Mazda Protegé

protege_fan

You CAN get cupholders in the rear. I've seen pics of the Japanese one, and when I checked the www.mazda.ca website (oops...Can I post that??), they had rear cupholders as a ~$250 CDN option.

protege_fan

I'm having a similar problem to you. The digital display on my radio sometimes displays incorrect characters. I've made an appointment for this Friday to take it in.

I want a new head unit from them anyway...When I first took posession of my Pro, I didn't notice it, but there is a bunch of scratches along the right side of the digital display that I didn't notice until later.

vocus

Funny that you "crack" about putting a 3rd person in the back seat of the Protege. I drove 4 people to my birthday lunch when I had the loaner 2002 Protege DX. Everyone was pretty comfortable too, but I did put the slimmest guy and 2 women back there..

snagy1

just came back from dealer, they have ordered a new radio, not the first time they have seen the problem. no fuss, it's on order, be here in 3 days. hope this is small isolated event. keep on zooming

vocus

My radio went crazy like 3 times, even disabling my car once (I think, since it wasn't anything else). I got the radio replaced once, but the new one was bad too. I got rid of the car though, so I don't know if it persisted or not.

I used to play the stereo real loud though, like 1/2 or more of the way up the volume scale. Maybe the radio just wasn't powerful enough, I don't know.

boggse

I found a picture of what I want. It can be seen at the bottom of this page:

http://www.mazda.co.th/English/Model/option_323.asp

Anyone know where I can get one of these without going to Thailand?

mazdafun

About $164US. They can hold onto their drinks with their free hand (as the other will be holding onto the grab handle...except for the skinny guy in the middle).

I wonder how it attaches. I'm sure I can hack something together.

protege_fan

Like I said, they were listed as a feature on the Mazda Canada website, BUT when I talked to the Parts dept at a dealership about it, they had NO IDEA what I was talking about.

MF: I believe if you look at the back of your center "arm rest" you'll see the "hole" where it would fit. I'm not sure how this comes out, but there is a rectangle where it would attach.

rbrooks3

While the units are different, my wife had the same problem with her 2000 MPV. The characters would disappear or appear not to be in English. We currently have the 4th unit in. All were replaced by Mazda under warranty. This one has been in for a year so it looks like we finally got a good one.

mdaffron

We are Town Hall Users. We have a Member Agreement. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!

Meade of Nine

pat

Meade, please -- it's time to let this go.

Thanks.

mdaffron

I was just responding to posts 14588 and 14589. Don't worry, I'm over it (at least as far as my Town Hall comments go).

By the way, what the HECK is wrong with the Town Hall? It's taking a minute per page change! The Yahoo group is MUCH quicker than this!

;-)

Meade

pat

Something about server problems -- apparently we are on a backup server and I guess the real server is proving difficult to get fixed. I don't really have any other information. It's been talked about a little over in Ask the Town Hall Hosts.

It's driving me crazy, too, if that makes you feel any better.

mazdafun

Judging from the tiny picture. The plastic doesn't even match. Well, at least being different on purpose is better than trying to match and failing miserably.

$164US? Yikes! Doesn't look very sturdy. One half-good kick and it's in pieces most likely.

dsm6

shmup holder. Putting cup holders in a car just encourages drinking in the car, and we know where that leads. Zoom-Zoom-Spill. ;-)

I think I saw a cup holder at Target that costs about $10 that looks about as good as the one from the link above. It goes on the floor. Lower gravitational potential with the drinks on the floor should they tip over.

boggse

To prevent spills, I only allow drinks that can be secured with a lid or top, and I only allow adults to ride in my vehicles. While some of you may say that this is age discrimination, it has so far prevented spills (and finger prints on the windows for that matter). I believe well behaved adults should be allowed to have a drink in a car.

vocus

I ride my friend's 2- and 3-year old in my car, but they are not allowed to have drinks in the car. They put their fingerprints on the window sometimes, but it's no big deal though. Also, they used to have bottles when they were babies, and the leather seats in my car are great in that respect. If a spill does happen, you just mop it right up without worrying about the liquid seeping into the cloth upholstery.

mdaffron

Oh that all of us could have such a luxurious ability to discriminate!

With a 13-month-old, spills from DRINKS aren't the problem in my car!!!

Da Da (urrrrrrrrrrrpppp)

mdaffron

Good thing. I didn't want to have to jump ship to go to a faster forum.

;-)

Please -- I don't usually do this, but the following IS car-related, and I couldn't stop laughing at it this morning. So if the hosts don't mind ... a clean but funny joke?

Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighborhood bar. Late in the evening the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his own car which he fell into.

He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a dry night), flicked the hazard flashers on and off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as more patrons left in their vehicles. At last he pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive slowly down the street.

Having waited patiently all this time, the police officer now started his patrol car, put on his lights and siren, and promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyzer test.

To his amazement the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all.

Dumbfounded, the officer said, "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station -- this breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," replied the man. "Tonight I'm the designated decoy."

Meade

vocus

That is too funny! Liked it.

maltb

It's a sad day in TH history. The Roadside Café was officially closed today due to inappropriate content (real meaning: new TH manager wants to leave her mark). I know Dale was a lurker for quite some time and one day decided to jump in and add her wit to the mix of double meaning posts. I know others here followed the Café thread but never posted for one reason or another.

The flag flies at half mast....

mdaffron

You KNOW we have other places we can go to yack, like the Protege Posse discussion or that other place that shall remain nameless.

No offense to you or your fellow mourners, but I lurked on that discussion a few times and always wondered what the heck it was doing in the Town Hall. Were I in charge at Edmunds, I'd question the presence of (and messages conveyed by) that discussion in the context of Edmunds' mission.

Meade

P.S. Thanks Paul; my step-brother's wife e-mailed me that joke this morning. I thought it was great, and wondered why, with all the crap I pulled in my college years, we never tried that!

maltb

It was titled: The Roadside Cafe: A Place to hang out and talk.

Just look at you Meade, you set up a separate board because there is more to life than the Mazda Protege. Not many of us would stick around if all we did was talk about the same things day after day. The Cafe was place where people who like cars got to hang out and talk about life which is much more exciting than any car.

mdaffron

I set up a group that was OUTSIDE of Edmunds because some of the things we discuss there (well, OK, MANY of the things we discuss there) have NOTHING TO DO with cars.

Edmunds exists because of cars.

Therefore, like I said, I always questioned EDMUNDS' creation of a non-car discussion group. It was one of those "one of these things is not like the others" things. There are many, many places on the Internet just to chat about life. My group is one of them. There are thousands. And like I said, if I were in charge at Edmunds, I'd wonder why it was there too.

Kinda like putting a milk bucket under a bull. It doesn't belong!

Meade

mdaffron

"Not many of us would stick around if all we did was talk about the same things day after day."

Hmmm, seems many of us -- including you -- do just that!

Meade

mdaffron

"The Cafe was place where people who like cars got to hang out and talk about life which is much more exciting than any car."

I think Dale would disagree with you on that point.

;-)

Meade

fowler3

Hi Pro owners! I haven't been here for a while, busy with work.

Did Geckoph get an answer to the seat problem?

He, or she, could buy a foam cushion at fabric shops and have a seamstriss make a cover for it. They are in expensive I paid $7.19 for foam to make a lumbar cushion for my Pro, works great.

fowler3

mdaffron

Man, you got some catching up to do both here and elsewhere! Good to see you're alive; I was beginning to have visions of a room full of Macintoshes and a foul stench, looking down to find a lifeless corpse oozing bodily fluids and teeming with maggots ...

LUNCHTIME!!!

Meade

the_big_h

I'm driving my Protege (on-topic blurb) to the nearest 7-11 for some free slurpees!

meinrad

How do "I" get'em........

protege_fan

www.7-11.com

protegenic

Does the demise of the Roadside Cafe mean that TH might rethink their position on letting members point others to non-competing locations for that type of conversation?

the_big_h

the free slurpees were in these teeny weeny 7.11 oz cups. I also had 2 hot dogs there. $2.02 for lunch, cheap is the name of the game

mdaffron

from the delicatessen down on the first floor, a pickle, and my usual bucket of water I drink at lunchtime ... $2.18 and I didn't have to take the car out of the deck or burn any gas.

(Or regret all the sugar in that Slurpee.)

Which reminds me to ask once again ... if Coke Slurpees are so good (which they are), why can't they make Diet Coke Slurpees? Or diet anything Slurpees? Aren't they just soft drink syrup mixed with ice anyway?

Meade

protege_fan

I've heard that it has something to do with the artifical sweeteners not freezing properly.

Also, I thought I had heard that there was some new diet slurpee either coming soon or that was out already (but I've never seen it).

mdaffron

OK now, I've been enough trouble to Pat lately. Let's get this-here discussion back on topic.

Do you guys remember my posting about the two-week-old-gym-sock stench emitted by my a/c one day two weeks ago? Well, it has resurfaced only once or twice since then -- and very vaguely. Once every week or so I'll turn on the a/c to smell a faint stinky smell for about five seconds and then it disappears. Until today, I was kind of surprised because I've NEVER had any problems with Mazda air conditioners -- and our current two Mazdas are a/c's four and five.

Well, there may be salvation for my feelings. I was talking to a co-worker here this morning and it turns out both of his vehicles -- a Mazda Tribute (er, "Ford Escape") and a Dodge Caravan -- have done the same thing to him in the past few weeks.

This must be tied in to the fact that Richmond is experiencing some of its highest heat and humidity, coupled with one of its worst droughts ever, in the past several weeks. We've only received half the rain we're supposed to have received by mid-year, and now our localities have officially started rationing our water supply. And to make matters worse, until today we've had nearly three weeks straight of daytime highs up to (and one day over) 100 with high humidity.

So we all drive to work with the a/c blasting, since it's already 80 degrees at sunrise with high humidity, and we park in an underground, stuffy deck. During the next few hours our chilly a/c systems and ducts sweat like iced tea glasses in the hot summer sun, and leave all the ducts soaking wet inside. Then the wonderful mildew sets in as they dry out. Voila -- PEW!!!

Today was the first day in a month that I haven't had the a/c blasting the whole way to work at 6:30 a.m. 'Twas nice, lemme tell you. I think I'll wait until after the summer heat's over and take the car in for an under-warranty "stink removal" in the early fall.

I've already learned my lesson about parking in the underground sauna. Now I park in an above-ground portion of the same parking deck, where Zoomster can perch and look out upon all the lesser cars sweating out there in the heat.

Meade

alternator

I only have 1400 miles on my 2002 Protege LX with AT. I have been favorably impressed so far, except for the low mileage I am getting. After five fill-ups I calculate I have gotten only 21.9, 23.8, 24.2, 20.7 and 19.6 mpg respectively.

I will be taking it to my dealer for an evaluation, but these figures seem so much lower than any I have read on this board, I wonder if anyone would like to hazard a guess as to why this is happening to my Pro? I drive quite conservatively. Most of the mileage has been around town, with the last two fill-ups occurring after using air conditioning. What do you think? All guesses are welcome!

the_big_h

my gas mileage didn't start climbing up until after 10k miles. Before that it was usually in the 22-24mpg range. Now it hovers around 25-28mpg.

What type of driving do you do most of the time? Short street drives or long highway drives? If you do A LOT of street driving with a lot of stop and go traffic, your MPG will be significantly lower than the average MPG others get.

also, try different gas stations when refueling. I had a huge jump in mpg after I stopped fueling at a cheapo gas station, I suspect they had an inaccurate pump and I was getting less gas than the meter indicates!

protege_fan

Take a look at my screwed up radio.

Go here:

http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=79031&t=9739#post79031

and follow the link to my pics...sorry about the roundabout route.

dsm6

My 02 ES has just over 10,000 miles on it, and it has never, even on the first tank full and even when I've run it hard for a bit, gotten below 30 MPG. So yes, your figures seem quite low. I'd definetely take it in and show them your calculations. Could be alot of things - some minor, some major. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess without further info.

alternator

I should have mentioned that my 2.0L engine idles smoothly and quietly and seems to have lots of pep. Even with "in-town" driving I expected to get mileage as good as the numerous Cavaliers I have had (24-25 mph in-town average).

audia8q

We started taking orders on the MazdaSpeed Protege today....Due out in October. 2002.
1750 total units will be built. 170hp,
black or spicy orange.

Rich

mdaffron

They oughta call 'em "Black Cat Mica" and "Jack-o-Lantern Metallic."

;-)

Meade

mdaffron

Saw your pic of your air filter after one year there on Yahoo too. Just like mine was. I now HIGHLY recommend replacing that thing every six months or so -- it's only 12 bucks anyway.

Meade

mdaffron

... with the touch-up paint this week. I was washing my 2000 ES Monday afternoon, and as I was drying it, I noticed, as usual, the dozen or so nicks in the paint on my hood from my highway driving over the last 40,000 miles. So inside I went and grabbed my bottle of Emerald Mica touch-up paint. Walking back outside while doing the old shookashookashooka with my until-then unused bottle of touch-up paint, I spent a good half-hour getting every little nick I could find -- even one on the GAS CAP DOOR! How the heck did I ... anyway, from a couple of feet away, you can't see the little fill-ins. But ever the perfectionist, I'd like to smooth them out to perfection. Anybody got any recommendations on a cleaner wax or mild rubbing compound that will smooth these out into the rest of the paint without screwing up my clear coat too much? Or would it do more harm than good -- and I should just accept the fact that I've got a 40,000-mile-old car with some beauty marks now?

Thanks,

Meade

boggse

My fuel economy was a little low for the first 5000 miles or so, about 23-27mpg. Then it started to slowly improve. Now I get around 28-32mpg in mixed driving.

protege_fan

I don't think a rubbing compound would work unless the marks were really small and not very big. Your best bet if you REALLY wanted to work it down would be to wet sand the area...honestly I have NO idea what is involved with wet sanding.

Check out this article:

http://www.autopia-carport.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8592

Actually, there is a product called Langka...but I have no idea how that will work.
www.langka.com
Mother's makes it now, IIRC. www.mothers.com

mdaffron

My handiwork doesn't look too bad, actually, and I think I'd do more harm than good by trying to sand good paint around a nick the size of half a pencil eraser. But thanks for the info -- it was interesting reading.

Meade

chikoo

what are the 0-60 times on the turbo?
are they officially out?

meinrad

How much does it cost to repaint a car? With so many people complaining about the 2 colors of the new Mazdaspeed car it got me thinking, why wouldn't ya just repaint it.

Then, the more I though about it, if it's a viable thing, then why worry about any car color I buy. Just buy the one with the options I want and repaint the darn thing.

Which leads to my next question. Even if the cost was no object, what colors can you actually get. I saw a cosmic blue metallic Matrix and love the color. Would I even be able to match a color like that to paint my P5 regardless of the cost?

This is definitely more of a "can it be done" type of question as I have no intention of repainting my P5 now, but in the future.......