set up. Room windows and text are large, what you type is sent to the room quickly. You register with Talk City with a nickname and password. The nick and password are used to access chat rooms, Clubs and general chat service.

Each Club determines when it will have chats and the chat room can be setup so it is hidden from non-members until opened by a Club member. This would be a good way to discus a Pro problem with other members anytime.

PC users use IE, most Mac users use Navigator.

fowler3

dinu01

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

dinu01

Using this link, we can get together in this room at our regular chat hours.

http://www.icq.com/icqchat/CarsandVehicles/

If it doesn't connect you to Mazda, you need to click on "Mazda" and type-in your screen name (which you choose on the spot; no need to register). Looks real-time to me.

fowler3

I had the dealer put a cassett in my '01 Pro LX. It costs $240 and works great. They come from a Mazda warehouse in Canada. Not many are stocked. The cassett deck is a very good unit with auto-reverse designed to go with the stock stereo. Uses the controls on the display. This is much better than buying another brand that doesn't interface with the stock system.

fowler3

fowler3

I tried ICQ and it's really flakey, flashes and goes blank over and over. Hard to work with. Never did get Mazda Channel to open.

I'll ask Talk City what they have now. Their rooms (Channels) are steady. Just like typing to the boards.

fowler3