Mazda Protegé

maltb

the seasonal context would be Rally Duck. Go Anaheim!

newcar31

What can I say? The team's really not that special, but that goalie must've learned the Matrix or something. And what's the deal with not selling out playoff games?

I guess I can't be too mad, at least the Lakers lost and Kobe and Shaq were crying. Gotta look at the bright side of things.

newcar31

newcar31

newcar31

maltb

but hitting my head against the ceiling for $27.50 has never really appealed to me.

bluong1

I'm not often directly involved with the marketing department. However, from experiences, companies try nevertheless to be very careful about false advertisements. It happens that the marketing guys decides to give a cool name, to insist on some non essential characteristics because it sounds better, and to "hide" some other characteristics that are more critical, etc... But normally, they don't lie. Tracing back, the public spec of the product is trully originated from us, i.e., those who design the product. At least this is the general attitude of big corporate. I can't speak for Bathroom Cleaner manufacturers.

But you are right, you should know better than me as you work in marketing.

Bruno

Disclaim: I work for an oil service company however I don't have any direct connection with Chevron.

bluem6i

"I guess I can't be too mad, at least the Lakers lost and Kobe and Shaq were crying. Gotta look at the bright side of things."

Amen to that! I can still hear the chant in the Boston Garden (my then home team) after loosing to the 76ers, "BEAT LA... BEAT LA". And I still feel the sting of Shaq bolting from Orlando (my now home team) to LA.

I don't think many pro basketball players drive Protege's (on topic), especially not with sun roofs. Not enough head room for them.

mazdafun

At least I'm trying.

Long live the Protege! Well, at least until it becomes the Mazda 3 (whoohoo....man, what a lame name).

I need to wash, polish and wax my baby. It's looking kind of pale, and that bright red can look so pretty on a bright, sunny day. Time to get out of here and zoom zoom my way home.

pat

C'mon folks, post padding is not looked upon favorably AT ALL by the powers that be around here.

If you have legitimate messages to post about the Protege, fine. If you think that your tongue-in-cheek "reaches" to "stay on topic" somehow mean these messages won't be seen as post-padding, you need to get a grip.

And by the way, this is not a basketball board, but I'm guessing you folks already knew that, right?

Those messages posted yesterday that not only had nothing to do with the Protege sedan, they had nothing to do with CARS did not belong here. Why don't you go work on making the Posse discussion number one?? Off-topic conversation is exactly what it is there for.

But I'm guessing you folks knew that also.

mgh_1

Oh it says quite a bit to me. That's actually why I had to ask if there was anything I needed to know. Usually I don't have to look very hard.

I'm wondering if I can get her to swing the extra for a nice low mileage ES with a sunroof, but we'll see.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Michael

vocus

Floormats: I got this set at Wal-Mart for my car, I think they were $7 each (front only). They are all-weather mats basically, hold water and mud in the grooves pretty well. The comparable mats were $87 from the dealer with a stupid logo on them.

Escort engine: The 2.0 in the 97+ Escort was Ford's 2.0 'split port injection' engine that they worked on themselves. The 1991-96 Escort was based on the first generation Protege. The 1.8 engine in the Escort GT was the same in the Protege's top line models until 2001 when the 2.0 took over.

newcar31

"Escort engine: The 2.0 in the 97+ Escort was Ford's 2.0 'split port injection' engine that they worked on themselves."

That engine is the same as the ancient Ford 1.9L that has been used in Escorts forever. 97+ Escorts also came with Ford's newer 2.0L Zetec that was used in the Contour/Mystique and is used in the Focus and Tribute/Escape.

"The 1.8 engine in the Escort GT was the same in the Protege's top line models until 2001 when the 2.0 took over."

Actually, the 1.8L in the Escort GT was the BP 1.8L, a completely different engine than the 1.8L in the 3rd generation Proteges which was the FP 1.8L. B series engines are different engines than F series engines. The 1.8L in the 3 generation Proteges is based off of the 2.0L that Mazda has been using in the 626, Probe, and MX6 for a long time. I don't know why, but Mazda de-stroked the 2.0L to 1.8L for the 3 gen Proteges until 2001 when they put it back the way it was and made it a 2.0L again. When the 3rd generation Proteges came out, I always wondered why Mazda went through the expense of making the 2.0L smaller. Why didn't they just spend that money on making the 2.0L better?

chikoo

to make it more rev-happy

newcar31

If that's the case, why didn't they just use the B series 1.8L? Why did one company need two completely different 1.8L I4 engines? I would have liked the Protege a lot better if they had the 142 hp B series 1.8L that's in the Miata. I suspect it's either because the B series cost more to build or they couldn't make enough of them for the Protege.

edmund2460

Mine is the 98 2.0 Split port. There's a similarity in the sound when you rev it up to the Pro. At 71K the Escort has been a good car so far. The seat is too low to the ground. The manual trans has a clutch that pops too quickly. I don't know if it needs adjustment, but it's been like this since day one. I have to pay close attention or I'll stall the engine, the clutch seems to release in about the first inch of travel.

protegextwo

My bad, Hank! ;-) It was still pretty cool to see a Mazda RX-8 featured on ESPN2.

-Cliffy

chikoo

economies fo scale?
almost same engine used in 3 diff products?

newcar31

3 different products? As far as I know, they only used the F series engines in the Protege and 626 recently. That's only 2 products. It's not unlikely that Mazda has better economies of scale with the F-series engines than with the B-series engines since Mazda had extra capacity when they stopped making MX6s and Probes and needed to use that up somewhere (Protege), but I think the B-series engines are better. I drove a first gen Protege with the B-1.8L and that thing was surprisingly fast for only 125 hp.

edmund2460

Those of you have been buying cars for awhile, have you noticed the number of added forms where you are asked to decline in writing (by marking the appropriate box) things you did not want in the first place and the manufacturer should not require you to have. Like an extended warranty, insurance on your loan amount. I suppose they are working on remorse of the positive kind. Car finance is getting to be like a mortgage signing. The other pet peeve of mine is the doc fee that the dealer pretends is not part of the negotiated price. We never had this back in say 1974, for sure.

anonymousposts

Well, they may have you initial the extended warranty portion so you can't come back and later say "I thought I had the extended warranty". Same may go for the other things like insurance.

theparallax

The BP was a very strong motor thats been known to take 300+ HP modified and still run reliably. Part of the reason this motor was strong was because of its weight. It was an iron block. The F-series engines are aluminum blocks and are lighter.

I suspect Mazda used the F-series in the new Proteges due to cost and fuel efficiency (lighter).

vocus

Yeah, they did have the RX-8 in that movie, I just got back from seeing it. The funniest part was when the guy turned on the radio and the Backstreet Boys were playing loudly.

The Mazda badge was very recognizable on the front end of the car, so hopefully the car in the movie will send people into Mazda dealerships.

explrsport

Ok to use Mobil 1 synthetic on the Protege? Planning on switching at first oil change at 3k or so.

newcar31

I thought the F series engines had iron blocks?

the_big_h

use it!

bluong1

The 2.0l engine of the Protege (F series) has engine block in cast iron and cylinder head in aluminum alloy.

boggse

While not the absolute best synthetic oil ever, Mobil 1 is by far the best synthetic oil that is widely available. I use it in both of my Mazdas (Protege5 and Miata). I use Mazda OEM oil filters.

manavi

"Yeah, they did have the RX-8 in that movie, I just got back from seeing it. The funniest part was when the guy turned on the radio and the Backstreet Boys were playing loudly. "

It was N-Sync, not the Backstreet Boys. The song was Bye, Bye, Bye ...

the_big_h

that we have a boy band follower here ;-)

fowler3

Have any of you been watching the Italian bike race on the OLM channel? Several of the cars escorting bikers (they carry parts and bikes on the roof) are Mazda6 and what looks like the new Mazda3 in a blue similar to Lapis Blue. Can't tell if it is the sedan we have seen on the Bilt.com web site or a 5-door.

I taped the race this morning so I can freeze-frame to see the cars. The Mazda6 is a medium grey metallic. The Mazda3's grille is body color. Will let you know more, there are more stages to the race yet.

From the helicopter views of the race one thing stands out -- Italians love white cars.

fowler3

the_big_h

you probably saw the new Mazda minicar Mazda2/Demio, which has the new Mazda family resemblence :-)

boggse

I found this site which talks about Mazda 4 cylinder engines. It is Miata oriented, but interesting nonetheless.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html

chikoo

cool eh?

newcar31

Chikoo--Nice

nematode

a Protege (or P5) with the Renesis 1.3, 200hp, and 6spd manual for $20k would you get one over the Mazdaspeed turbo version?

the_big_h

because rotaries should only be in a car named RX ;-)

and RWD!

nematode

I dont really like big power FWD cars so I agree with you.

Way back I suggested that Mazda should release an RX3. It would be a Protege with RWD or AWD and a rotary engine. Priced under $25k. A rotary Miata would be interesting too but not for me. I really only like wagons but can tolerate sedans.

newcar31

I need some opinions. I was planning on keeping the Protégé and getting a Mustang. I’ve been sucked into thinking about the BMW 3 series lease deal. It’s $299 a month / 36 months, $2500 down + tax, title, license, 10,000 miles a year. It would be a little more because I’d want 12,000 miles a year. I could walk away right now with about $2500 if I sold my 2001 Protégé ES.

Basically, I could be driving a BMW 325 for the same monthly payment as my Protégé plus the $2500 down payment and tax title and license. Believe it or not, the insurance is $17 cheaper every 6 months on the BMW than on my Protege. Financially, selling my Protégé and leasing a BMW is not the logical thing to do. I realize that I don’t get anything back at the end of the lease but I also realize that when my Protégé is paid off, I will probably want a new car and will end up making car payments again anyway. I don’t know if I want to keep my Protégé for that long and if I like to have a new car often, leasing might not be a bad idea. BMWs are spendy to maintain but BMW has free maintenance for 4 years/50,000 miles, which unbelievably includes even the wiper blades, brake pads, rotors, etc. With that in mind, I would not have any un-expected events that would kill my pocketbook; the expenses are locked in. I figure it will cost me whatever my Protégé will be worth in 2 years, minus what I could walk away with now, plus downpayment, tax, title, and license to drive a BMW instead of my Protégé for the next 3 years. It’s a good chunk of change. I only live once though and I have to have a BMW sometime in my life and these BMW subsidized lease deals are pretty nice. I understand it doesn’t make financial sense, but I’d be driving a BMW for the next 3 years.

OK, opinions please. Rip my head off if need be.

chikoo

thanks for the compliment.

And I would go for the BMW deal. But I would start saving for another car which would be unavoidable 3 years down the road. No "funky" expenses and your switch will be easily justified.

the_big_h

your current loan on the Protege? will that be paid off by trading in the Protege?

chikoo

I presumed that it would be paid off by selling your PRO.

newcar31

The Protege would be paid off if I sold it with roughly $2500 to spare.

newcar31

I just drove a 325i and I probably shouldn't have. It handles like the Protege, but it rides nice and that engine is something else. I couldn't fly around corners too hard because it's wet out but I could tell. Now I know why they win almost every single comparo. I can't believe these aren't too much more than a loaded Jetta.

My brain is fighting itself. There's nothing wrong with my Protege and I still like driving it, but I'd be in heaven if I could drive that BMW for 3 years....but then what? Decisions, decisions.

Paul part II?

the_big_h

todd todd todd, you now have tasted the forbidden propeller badge, what are you gonna do??? ;-)

try out a 330i for grins, see if you end up with a ear-to-ear grin :-D

chikoo

honestly that is the only reason why I have not YET test driven a BMW. I am sure I would like it and would end up buying it and I would be able to afford it too, but in my own esteemed opinion, an automobile is an expense, not an investment. It never grows. You only end up losing money. I brought the Pro because it was cheapest for all the gizmos: power everything, alloy, auto, A/C.
The handling and the reliability were a an unexpected bonus for me.

fowler3

You tasted the forbidden fruit from the sports sedan tree. LOL! Todd has da FEVER!

I have considered leasing since I drive less than 10,000 miles a year, BUT, like your problem...at the end of 3 years...what then?

(1) You could save up $2500 and lease another one.

(2) Save for some other new car.

(3) Buy a used BMW 3XXi.

Chikoo, is that new exhaust tip a beer can?

the_big_h, I'll watch it again tomorrow and let you know which Mazda it is.

fowler3

speedypt

Just completed a very functional and relatively easy upgrade last night.

Replaced the single "buzzer" type meep-meep horn on my Protege with a dual horn off a Mercedes Benz C-Class sedan. The wiring was easy enough, and talk about sound! HOLY COW! It's a great loud hi/lo sound and seems to be at least twice as loud as the stock horn.

No more "excuse me..little teeny car coming through"

now it's "Get the HECK OUTTA MY WAY...NOW!"

I like the expensive sound and the extra volume should help me be heard over the radio is a few more cars.

MB part #'s are A 004 542 57 20 and A 004 542 56 20 if anyone wants to do likewise.

Regards,

Pete

boggse

As long as you realize you shouldn't keep the Bimmer for too long, it is a great performing car. A friend gave me a good rule of thumb (please no wife beating jokes) for German cars:

"When buying a part for a German car, think about how much the part should cost, then add a zero on the end."

At this point, I should point out that you live in the great state of MN, and you are considering switching from a FWD car to a RWD car. Perhaps you should go try out the Mazda6s before you make a decision, or at least consider a 325xi for all weather capability.

Good Luck.

newcar31

Yeah, I know, they're expensive to fix. That's why I was thinking lease. RWD shouldn't be a problem since the bimmer has decent all seasons with traction control and dynamic stability control (I've been analyzing the brochure). I'm gonna have to think about it for a while because I'm leaning towards not doing it after I've had some sleep and the novelty of the test drive has worn off. In the long run, this would cost me a lot of money to do. Another thing I don't know if I like is that I'd be "that guy" with the BMW. I dunno if I'm a BMW kind of guy. I'd love to drive one, but I don't like the "hey look at me" image.