Mazda Protegé

protege_fan

I was never in detention so I have no idea what it was really like...I was such an angel in high school...that or I was really good at getting away with things!

pat

somehow, I suspect it was the latter.

You got anything to say about a Protege???

protege_fan

Do you? :P

pat

aaaaaaaaaaaackkkkk! Go to your room right now young man. No dinner for you!!!

chikoo

edmunds townhall is looking for a new director.

alternator

"Mine are at 222350 km and they are starting to squeal pretty badly when I corner hard".

Wow, since 222,350 km = 137,857 miles, I just hope I do that well on my Potenza tires!

eleets00

I have found my next vehicle!!! I test drove a Pro5... WOW!!! I must be crazy, but I like the Pro5 better than my 2000 Grand Prix GT. Oh, yeah I pretty much figured because this will be my only car (& kinda clumsy w/ankles, sprained left one this afternoon) I gonna go w/the auto sport shift. That's the one I drove today. Loved it. Good acceleration & handling, stereo could be better & will be. The only thing is the dealership & I are way off on price/payments. Trying to have me pay $450-$500/mo because of my negative equity. They're really trying to screw me there. I have 0% on the Grand Prix, & owe retail value. They are really low balling me. This car is a want, not a necessesity. Any suggestions, tips, etc to get them to eat most of the negative equity? Or should I wait til the end of September when I know they're gonna want the 02's off the lot? (Sorry for the novel)

fowler3

Geeze, I haven't been here in so long I forgot my name -- and my password. Fortunately, I had it saved on my HD. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get in that other place, it doesn't recognize my ID.

Where the heck ya been, Jim? by mdaffron
Jul 11, 2002 (11:43 am)

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 ...

You aren't far wrong Meade, the room full of Macs and a foul stench part is about right. I've been on a work kick for weeks, many days from 11:00AM to 4:00AM the next day. It's either feast or famine when you freelance.

Here's my work load: New logo for a restaurant, photography of their menu items to put above the grill. Photography of their deserts for counter cards, had to paint over some in Photoshop. New logo and name for a second restaurant, 3 architectural renderings showing three color schemes of the building after remodeling, billboard designs, photography for menus, and select fabrics for recovering the booths and chairs and new paint scheme. Still not finished. They are in two cities two and half hours apart, I'm really glad I have a Protege for all this commuting. It gets better everyday.

Sure have missed posting messages and chatting.

fowler3

dermen

I am thinking about getting snow tires for my ES. I was wondering if anybody has snow tires on the 16" rims and are they expensive? Lower profile tires are usually more expensive so I was thinking it might be a better idea to get some smaller steal wheels and use them during the winter. So what do you guys think?

protege_fan

I meant 22350 km!!!!!!!! Sorry for the confusion!!!!!!

protege_fan

You could -1 size your tires for the winter, assuming that the steelies cleared the brakes.

You can use this link to calculate tire size:

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

If I were you, I'd get an exrta set of steel wheels and mount the winters on them. It's cheaper to change that way, and there'll be less wear on your alloys from the winter conditions.

alternator

No confusion really, I was just joshing you. Is "joshing" a Canadian expression too?

protegextwo

Meade, say WHAAAT?

-larry

chicagopro

Great to hear from you!

Glad that you're having a freelance feast right now...hope you, Tippy, and the Protege (<---on-topicness) are all doing well!

--Dale

protege_fan

I've heard "joshing" before, although it's not really used by many people.

Thanks for pointing out my huge error though! LoL!!

sandman46

Rented a '02 Camry for the weekend with about 14k on these tires and man, do they s-ck! Went through some bad rain storms driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa yesterday and these tires got real squirrely(?) and felt like the car was going to skid numerous times! Very scary. If these tires were on my daily drivers, I'd dump 'em asap!
Hate to say it, but that Meadeball is definitely right about these nasty shoes!

The Sandman :-)

theparallax

On the way home a couple of nights ago:



Now let's see if she can make it 4X that amount!

40,000 and not one major problem in the almost 3 years I've had her.

Here's a list of the minor problems I've had with her:
Warped steering boot replaced at 600 miles
Squeaky door lock actutator replaced

Oh yeah, more pics/info of my car on my website:
http://www.morrownet.net/negatize/

vocus

Did you get the recall about the MAF sensor? Just wondering.

Good luck with the car, and congrats. Also, the indiglo gauges look really cool.

meinrad

Hey Jim, we'll call off the search party! How come work never is just the right amount, it's always too much or too little? Anyway, glad ya checked in. Hope you are getting some good eats out of this deal! You must be piling the miles on the Pro.....

theparallax

I never got anything about it. The only recall I've heard of is that coil-pack issue for the 1.8L Protege's.

vocus

I could have sworn someone mentioned a MAF recall for the 1999 1.6-liter Proteges. Check on the recall page at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov (scroll their recalls database).

theparallax

Just checked...

The only recall seems to be that moisture on the head unit problem, which I wasn't affected by.

chicagopro

Shame on you...48 mph and snapping pictures?

Didn't I already nag you about that once before??



--Dale

the_big_h

immediate impression is that the throttle response is a lot smoother, not as herky jerky as it was, which is a good thing

now we'll see if I get more power and/or better gas mileage...

theparallax

Well, um...I don't think you'd like to see my collection of "while driving" pictures I've taken with my camera, lol. I think I have maybe 15 or so...

Oh yeah, I was going 55, not 48.

mdaffron

His speedo reads 55 mph.

Meade

meinrad

How many fingers am I holding up?

mdaffron

It'll probably involve her holding up certain fingers as well ...

;-)

Meade

dsm6

Try selling the GP yourself. That way you won't get ripped off on the trade. You could sell while you are waiting for 03's to start coming in, and pick up an 02 a dealer is trying to move out. However, audia8q (a dealer) a while back predicted a shortage of 02 P5's near the end of the 02 run.

mdaffron

... now that my coil's been replaced. I've got more than 200 miles on this tankful so far, and I'm using the A/C like crazy (it's going to be 100 here today), and my driving is the same as usual (mostly city with some highway commuting), yet my gas gauge is still between 1/2 and 3/4. At this rate I might get 375 miles out of this tankful, which for my 2000 ES 5-speed would be a record 34 mpg -- I usually average about 28.

Does anybody know what they changed in the coil? Could better gas mileage really result?

Meade

mdaffron

Well, we've got a bunch of P5s on our lot here in Richmond! There must've been at least 15 of them when I was loafing around the lot last Thursday. I was really impressed to see quite a few 5-speeds as well.

Meade

the_big_h

the ignition coil is that thing your (well, our) spark plug wires plug into. That's probably what they replaced....

I'm hoping to get better mileage, save some $$$ you know

dsm6

It seems reasonable to me that a bad ignition coil could decrease fuel efficiency.

I think audia8q was talking a little further down the line - right before the 03's come in (Septemberish?). Oh my, that's not far off, is it? But, of course, it will vary regionally when dealers run out of their allocated P5's.

dsm6

Yes, its that thing that makes the spark plug spark. Weak/no spark = poor/no burn = inefficiency, loss of power, rough running engine, and unspent fuel in your exhaust (hence the emission concern).

mdaffron

Duh, I know what an ignition coil is. I have a photo of the new coil over on the group.

Meade

mdaffron

... misfiring, etc. The car seemed to run fine prior to my coil replacement. Oh well, we'll see how the gas mileage pans out ...

Meade

dsm6

Yeah, with a 4-banger, it's pretty obvious when a cylinder isn't firing at all. It may have been only an occasional miss, or the spark could have just been a bit weak, similar to what you might experience running with old plugs.

ssoderholm

I'm looking for a new car, and fuel efficiency is important to me. I like the Protege, but its published mileage is I think 25-31 mpg. Friday I talked to someone with a 2000 Protege ES who said she's consistently getting mid-30's (in mixed driving). If it really gets that kind of mileage, I want one! I was wondering what other people are experiencing with their Proteges.

Thanks for the help!!

dsm6

I have on 02 ES 5-speed with 12,000 miles on it. I average between 31 and 35 mpg with at 60/40 hwy/city split.

mazdafun

...it won't matter much to you, but I get about 29mpg with a driving mix of about 70/30 local/freeway. I easily get 34mpg on long freeway trips while maintaining a "brisk" pace, even with A/C. I could probably hit high 30s if I maintained a slower pace.

protege_fan

with P5's have reported getting poor mileage. I actually haven't gotten around to doing mine yet ('01 LX 2.0L 5-spd) so I can't tell you how mine is

vocus

I used to have a 2001 Protege ES automatic. I drove my car pretty hard when I had it though (frequent hard starts, AC, heavy foot), and used to get like 24mpg with a 60/40 highway/city split.

I heard the new Corollas and the Civic is better on gas than the Protege is, but they are not nearly as fun, and they are more expensive as well.

boggse

A quote from Edmunds First Drive of the new Accord:

"The styling is more polarizing than before, but is still somewhat timid when compared to the Nissan Altima and Mazda 6. And as far as sport sedan performance goes, well, both the Nissan and Mazda are emotional driver's cars. This Honda is not."

I think this could apply to any Honda with the exception of the S2000. As for the new Accord, did they hire the same people who did the new Camry or what? I must be getting old (29 this year) because all of these friggin' cars are actually starting to look alike! I always thought my dad was crazy for saying that. That is one thing which I definitely like about the Protege - unique looks without standing out (a la Aztek).

glideslopes

I was getting around 28-31 on my 00 ES 5-Speed. 60/40 highway split.

I just finished my first tank with the new coil. No change in mileage.

Idle seems smoother.

No noticeable change in mid range to full throttle high RPM situations. No recurance of the slight lag under acceleration either. So, who knows?

Regards,
Mark.

dermen

I have been getting 27-30mpg. Thats a mix of city and highway. And usually some spirited driving on curvey roads.

fowler3

I don't know what the mpg is, haven't checked it lately, just know I fill up every 10 to 12 days when it gets to 1/4 tank. This is all city driving.
My last check I got 28mpg city and 36mpg highway last November. My Pro now has 8,705 miles on it and it's 15 months old.

Hey! Why is theparallex's temp so low? Mine is always at 9 o'clock when driving.

Burning the midnight oil again, it's 1:00AM now.

fowler3

theparallax

Why, I have no idea. The car's temp is always at that spot, since it was new. I'm assuming 1.6 < 2.0 and that: 1.6 = Less power = less heat = lower mark on temp gauge???

mdaffron

... always hangs just a little below 9 o'clock -- we'll call it 8:45.

;-)

Meade

mdaffron

Zero percent for 60 months and no payments until 2003 on all Proteges!

http://www.mazdausa.com/zero_percent/default.asp

Meade

meinrad

That deal has a good friend of mine out shopping right now! I guess he's actaully shopping for a P5 and they are 0% for 48 months. He wants a blue one just like mine, lol. I told him he has to leave his cross bars on so I know which one is mine!