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Comments
Take off you hoser, eh?
Great album...I think it's mandatory listening up here in Canada actually. And YES, some of us youngsters do recall vinyl! :P
Meade
And to tie Cananda into Proteges. I was listening to Rush(canadian) "La Villa Strangiato" in a Pro LX2.0 on the way home last night. I couldn't figure out why the volume was up full, yet the sound was not so full...hmmm.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!
Brings a tear to my eye to see such great Canadian Icons...
So glad I have my 2000 ES with its highly sonorous sound system (before they cheaped out on the 2001 and 2002s, obviously so they could afford to install disc brakes.)
OHHHHH NOOOOOO!!!!!!!
;-)
Meade
Ahh, the days of 10" MTXs in the back of a VW Rabbit.
You know, I've been driving Proteges pretty much for 11 years now, and I really don't miss any of the other cars I've owned! And even though I was joking in my last post, maybe there is something crappier about the '01 and '02 sound systems. The system in my '00 ES (totally different) really sounds good! It's got more than enough bass, nice treble and midrange, and more than enough volume (I've never gotten it past 7 out of 10 even on the highway with the windows down -- and even at that level it's not distorting.)
Maybe the new system or speakers (or both) just isn't as good. My wife has that system in her P5 but we rarely listen to music when I'm riding in her car. (Quality time, you know -- besides, when we're both together, 9-month-old Sean is with us -- and he ain't into thundering bass and vibrating rocker panels.)
Meade
You guys have a great weekend. And Paul, our forecast is identical to yours. Ahh, a little early summer! Too bad it'll be back in the 50s on Sunday. That's the Mid-Atlantic! No spring and fall -- it just fluctuates between summer and winter until the applicable season sticks one day.
Don't you agree Paul?
Meade
I'm still waiting for the CR story on the pr5.
Brian
Meade
P.S. Brian, I notice in your profile that you own a 1999 Civic and you're shopping for a 2001 Protege. Sorry, I don't rememember everyone and their cars here -- did you wind up trading your Civic for a Protege? If so, it would be interesting to hear why a Civic owner has switched from Honda to Mazda.
Well I didn't really switch, we still own our civic, but we didn't shop for another one for a few reasons. One, we wanted a hatch like the P5. But mostly it was because I find the civic to be good quality transportation, but not terribly exciting. I wanted something different, something fun, something not everyone else had. Right now I'm 1 of 2 P5's in my town and I think I've seen about 3 ES's. On the other hand, I need all my fingers and toes to count the civics at the local supermarket. As I've said before, I'm not terribly brand loyal, I buy what I like, but I'd buy Honda again if they had something that really appealed to me. This is my first Mazda and if the experience stays as positive as it has started I'd buy another one of those too. I really tried to stay out of the whole sordid debate between the two. Right now I couldn't tell you which one I like better. I like each for diffrent reasons.
Now for the Focus, this just baffles me. How can you rate a car that gets recalled 7 times in 2.5 yrs that well? What about the seating position which is horrible IMO?
Oh well! BTW, More and more PROs in T.O.! I see many each day.
BTW#2: Took the PRO to 160 km/h this week (again). Felt good, stable. Yet traffic made me slow down after only about 30 secs.
Dinu
Dinu
I can't remember right now, so how fast is 160kph in mph?
I have had my Jetta up to 120mph before, and it felt rock solid. Was afraid to go higher than 100mph in the Protege, because of the very buzzy 2.0 engine.
Got an LX2.0 for the trip up to San Fran.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Don't worry about stressing a broken-in engine. In fact, it's probably better you air it out now and rev her up when she's still a little new then try and do it when the car is older. BY that point you may do some damage.
Don't forget, the engine is a 16 valve DOHC configuration. These engines were designed to achieve and thrive under a higher RPM threshold than the two valve per cylinder SOHC config.
AS for the focus.....well, The focus is a decently fun car to drive. It is however a total hunk of junk from a build quality and reliability standpoint. I am shocked anyone buys them. I struggle with that every time i see one of them.....
'01 Ford seems to have dealt with some of the problems. Half red circle in CR's reliability reports (second highest designation possible). Which is the same the '00 Pro received (there is no report for '01 Pro because not enough of you guys are returning your CR surveys!!!). And the same as the '01 Civic. And the Pontiac Aztec.
CR is a spinner's dream. Their comments are so short that word choice means everything, like sound bites on the TV news.
That said, if you surf the Focus websites w/ forums like I have, you will see that even Focus fans admit there are still some chronic probs with things like rotors going bad after 20k miles.
BTW, my Ody's fuel sensor went out yesterday. I bought an Accord yesterday anyway. I guess I'm a lemming.
Can't wait to see the lemming commercials..."Lem, lem, lem! Yeah, lem, lem, lem."
twist
so 160km/h = 100mph
nice work dinu!
VEHICLE FOR SALE
VEHICLE IS SOLD ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS AND IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS
VEHICLE IS LOCATED AT TORONTO AUTO AUCTION
PLEASE RESPOND NO LATER THAN TUESDAY, MARCH 12TH
1998 FORD WINDSTAR CARGO VAN
APPROX. 91,000 KM
EXTERIOR COLOUR: VIBRANT WHITE
INTERIOR COLOUR: GRAPHITE CLOTH
3.8L 6 CYL ENGINE
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
AIR CONDITIONING, AM/FM CASSETTE, REAR DEFROSTER, CONVENTIONAL SPARE TIRE,
ABS BRAKES
PRICE: $4,500 + GST AND PST, (NON NEGOTIABLE)
I should comment that to be fair, the last Focus i drove and tested was the 2000 ZX3. Although the car was a "fun drive" for this class of car, the build quality was noticeably suspect. Body panels were misaligned. There were gaps in some of the door and window trims etc., even had a few exposed screws in the back cabin area. Then of course, there were all of those recalls and TSB's. They have ironed out some of the problems, but owners of the Focus still have so many quality and build issues. I just would never buy one.
The Protege i would greatly recommend. Years of proven good overall reliability, excellent styling, great handling, quite decent acceleration, and great fit and finish. The Mazda parts and service are still very expensive however, but have come a long way from say 10 years ago...
Haven't driven the Matrix so i can't really comment on it. Other than I find it just butt ugly.
I know almost nothing about mini-vans and trucks. I'm a total car enthusiast.
appreciate the feedback.
I know this is in the Sedan section, but forgive me for a second. What's cool is that we're finally getting more choices in 5-door hatches than we've had in a long time. So if you don't like the ZX5, you can get a Pro 5. Or a Matrix, Vibe, Golf, Elantra GT etc. So there's a car out there for most peoples liking.
To tie this back in a little better with the Protege sedan topic, what are your guys' expectation for the next Protege that's going to be based on the Focus platform?
I'm still stuck in the mid-nineties with my 1994 Lexus and 1993 Civic but I refuse to spend more than $10,000 on my "nice" car and $4000 on my "driver". Actually there is not a single new car that I would buy now. At least not among the affordable ones. Up to $25,000.
And figure this: The Mercury Cougar is built at AAI these days, and CR has liberally festooned it with black dots, but the 626, assembled down the hall in the same plant, is a symphony in red.
Tim: While I know nothing about vans, trucks and the like, for $4500 it seems pretty good. Watch for the tranny, as there might be something up with it. Otherwise the Windstar should be ok. As for the 407, WAY too many York Region cops under the overpasses. No way I hit more than 130 there w/out risking a ticket. Besides I'm 21 and my insurance is pretty cheap so far. No need to increase the premium by $200/mth for a cheap thrill. (Even though it's sooo tempting)
Dinu
Seriously fxashun is right about why we bought the Protege. For the price it is a great combination of build quality, drivability, and it's definitely not as ubiquitous as the Civic.
I've been looking for an excuse to drive up to Flat Rock; maybe I'll go and ask them this summer.
Dinu
Went to pick up my mom. She got in and started to fasten her seat belt.
CRACK!!
Her: "Oh, no...."
Me: "um....what was that?"
Her: "The seat belt thingy broke off...I'm really sorry!"
Me: "That's okay...."
Later on, I looked at it. I don't know how to describe it, but it's the two plastic pieces that cover the seat belt mechanism...the part you fasten the belt into. The front and back split apart and fell off, so now the mechanism is completely exposed. Still have the two halves. It's not a matter of simply snapping them back together again, parts of them are broken.
All I can figure is that the extreme cold had something to do with it.
So, my friendly neighbors to the north, any of you experience problems with little plastic bits of your Proteges falling apart in the cold? Any other theories?
Thanks--Dale
I have a '93 Protoge DX and have been thinking of buying a new ES. Apart from the cheap looking interior (not as bad as Honda, though) I thought it was very comfortable. Looking forward to a test drive Monday. Reviews on this car are conflicting. One reveiw says rev-happy motor another says reluctant to rev. One thing I will pass on to Protoge owners: The best thing I did for the performance of Protoge was to add a KN air filter. Initial cost is high, about 40 bucks, but they can be cleaned and reused. I've had the same one in my Protoge for 8 years so it has more than paid for itself. Also I get best performance out of Bosch platinum plugs. I tried Splitfires, AC Delco Rapidfires, and the Bosch multi-electrode platinums but the single-electrode Platinums work best. The others upset the mid-range, most noticable when accelerating from 45 mph or so.
Look at the Matrix's dash, the designers went overboard with the plastic metal-look covering the entire center area. It hits you in the face -- what's it suppose to be...a jukebox? All it lacks are those little bubbles floating up plastic tubes. Maybe Toyota will add those at the first facelift.
The thing about the Protegé is...it grows on you the more you look at it. Where the 2001 Civic redesign seemed to be an ideal small car...then I drove it...I could hardly wait to get out of there, the car and the dealership. With the Protegé I went back at night, I went back on Sunday afternoons, I took photos, and I did five test-drives in four cars.
fowler3
Handling. Should be far superior to my 93.
Cruise control. Should be able to comfortably hold speed up and down grades at interstate speeds.
I don't zoom past 5 grand on tach very often but my 93DX soars to the redline. Always wished I had gotten the LX.
One last observation on car interior quality:
The interior of the Jeep Liberty was as gorgeous as the Honda CR-V was Cheesey. Price was comparable. As always quality is the question.
by paddler1
Well, I predict paddler WILL actually test drive a 2002 Mazda Protege. However, as a student of human nature I also predict paddler will NOT like the car.
-Larry
Let me get this straight though...you said that it was close to 60 F? Well that's 15 C....That's almost short and t-shirt weather up here!!! I'd be surprised if your seatbelt broke because of a temperature that HIGH!!
Weather up here was down around -30 C...that's -22 F. Nothing broke on my car then, but the doors were a little hard to open and the trunk had a bit of trouble closing...but other than that the Pro performed like a champ.
This guy said, the 205/50/15 is the better way to go. Still, I have a couple of questions.
Ok, using http://www.paseedo site for a quick snap shot of how changing the tire size from the OME tire size of 195/55/15 to the Tire rack suggested size of 205/50/15 effects the speedometer and odometer, this is what a learned.
a.) When my speedometer reads 70 mph with the 205/50/15, I'm really travelling at 68.88 mph. Yes? If so, no problem, I'm a little heavy in the Zoom Zoom department any way.
b.) However, would I be tricking my odometer into reading higher mileage usage over a period of time? Because, using chikoo's Excel Tire Comparison chart. the OME 195/55/15 revolve 886 times per mile and the 205/50/15 revolve 899 times per mile.
c.) I'm a little confused, how do manufactures set up odometers? Maltb, speedy pete, anyone?
-Larry