Mazda Protegé

dinu01

had more issues than the 2000+ models:

* possible tranny failure w/auto
* a recall on something - forgot (MAF sensor???, ignition coil???). Or am I thinking of another car?

Dinu

fowler3

yesterday, said something about his radio not working on his '99 Pro and the steering was out of alinement, but quickly fixed.

When I use to buy American cars, many many years ago, I spent the first 90 days "restoring" the car to what factory specs were suppose to be. It's interesting that buyers of American cars, today, have more confidence in models built in Canada.

fowler3

protegextwo

Meade, the 2003 Mazda6 sounds great. However, I hear the 2004 RX-8 is truly awesome (zoom zoom)! Red-line at 9,000 rpm and a smooth silk rotary engine kickin it, with 250 ponnies! A 4-door sedan RX-8 is in my future! BTW, can anyone loan me $30,000, I will pay you back Friday. Cause, I'm going to Lancaster Toyota Mazda tomorrow to place my order for a loaded RX-8.

Thank you in advance,
-old head

vocus

So the RX-8 comes out as a 2004 model? Cool. I hear it's going to be one hell of a ride.

As for the 6, I have yet to try one. I definitely will though, but my bad back (previous car accident injury) is keeping me out of anything but the bed lately.

mazdafun

The CD player refuses to play. This just happened suddenly last week (got my 99LX in Jan, 1999).

I found an identical-looking unit from a 94 626 on eBay.

So, is it true that it's not recommended to play CD-Rs in this particular head unit? If so, I might just write off my tape player too and replace it with the storage cubby and get an aftermarket CD/tuner unit.

Otherwise, I've been very happy with my Pro. I'm just now obsessing over the defunct CD player.

dsm6

Someone quoted the same 60-0 stopping distance of 132 feet for both 99-00 Pro's (with rear drums) and the MP3 (four wheel discs).

It should be noted that the 02 Pro ES with four wheel discs and ABS (as pointed out, the MP3 lacks ABS) stops 60-0 in around 123 feet. When I get a chance, I'll find a reference for that number. The 99-00 Pros came with ABS as an option, so I'm not sure if the quoted 132 feet for the 99-00 is with or without ABS.

mazdafun

Sorry about your back Paul. Take it easy.

dinu01

Play CD-Rs, but when you burn them, make sure you select "finalize disc" in the menu before hitting OK to copy the mp3 files on the CD. Otherwise it will skip or it will spit it out saying no CD is inserted or asking you to clean the unit.

I use Roxio CD burner.

Dinu

bluong1

depend greatly on the type of road surface. A car magazine made a test, and the difference can be significant. Comparing the stopping distances among different tests is meaningless.

dsm6

is not meaningless if an attempt is made to keep conditions the same from test to test. Magazines such as C/D try to keep conditions consistent. They aren't good down to the nearest foot, but they are most certainly good to the 9 foot difference to which I'm referring.

vocus

The 00 Protege ES they tested in the Econocar comparison test had ABS. It took 132 feet. I am assuming the 01 ES they tested had ABS as well, and it took 123 feet to stop from 60mph. So there is a slight difference between 4disc and rear drums.

vocus

I don't know if the CD player does CD-Rs, but it should. I am pretty sure a friend of mine played one in my ES when I had it, but it's a different radio than your 99LX has anyway.

Thanks for the well wishes.

dsm6

Exactly, though when you get down to distances of 123 feet, this isn't such a slight difference from 132 feet. Not huge, but I wouldn't say slight either. This was sports car territory not so long ago.

bluong1

run the cars few thousands miles in order to make the rotors perfectly flat and brake pads perfectly in shape before doing the stopping distance test?

vocus

It's more than a slight difference if you stop in 123 feet and the car you were about to hit is 125 feet away!

And 123 is really good for an econocar. The shortest I have seen is 116 feet I think, so the Protege definitely had good brakes.

vocus

Probably not. I never thought of that one myself actually.

dsm6

I don't know for sure, but I doubt it.

maltb

I think the real benefits show up in tests from higher speeds anyway. Try a 90-0 stop, for example.

maltb

Can you send me an e-mail? maltbarley@yahoo.com

bluong1

I think maltb is on something here. That makes sense. The bite of the disk brake is stronger at the beginning of the braking when the momentum energy is convert to heat without significant deceleration.

protegextwo

The disc/drum brake set-up on the 1999-2000 Mazda Protegé do not "suck" as was implied by a non-Protege owner last Friday. Case closed!

-larry

maltb

Mazdas in general have good, responsive brakes. The braking on our disc/drum MPV is right in line with the 4-wheel disc Ody. Of course, I wouldn't complain if they ditched the rear drums for discs.

dinu01

01 ES: steel wheels w/Poortenzas, disc/drum, no ABS

03 ES: alloys on 16" Dunlops (I think), standard ABS w/EBD, 4 disc brakes, standard spoiler, available in that cool blue rally colour, all for the same price.

But I probably mentionned that before.

Dinu

panamaltd2

The 00 ES had alloy wheels that in my opinion are a better design then the 01-02 16" wheels. 03s are a different story.

vocus

That non-Protege owner happend to be me. And that was my opinion. Despite all the research, my mind hasn't changed and will not.

The stopping distance might be close, but the pedal feel is very different.

dinu01

Not here in the land of the Frozen Tundra.

To get alloys you had to get the LX Touring Edition in 00. I haven't seen any ES's from 99 or 00 to date, but plenty for 01 and 02 and a few 03s.

My 01 ES has standard 15" wheels. You had to get the GT or Sun Sport package to add alloys.

But we have STD ABS on the 6:)

Dinu

chicagopro

I've played several CD-R's in my 00 ES, even one with the dreaded paper label. Hasn't been an issue yet.

Of course, now that I say that....

--Dale

bluong1

Bits (0/1) contrast of the CDR signal is lower than normal CD. Thus, CDR is more sensitive vibration, etc... The contrast varies also from one media maker to another (there are several type of dyes, and one can recognize by the color of the sensitive layer, e.g. silver, green, blue, ...). The laser beam of a specific player might have a preference for certain type of dyes. Beside that, I don't think playing a CDR can be harmful for the player.

Bruno

mazdafun

That's why I stopped using the darker ones (blue or the icky yellow-green)...I use these for one-time large data transfers (heck, I got a couple hundred of these...bulk pack, real cheap). I use either the silver (slight blue tint) or gold CDRs. I seem to have much less skipping with them.

I've used them since I got my Protege with no problem 'til last week. It won't even play pre-recorded CDs now. Luckily, I got my MP3 player and the optional tape deck to fill in the gap. Too bad I got wires everywhere now. I seem to have to turn up the volume though.

chikoo

BTW, Malt, I finally got the idle speed on my ES nailed down just so right that my engine does not "jerk" like it used to when the AC comes on, and it does not rev higher when coming to a stop. Whew.
Hmmmm, but now I have a left co-pilot door lock that only makes a whirr sound when i press the power lock button.
Time for dealer visit again.
Am I glad that I got that extended warranty....for free!!!

vocus

The ES nameplate didn't to go Canada until 2001. The LX Touring was the ES until then.

mazdafun

I threw salt (from my crackers) over my shoulder and knocked on wood (well, particleboard anyway) to counter your self-jinx.

chicagopro

Thanks, I needed that.

chicagopro

question about the Mazda3/Focus shared platform?

Asked earlier today.

maltb

That platform is being shrouded in secrecy. For being less than a year away, you'd think there would be something, but it's just not out there.

maltb

send me an e-mail. I might have an extra CD unit in the garage.

dinu01

Thanx for that info! Man, I was worried, having all of you talk about ESes in 99 and 00 and I was lost here.

Dinu

fowler3

I have never played a CD in my 01 Pro. Listen to the radio most of the time. And I had the tape deck installed after buying the car. Listened to tapes on one long trip. Trouble with canned music -- no weather reports. :P

I like to listen to National Public Radio in the Protegé, especially that guy in Minneappolis talking about Lake Woebegone, For some odd
reason I can't tune NPR on my home stereo nor on a shortwave radio, at least not Chapel Hill and it's only 60 miles away.

fowler3

jeffy729

Good evening everyone! Seventy new messages in one day! You guys have been busy! Just to throw in my two cents about buying a car in it's first year (Mazda6), I think you do run the risk of a few "fine tuning" problems. The 99 LX I had did have two sensors (MAF and speed control) and an alternator replaced before it hit 50K. Three electrical related issues in three years was a surprise for a car with a "very reliable" reputation. It didn't sour me on the basic goodness of the Protege, since I bought a 2002 LX. I banking on that "four years of constant refinement" on this one! So far so good!

fowler3

a 2005 would be if they didn't change the entire model line. ;D

fowler3

mazdafun

I thought I'd sent an e-mail to you at your Yahoo! account this afternoon from my AOL account.

Hmmmmm. I'll try again. That AOL is kind of buggy...crashed IE several times as I was accessing my account from work (it'd crash my computer even more with AOL's software installed).

And yes, I'm interested!

mazdafun

She decided the 6 was too big. She wants to stay in the compact size range. When I told her they'd be discontinued in late 2003, she suddenly decided to finally replace her 91 Saturn, and the P5 is her lead candidate (mostly due to the practical layout and the many times I've commented on how much I like my Protege but like the P5 more).

She's not fond of the looks, but I think they're tops. A far sight better than the Matrixes, Vibes, Aerios and Imprezas out there, IMO.

Hee, hee, the only ones in the area with the just the options she wants (ABS w/ side air bags and AT...no moonroof as I plain don't fit with that option) are either in bright red or bright yellow (my favorite two). Too bad. She wants the sunlight silver metallic (she'd prefer the dark grey metallic on the 6), because it'll hide the dirt better (believe me, her car doesn't get washed unless I wash it, or the dealership washes it after a service).

jeffy729

I think Mazda has hit a high spot with the current Pro that calls for careful, "evolutionary" redesign. Kind of like BMW does with the 3 series. It's so good I don't see how a radical overhaul is going to improve it (unless Mazda wants to move it out of it's current class). Cars that receive constant, gentle refinement almost always have a higher resale value and reliability.

chicagopro

Good luck with the P5 purchase.

Do you still have the 323 as well?

protegextwo

99 vs. 01... by vocus Nov 15, 2002 (04:34 pm)
I had a 99 DX, and then an 01 ES. There is going to be differences, because of tire sizes and stuff. The only really big difference I could tell was in braking. The rear drums sucked, where the discs stopped the car very quickly and adequately.
-vocus

Paul, you have every right to your opinion. Maybe it's just me, however it's bothersome when anyone posts opinion as a representation of fact. Especially, when that opinion flys in the face of the facts.

-larry

mazdafun

Yup, I still got my baby. But....

...I gotta let her go .

I can't drive her with the compressed discs in my neck. It's literally a pain in the neck cause I don't fit with the sunroof closed (or I'd freeze my scalp...not a good feeling either). Turns out I tilt my head inwards when I have the sunroof open too (I never noticed this before).

Too bad. Not only was it my first car, but I brought my daughter home from the hospital in it. Then again, while I did have a hard time letting go of her baby stuff (car seat, crib etc.), I got over it.

Well, one of my wife's co-workers is looking to help his niece buy a car, which would probably make a nice home for my 323. I'd rather she not go to someone who might abuse her (she's underpowered and doesn't handle as flatly as my Pro, but she does whip through turns in a highly amusing yet safe manner, and she turns on a dime...OK, a dime 31.4ft in diameter).

bluong1

pardon, but what exactly the fact, and how this "fact" is fact? I never drive back to back the same car with drum and disk brake, but the last two cars I own have disk brake and "incidentally" those have the best brakes. So I'm with Paul on this and this is just another personal opinion of course. And beside, if drum and disk are trully equal, so why all the upscale and sporty cars have disk/disk configuration? Because it looks cool? Because the car maker wants to spend money and don't have to pay additional tax?

Bruno

mdaffron

Here we go again.

Somebody come and get me when it's over.

You know where to find me.

Meade

vocus

It might not change the stopping distance by much (10 feet isn't a heckuva lot, unless the object you are about to hit is 9 feet away). But the pedal feel is dramatically different. 4Disc brakes don't have to be applied as hard as disc/drum brakes do.

vocus

Here's one for ya:

What do you use to "spot clean" your car between washings? Like I said the other day, I use a spray bottle and some rags to get bird poop, etc. off. And, to recap, what's the best wax on a light color (if it makes a difference)? I thought about Meguiar's, that's what I have heard. Any thoughts?

Right now, my car says "WASH ME" across the front, because some smart butt wrote it in the hood dirt. It rained all weekend, and I haven't had time to get it to the car wash yet.