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Comments
My first impression of my new Pro after the first drive home and 35 miles commute:
The rear speakers are really horrible - pretty tinny. I cannot believe this system came from the same people who built the CD system in my wife's 2000 MPV ES. Hers is great, but it also has the separate tweeters and subwoofer right from the factory. the sound is crisp and very clear. I hope to change out my rear shelf speakers with a better quality 6x9 and that should do the trick.
The Pro drives very nicely. The gas pedal is very sensitive and this will be the one thing that I'll have to get more acclimated to for smoother shifts. It's not bad, just different from my prior car. The car felt very sure footed in the wet, thanks to the Dunlop Sport 5000 on it. I'm looking forward to some slick stuff to be honest. No wallowing here, it is nice a firm.
I can't comment on performance until I get 3,000 on it. I just can't bring myself to go with Mazda's 600 miles break in.
The car is VERY quiet. That is the single biggest thing for me to get used to. Quiet for me anyway. My old Porsche allowed you to hear every glorious mechanical sound, from the transaxle to the engine to, well, everything. By today's standards it's quite loud, but I've grown comfortable with it and all those sounds were like friends you'd speak to every day. The Pro is eerily quiet in contrast. Not bad, but I miss the exhaust note at low rpms. A sport exhaust that isn't a buzzin' hornet will be must find. While I'm only changing gears at 3k for a while, I can hear that the engine will have a sound, but the exhaust is almost inaudible at 3k.
That's about all. I am very happy with the car overall. Having to change the exhaust and rear speakers are things I expected going in. I did have one problem though. When I went to start the Pro for the first time, I had expected it to be a simple flick of the key and it would light up. Nope. Just like my wife's MPV, you have to turn it over for a second and a half to two and then it catches. Well, the first turn over was very short, I let go and it didn't catch. When I went to turn it over for the second time, the starter did one of those trying to turn over with a dead battery attempts and then turned over and started. But, to be 100% honest, I don't know if it was the starter or if I inadvertently let the clutch up a bit and cut power to the starter myself. I never had to depress the clutch to start the 944 so the error may have been mine and not the Pro. It has not happened again, so I'll see. Other than that, looking forward to many Zoom Zooms and talking to you all.
Ron Brooks
Latest Pro Zoomer!
We missed you at chat last night! Fowler took over as bartender, but all he had was Heineken.
Looking forward to Saturday...never been to an Auto Show before.
--Dale
Dinu
Buzzing hornet..aside from the "spoiler of looks" on my '01 ES the only other thing I don't like is the buzzin' hornet. When passing on two-lane hwy's I generally crank the volume before going to full throttle.
speedypt...re: the Artic Alpins, you got that right. Worth every penny. Plus now I can swap out, and torque the wheels myself, a big plus. Not to mention the wear on the oem Dunlops saved.
That commercial is a perfect demonstration of the difference in handling of a FWD and a RWD. For the last couple days I've been reminding myself how much fun the Miata is.
Todd:
There is no paper element in the fuel system on these vehicles. There is only a screen in the tank. Anything that passes through the ultra-fine screen will flow right through the system.
The chat(s) yesterday were nice! We continued at Yahoo! after Edmunds closed its doors on us, and there was some heady (!) talk of starting an e-zine. I hope its worn off by now. For those who aren't on the club yet, consider joining, if only for the planned chats twice a week (Tue and Thu).
Also, i took the lpunge and bought myself one of those cheap-o strut bars off ebay for my 95 DX. I'll install it next week (when i hope to receive it) and let everyone know if its worth the $30 + $12 S&H I paid for it. Don't foresee any installation problems (no cruise control, and the seller asures me all parts and intructions are included) - but I will post and check with some of you (big_h and speedypt, in particular) if I do have a problem :-)
'duh'
I'm no longer sure if it's the road or the wheels that's causing the pulling. I was driving on roads that I don't usually go by last night, and the pull seems to disappear, though the steering wheel still seem a little bit off to the right when the car is going straight...
I think I'm going nuts and making myself believe the wheels are misaligned, but they are off if you look closely... AAAAAAAAHHHH!!
Dinu
Many happy and safe miles.
Pjd58
And yes, Todd, I am familiar with the frozen nose syndrome
Trigger got treated to a bath today (at the soft-cloth car wash) and brought her home and stuck her into the garage for the night!
Dale...the auto show is really neat. Lots of cars to sit in, compare and really get a reference as to "relative" roominess. It was based on this that I bought my current 2000 ES. I'm actually excited to see the new RX-8 and hopefully the Mazda 6...I believe they will be at the show. I actually saw the prototype RX-8 a few years ago at the San Diego auto show and was very impressed then. If I keep having months like the one I just finished up at work, I might actually buy one of those!
Dale...I'll confirm via email some details for Saturday the 9th.
Regards,
Pete
looks like they're an integral part of the fuel pump and would probably only be replaced with pump replacement.
Ron B.
As for me, it was unseasonably cold here in sunny southern New Mexico, it hovered around 42 degrees and was a bit breezy all day
I'm also quite familiar with the frozen nose syndrome as well as crunchy-hairitis. At one point in high school I had swimming my last period of the day. In the middle of winter. That was always a joy to wander outside, still wet, and wait 30 minutes for a bus with a bad heater. Can't say I miss it much.
Dinu
They will be in colors because there isn't any white ink available for inkjet printers.
fowler3
I've been trying to find a part time job here for a while with no success. It's fairly sad, it's almost not worth my time to work down here because most jobs pay in the neighborhood of $5.50 and even a lot of the skilled or management jobs will only pay $6-7 an hour. Yikes!
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=220421
-Larry
Ford's recovery plan: Compete with Daimlier-Chrysler one-to-one, a new retro car to challenge the PT Cruiser -- the Model-T. Updating it, make the old starter crank where you wind it up.
Diversify stocks, buy more Enron while it's cheap.
fowler3
Thanks!
Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board
"On my way to KMart, I passed a white Dodge pick-up truck, with custom stacked taillights, a custom finished matching white steel cargo cover over the truck bed...and grafted to the top rear of the cargo cover, a normal sized spoiler.
Like otherwise it might achieve vertical lift-off????"
Regards
Pete
For what it is, it is a very nice car to drive. Certainly there is not a better car in the entry level market. Now, if it would just get a bit warmer so I can do my first car wash and find out if the car is a "weeper". You know, the ones where it's impossible to dry because water keeps weeping out form all the cracks and crevices.
Ron Brooks
To answer your question, I am 25 years old.
ROn B.
Strut tower brace - I'm awaiting my (cheap - 30+12) aftermarket chrome (plated?) brace that I bought off ebay. I will post a report about the quality, and the completeness (or lack thereof!) of the package. And also about the improvement (hopefully) in handling. I'm told it will be very apparent in my case though, what with my 175/70-13 wheels and softer 95 suspension! Bought it from a (highly rated) ebay seller 'lightspeed'. I also mentioned to the folks at the Yahoo! group that if they're considering this, waiting a few more days will give you the benefit of another source of info! This seller has one or two for sale every couple fo days, on ebay.
here's a pic of the installed bar:
Strut Bar installed
you could try ordering the strut bar kit from your mazda dealer, but it might cost you more than the $140 they sell at mazdastuff.com.
I would also recommend looking into the corksport strut bar. It'll require some cutting of the cruise control bracket but there's no additional pieces to install other than the bar itself.