Mazda Protegé

pat

The Protege folks?

If you are not happy with the rules of the Town Hall, you are more than welcome to address your issues to our Consumer Services Manager, Jonah Brown - his email address is jbrown@edmunds.com.

This conversation is totally out of place here - as I said earlier, I'll be happy to discuss the issue via email, and do please feel free to write to Jonah if you'd like.

Can we talk about the car now?

Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board

gandalf17

Hey, thanks. The reason we won is cause we're very tenacious... :)Us Canucks aren't all bad although I doubt Pat would agree with you about now.

Incidentally, I am of German ethnic origin. I'm first generation Canadian. Maybe i should be horrifically offended. After all, the sky is falling, the sky is falling....

Incidentally, I don't blame Pat. She has a job to do, but that darn term is part of auto lingo and used by orientals alike. Just total PC gargabe that has a total idiotic double-standard.

I'm gonna hop in my "Molson (Canadian Beer) Machine" soon and head off to my hockey game. Waiting too for the inevitable, non-sensical,
"ze rulez eez ze rulez" email...

gandalf17

Thank-you. I will email Jonah tomorrow. I would also suggest that you send him a few of these posts so that he can see it first hand.

P.S.- The Protege is a great little car...Does that help?

chicagopro

See what happens when I'm not around to lead the group hugs????

--Dale

gandalf17

I love a good POLK now and again. Or was that
POLK(A).

I also love the Protege.

I hope you weren't making fun of Polish people ZoomZoom. Bad girl.

zoomzoom79

I wanna know about Polk Audio speakers man

We have them in our Civ....green car and they sound great.

Hope none of you green people are offended.

mazdadude1

I agree with Pat. I surf this room for Protege info only. If I wanted something else; I'd look elsewhere. Thanks Pat for trying to keep the forum focused.

Birds crapped on my car today and I went out and immediately washed it off. LOL. How's that for obsession??? With my former vehicle, I would have let it dried on there for weeks....

boopoppa

first off,

i love my pro5 and still carry the privilege of not seeing too many around my 'hood.

secondly,

i too immediately wash off any bird droppings because it is my understanding that bird droppings have a way of eating away paint, much like an egg, and i've already had to repaint my door from an egging, and don't wish to have to do it again.

thirdly,

I am Korean-american. I like rice. I call certain people's cars the same. What I don't like is to be called "oriental". that's reserved for furniture and rugs. Please refer to us yellow types as Asians.

Thank you and keep zoomin'

boopoppa

fxashun

I spent about year in Japan while I was in the Marines so I know better than that.

You can't have a forum and not have the occasional comparison why you bought the car. I will admit that my diatribe got out of hand on my Civ... I mean green car but I took it where it belonged.

I mean how do you know how much you love your car if you don't think it's better than other people's cars?

Seriously though on those Polk audios. Anyone try to fit a set in their car? They sound as good in the car as my home ones do in the living room. I'm thinking of getting Zoom a set for her b-day.

fowler3

gandalf17 is right about FOLEX, it does remove stains very well, but they will come back in time.
To use FOLEX on fabric, put a small amount on a soft cloth (or paper towel) and dab or blot on the spot. Do not rub the fabric. You may have to do it a couple times.

I use FOLEX to remove pet stains on carpeting. Works good. No trace when it dries. Also good for removing mechanic's (grease) stains left on car upholstery after servicing.

Duh_ster, when I said the Pro's heater works great I didn't mean at the North Pole. Where you live, any car will get instantly cold as soon as the heater is turned off.

boopoppa: I copied your notation about *oriental* to pass on to others on-line and off-line. Thanks for the clarafication.

fowler3

fowler3

Can hardly wait for chat night! You folks ought to join us in the new chat room on Yahoo! We have a very enjoyable two hours or more. Chat is from 8:30PM ET to 11:30PM ET. Come as you are, don't dress up just for us.

fowler3

kaiserhead

The name "Kaiserhead" originated when I had to setup a hotmail account and the only alternatives for using my real name were cjdunn_12345@hotmail.com, that wasn't going to do. So, I looked at my reflection in the computer screen and looked at my ham sandwich (on a kaiser roll) and voila, KAISERHEAD!!

There were 117 new posts when I signed on today. Too bad they were all about how a civic with a WRX engine can beat a jetta with a 1.8 ethanol hamster wheel engine while pulling a streamline trailer full of rice and memorial day fire crackers or something like that. (Can you tell I don't really read those posts!!)

Is it me, or are there more Canadian flags than American flags on this list now? We should probaly start talking about day time running lights and block heaters!!!

yooper53

fxashun

Jar head. Semper Fi.
I had a hamster and I'm sure he would not like his species to be misrepresented in that manner.

theparallax

149 new posts since I last checked yesterday!!!

#8767 - chicagopro
Yes, I was driving while I took both of those pictures. I'm having a lot of fun with this Canon Powershot A20 I just bought a few weeks ago. I sure as heck wasn't doing it in the middle of a lane change w/o my blinkers weaving in and out of traffic, everything around me at the time wasn't a hazard, so I thought it'd be ok.

I have a couple more, anyone care to see??? LOL...

zoomzoom79

anyone in here used premium gas for their Protege? If so, do you notice any noticable advantage at all? I use regular all the time and got to wondering if using premium or plus would make a difference at all or is it just marketing?

theparallax

Nope, no difference at all the few times I had used it. I have the 1.6 slug engine though, but then again, I don't think anything else in the world besides turbocharging/NOS will make this thing any faster!!!

elec3

Note to self, never skip a day again. On the one hand, I understand the Edmunds rules and why they are what they are, but on the other hand I have a hard time accepting them. I'm not a big fan of authority in the first place and I'm also used to things like IRC and the [H]ardOCP forums where (nearly) anything goes. Still I enjoy and appreciate that this place is relatively free of trolls and filth. That's not an easy thing to do.

Here in the southwest, it's impossible to avoid rice. Seems like it's served with every local dish. Ever been to Santa Fe? Rice, corn, black beans, and chile, yumm! And of course many people like their cars the same way around here, but I'm content enough calling them Eurosports (or Euros for short, even if they're all really Hondas and Mitsubishis with a couple Neons and Cavaliers thrown in).

As for my PROTEGE5 (topic related, woohoo!) something I've been wondering for a while now. Is it safe to use the overdrive button on the automatic to shift out of overdrive to use engine braking to help slow down (like downshifting a manual)? I accidentally did this once at an interstate off ramp and found that it worked pretty well but don't want to continue doing it if it's harmful to my tranny. Thoughts? Comments?

rbrooks: I may have missed whether you got your speaker problem fixed amongst all that other stuff, but are you still having bass output issues? The first thing I would think of is that the speakers may be out of phase with one another. In other words, one makes bass by pushing and the other by pulling. They make equal amounts of bass but the waveforms are out of phase and the bass cancels. This is always a concern with sub installations. I imagine you could find out if the two speakers were out of phase by chaning the fade from front to full rear and then changing balance between left and right. If they're out of phase, bass should be weak at center but better at left or right (when only one speaker is firing). Unfortunately I don't know how to fix out of phase speakers, but better to either know this is the problem or isn't, even if you have to dig deeper for a solution.

tomciviletti

About a hundred posts ago [but only a few hours]:

possible causes of poor bass:

-speakers connected out of phase [all grounds to same terminals]
-speakers too inefficent for power output of amp
-speakers designed to give little bass 'cause manufacturer wants to sell sub-woofs

mazdafun

It's OK to turn off the O/D to take advantage of engine braking every now and then, like on long downhills.This keeps your brakes from getting too hot and inefficient (brake fade). Since the transmission is taking care of the shift, it's doing nothing more than normal wear & tear. I wouldn't use it at every stop sign or red light though, as it does put more load on your engine. Better to replace brake pads than replace engine parts.

mdaffron

I can't believe how many posts I just had to read through to catch up from 3:30 p.m. yesterday to 7:30 a.m. today.

And why does all the fun stuff always happen in the evenings?

BTW everyone, I'm on the Atkins diet (low-carb). I've lost almost 20 pounds since January 5. And I can't eat any of those starchy veggies y'all talked about last night. Used to love 'em -- nothing like a big ol' helping of Zatarains red beans and -- well, you know -- ah, I LOVE the South!!!

Meade

Sporin

I've only had it on 1 of my many cars ('99 Passat) and it only came into play when I was trying to make it.

I know it can be very helpful in panic situations, but I don't find it a necessity on small, FWD cars. Of course, I've spent my entire 15 year driving life in northern New England, so maybe I'm used to driving in crud. :-)

boggse

mdaffron,

I checked the NHSTA web site and only 2 TSBs came up for the 2001 Protege. There was also 1 recall and 15 Consumer Complaints. 16 TSBs came up for the 1994 Protege. I didn't bother to count the ones for the 1998 Cherokee. Edmunds' numbers seem to jive with NHTSA's. Where are you getting your numbers?

mdaffron

I got nine. I just did it again. Sure, when you enter the info and get the TSB listings, there are only two that specifically state "2001." But the other seven that say "all years" apply to your car just as much as the 2001-specific ones do.

If it makes you feel any better, a search for TSBs on my 2000 Protege returned 13 -- 6 of which are "2000-specific."

When you get to the last pull-down selection, don't select a specific component -- just click on "submit make, model and year query" and it'll give you the whole list.

Meade

mdaffron

A discussion about gasoline octane has been going on over on the Protege5 Problems & Solutions topic. I thought we could all benefit from a little primer I found on the web, so I'm posting the link here too.

Meade
2000 ES
87-octane regular ALWAYS

http://theserviceadvisor.com/octane.htm

boggse

Ahh... I see, but do you really think those 7 TSBs posted from 1994-1997 are applicable to my 2001 Protege?

mdaffron

Some of them are more than others. You can click on them for more information. Many TSBs are nothing more than special instructions to mechanics on how to do certain procedures. I remember seeing one non-year-specific one that instructs mechanics how to use a tracer dye in the air-conditioning system. All TSBs aren't bad news for car owners!

Meade

boggse

Fair enough. Some of them may apply. I guess the sheer number for my Cherokee may not be as alarming as I thought. I would hate to have to read all of them just to determine that. As usual, the government's system isn't necessarily as helpful as it appears at first glance.

chicagopro

...I'm taking my aunt and uncle along.

Talked to them the other night...they picked up a fully-loaded 2002 ES for $15,100 out the door.

Total transaction time: 20 minutes (no, they didn't do a test drive, which I don't necessarily agree with).

They're the reason I bought Mazda in the first place...this makes six for them over the years, all from the same dealer (probably a big factor in the successful negotiating

vocus

I use to use 89-octane gas in my 2001 Protege like every 5th tank or something, to make sure it was clean inside and all. It never made a difference in my fuel economy. Now I have to use premium in the car I have now.

I got the annual issue from Consumer Reports in the mail yesterday. They said something about the Protege having questionable side impact scores. Any comments?

mdaffron

What do they mean by "questionable?" NHTSA's side-impact rating for the Protege from '99 to '02 is "acceptable" for the front side, and "good" for the rear side. So what do they mean by "questionable?"

Meade

vocus

I don't know what they meant by that. Maybe they meant because it was acceptable, it wasn't good enough to be assumed safe. Maybe because it was good as opposed to some other cars in the class which received higher ratings. The Protege was at the top half of the crash test scores though, so it's a pretty safe car.

boggse

I saw an article in CR a while back where they questioned NHTSA's side impact tests, or perhaps they were reading what the aussies are finding out in their crash tests:

http://www.mynrma.com.au/motoring/cars/ancap/car_rr_crash_anc_s_00_mazda323protege.shtml

shrique

So was that test done with or without the side impact airbags?

mdaffron

"Maybe they meant because it was acceptable, it wasn't good enough to be assumed safe."

Acceptable means acceptable! I would think if they didn't assume it was safe, it would be called "unacceptable."

I'll say what I've said a dozen times here ... the only proof I need is how my '92 LX performed when I totaled it. There are two pics of crashed Proteges in my Photos folder in the Yahoo! group ... one of NHTSA's 2001 Protege crash test, and one of my totaled 1992 Protege. Note how mine did virtually the same thing the government's tester did: hood crumpled as designed, no damage to door frames, etc. -- and mine was going 45 when it struck the Volvo. Oh, and the '92s didn't have air bags. And oh, I walked out of it.

Once again I'll say it: I'm sold on this car's crashworthiness. I don't need any government test to tell me how safe my car is -- I've experienced it first-hand!

Meade

alternator

just reverse the leads going to one of the speakers. Listen to the result and compare with original connection. Also, there are recorded tapes and CDs that provide phase testing.

fxashun

He'll be out of phase from front to rear.

vocus

Ok, I need to stop typing while I am on the phone talking to a client at the same time. What I meant to say is that maybe they rated it acceptable, but thought it could have done better or something like that. And also, they probably did test the car with SAB. Maybe without, they think it has questionable performance.

Also, with the accident you had, you hit something flat-front with the car. The energy was distributed across the front of the car. Of course it's going to do well. Try it offset. Also, side impacts are a heck of alot different than flat-front into a solid barrier. As a matter of fact, alot of accidents happen offset or side impact, more than flat-front (I know, because my best friend works for Geico insurance as an investigator).

mdaffron

All crashes are different. For instance, the full-frontal crash in the crash test involves a solid barrier that distributes the impact across a wide surface area, and the bumper gets a chance to do its job too. One thing I haven't said about my particular accident is that the Volvo's rear bumper was *higher* than my Protege's front bumper. If you look at the photo of my car, you'll notice that the bumper was almost UNTOUCHED in the accident. Basically, the structure around the radiator and the engine itself took the 45-mph impact. Yet the engine still did as designed -- it dived under the car. (You can't see it in the photo -- but you can kind of extrapolate it from seeing how far back the radiator area is pushed back and the passenger compartment was not compromised.)

What I'm getting at here is that there are variables in all accidents. I've been hit from the side before -- a guy going about 40 ran a red light in an intersection in 1989 and struck the side of my 1988 Hyundai Excel (!) as I was going through the intersection. Instead of hitting me fully in the door, like in the tests, however, I was hit on the side of the bumper about a foot from the back of the car. Result? A 270-degree spin-out in the middle of an intersection at 45 mph! Talk about a hair-raising experience. The car's frame was bent so badly it took two days on a frame straightener to get it straight again -- but even that cheap little car wasn't totaled by that crash, and again I walked away from it. (I was even able to drive the car home, although it shook a lot and looked a little funny with the rear bumper offset about a foot to the left!)

You can't predict if or when you'll ever be in an accident, and then what part of your car will get hit. I would think front-end accidents are more common than getting T-boned. But whatever -- I have had a bad accident in a Protege and I came out of it unscathed. That has really cemented my faith in the car, and I feel safe in it.

Just my opinion, but based on some (still very vivid) personal experience.

Meade

fowler3

crash test their car to prove their point? I don't think so.

Meade: Yesterday at a traffic light stop the light changed and I slamped on the brakes. We have those #@&%*@# cameras here now. The car behind me was still going fast and I waited for the crash. When the driver saw I had stopped she hit the brakes and it stopped just inches from my bumper. It was a BMW, thank goodness. Whew! Been there done that...not again.

fowler3

fowler3

He doesn't post anymore.

fowler3

vocus

I noticed in the Consumer Reports review that they said the 1.6- and 1.8-liter engines in the Protege have been dropped for the "smooth" 2.0 engine. Apparently, CR never drove a 2.0 Protege. :0

tomciviletti

If there are no differences in the 2 sides of the speaker wires, and the speakers are not marked for polarity, you can sometimes identify the polarity by tracing the speaker wiring. the ground [-] [common] will connect, at some point, to the metal basket that supports the speaker.. the positve[+] will avoid the bsket on its way to the speaker coil.

boggse

Unfortunately, I find that CR has a difficult time keeping up with changes in a wide variety of areas. Things like cars, electronics, and computers change so fast that one magazine can't handle it all. Their reports seem biased at times as well. While I am pleased to see the Protege "recommended", I am disturbed by their tendency to give Toyota & Honda "promising" ratings on vehicles they haven't even reviewed yet. Some would say that Honda & Toyota have earned their reputation. I would tend to agree, but I do not think that makes it right for CR to influence buying decisions without hard data to back it up. For instance, when I was shopping for my SUV (ugly word, I know, but I am not hauling mulch and/or animals in my Protege!), I was also considering the CR-V. At the time, CR had not reviewed the CR-V, but they did give it a "promising" nod. They also panned the 1998 Cherokee even though they had not driven one since 1996 (before the 1997 refresh). They did not take into account that a lot of the older Cherokee's electrical problems would be addressed by the new electrical system. After driving the then anemic CR-V, I was surprised that they would find it promising (and later recommend it). Their idea of what makes a good SUV is obviously very different from mine. Towing & capacity are foreign words to them. My point is that they seem to have a very narrow view of what various types of people want. I would take their reviews with a grain of salt and consider how it relates to what you are looking for. This is true for all reviews, but with the sheer number of things CR attempts to keep up with, certain patterns emerge which make it that much easier to see and point out to others.

protegextwo

Plus sizing...

2000 PRO-ES: stock size: 195-55-VR15

Options,I'm looking at: 205-55-WR15

205-50-HR15

Before I tell you about the specific tires I'm shopping for at Tire Rack, I could use an education on the dynamics, of these specific sizes. Also, are the speed ratings O.K. for my Mazda Protege?

Thanks in advance,
Larry

boggse

To check tire sizing, use this handy site:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

As for speed ratings, here is a chart:

http://www.toyo.com/tires/tire_basics/speedchart.html

I would think that H rated tires would be fine, although it is slightly lower than the V rated tires. As for dynamics of having a wider tire, handling should improve, but fuel economy will worsen.

shrique

I don't know about anyone else but I've never considered a CRV an SUV anyway. (Grin)

CR should always be taken with a grain of salt. Their "reviews" are pathetic when it comes to things subjective. They are for all intents and purposes a numbers book. They publish what the numbers tells them. When they talk about "promising" it has nothing to do with subject things like ride or handling. it's more to do with things like issues reported. Hondas for the most part are very reliable automobiles. You can be fairly safe in saying that a vehicle produced by honda is going to be reliable. How reliable they can't say but it's a good bet. A cherokee on the other hand has never been a spectacularly reliable vehicle. Even after the refresh they have still had their problems. However they may make a pretty goo d real SUV (unlike the CRV)

mdaffron

http://www.paspeedo.com/calculator.htm

Just plug in your stock size, the size you're considering, and a speed -- and it'll show you all the details. (I have it bookmarked on the Yahoo! group.)

For tire speed ratings, go here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/speed.htm

(The speed rating key is a little ways down that page.)

BTW, don't forget to read the customer reviews under "Reviews" at each tire at tirerack.

Meade

alternator

Rear speakers are usually larger than front speakers and typically are designed to create most of the low bass. If they are out-of-phase there may well be considerable loss of bass. Yes, the smaller front speakers should be made in phase with each other, and in-phase with the rear speakers. However, their being out-of-phase with each other, or out-of-phase with the rear speakers, will usually not be detectable---in my experience.

vocus

Oooh, that pic was a bit scary. I went to post it over there, but someone else beat me to it.