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Comments
Dinu
Also I read on interesting stat in the USA Today yesterday. The average age buyer of the Mazda Speed Protege is 24 years old. Wow! Mazda is getting the attention of young people nowadays. The same couldn't be said in 1998. 24 years old for a speciality car like that is pretty good. I read Mazda was targeting the 29 year old single male with the MSP.
3s will be built in Hiroshima and Hofu, Japan in the same factories the Mazda builds the current Protege and Miata. I would expect similar reliability to those vehicles, i.e. very good.
where'd you get that info? I thought the 3 was pretty darn nice looking and I might be willing to wait for its arrival in a few months...
I heard a report on NPR yesterday concerning gas prices the next 5 to 10 years -- expect them to go up, especially during the summer months. And the current increases may become standard by next spring. It's due to low supplies and how quickly George W. can get the Iraq oil fields working again.
"How'd you stop? What happened? Go airborne and land in a hay barn beside two guys blowing Alpine Horns and shouting, "Ricola!!!"????"
And the answer is:
Nope, I drove into a big sand trap built to stop trucks when their brakes fail. Then backed out slowly and put it in 1st gear. It was a long, slow discent on very twisty and steap roads with switchback curves. In the Alps roads are terraced like vinyards with small increases (or discents) in altitude. I had a long line of big BMWs and Mercedes behind me flashing their lights to pass or for me to speed up. Once in the valley I used the handbrake to stop until I could find a gas station. Rural gas stations usually have a mechanic.
Then I took the Simca back to the rental agent and got another car to finish my trip. Small country, easy to return cars. They gave me a room in a beautiful hotel on Lake Zurich for the night. The next morning I had breakfast on the terrace with a terrific view of the Alps and swans swimming on the lake.
Suggestion, when buying your next car, do without some options and treat yourself to a week in the Swis Alps. Try a fly and drive vacation like those offered on go-today.com. Rent a Mazda2, gas is very high there. Best way to learn driving over twisty roads. Don't stay in hotels, stay in "pensions" (Pen-zi-ons, private homes which rent rooms -- includes breakfast), about $25 a night.
fowler3
What should I be getting - is this a good rate of mpg or poor ? What is the best cruisiung speed for this model ?
It has been absolutely trouble free. We usually get between 25-32 mpg. We live in NE Pa. and run Michelin Artic Alpins in the winter. The car has been unstoppable. It's color is Emerald Mica.
As you can guess, we love this car!
Bill
Dinu
Yeah, that was cheap, Vocus, maybe we will see that low price one more time. But, I'm old enough to remember when gas was 32-cents a gallon for regular, cars got about 10mpg-14mpg highway, speed limits were 55mph, and no Interstates. Everything is relative and averages out if we are lucky.
My Protegé is also a 2001 LX with AT and 36mpg is what I averaged on a long day trip to Virginia. I thought that was good for the Pro, considering it is rated 23 City and 31 Highway. Don't expect Civic mileage and be happy you get higher than the EPA rating.
When I had a 1994 Civic, I was so happy to have a car that got high fuel economy - 38mpg highway with the AC On, 41mpg with AC Off. But I found I wasn't saving much money -- because I drove it TWICE AS OFTEN as the previous car. That "finding a reason to drive it" thing.
One thing you will notice, with a full tank the fuel gauge will drop rather quickly to the half tick mark, then slowly below half. I have been driving this weekend (local trips) with the gauge below half and it hasn't moved hardly at all.
fowler3isnotgod
I've had two "problems" with it. Around 35K miles the Mass Airflow Sensor went bad, but they replaced it free under warranty. I also suffered through a persistent pinging that has now gone away, I think due to a really long road trip I took. Other than that, this car has been completely without incident. I have done the routine maintenance and have taken it in for its major maintenance services. I've had the transmission fluid and filter replaced once.
At this point, I would definitely buy another Protege. The car looks great and runs better. The price is very low and the standard options are good. Why would anyone buy a Civic or Corolla?
Anyone have any similar problems with fires and/or services?
sorry to hear about your loss :-(
but, why are you calling Mazda for an investigation team? The car is totalled, might as well grab the money and get a new car
And the car was only 18 months old. If it was a manufacturing defect that caused the fire, why shouldn't Mazda be held responsible? I would guess the warranty doesn't explicitly say it covers BBQ'd parts, but I would think it should. Is that any different than the transmission falling out?
The insurance settlement barely covers my outstanding loan. So I am out the money I have invested in this car so far.
Oh yeah, tell your insurance company that you are going to make the call. Finally, call Mazda again and tell them you are going to get the SAG involved. All you can do is give them fair warning. If they do not respond, then it is their own fault. There is no reason Mazda could not hire an investigator. Be advised, if they do and the fire was your fault, they have the right to bill you for the investigator.
Sorry about your car.
I'll bet when tomciviletti bought his first car the dealer wrote the bill of sales on a clay tablet! Oh, yeah, that wasn't a car it was a chariot.
fowler3
I can tell you right now they are going to investigate the matter pretty extensively. It doesn't make sense that they wouldn't put an investigator on the situation.
Best of luck getting a new car. I also know what you mean by being out the money you have paid into the car already, but it happens. Good luck.
I was stopped in traffic this morning in the rain, on the local road near the high school (same place I saw the RX-8 the other day), when Zoomster got rear-ended by a snot-nosed kid in a '94 Accord who wasn't looking where he was going.
@#$%^&!!!
On came the flashers and out came the Meadeball, cell phone in hand, already calling the police. Seriously, it felt a lot worse than it was (good ol' Protege bumpers), and even though he did put a small dent/hole in my bumper, it's mostly just some pretty severe scratches and some paint swapping. (That Honda white looks just wonderful on my Emerald Mica, lemme tell ya.) But I've been burned before; this wasn't going to be one of those "swap insurance info and leave" kinda things. The kid was like, "Dude, what are we waiting for?" I was like, "We be waitin' right here for the law, DUDE!!!" His girlfriend was sitting in the car looking like, "Oh puh-lease, like we need to get to like, class, OK?"
I was like, "Nope!"
Really, I didn't have anything against the kid; it was raining; it was early morning and dark and misty; all I really wanted was to get a report filed so I didn't run into any insurance hassles.
Turned out the cop charged him with "following too closely."
Oh well. Now I guess my house will be egged.
And yippee. Now I gotta go to court October 24.
But Zoomster gets to go to the best body shop in town, this time at somebody ELSE's expense!!!
It'll be interesting to see just what they have to replace. I don't think they take dents/holes out of plastic bumpers, so I guess a new bumper cover and paint job is in the works. Anyone want to throw out the first guess as to how much a new bumper cover on a 2000 Protege costs?
@#$%^&!!!
Meade
IIRC, mine was $700 to repair.
"It's just a piece of plastic."
Meade
P.S. Raymond, I'm ignoring you. You silly boy.
Yeah, I'd guess 600-800-ish. My front bumper (which I was too cheap to do anything about) was estimated at 400 through 600, on an older model car. Pieces of broken plastic cost way too much moolah.
Meadeball
Sounds like you dealt with Miserly Insurance Co., or your body shop just got their hands on the new Ronco Bumper, Baseboard & Toilet Seat Rejuvenator!
Besides ... like I said ... he was at fault ... cost is NOT a problem!
Meade
Bummer. Fresh drivers need to cool it for a while, especially when the road is wet (actually, ALL drivers do). They grossly underestimate how wet or humid weather can decrease traction and brake effectiveness.
I'm glad you made them stick around for the law to show up and file a report. That'll do more to change his behavior than anything else.
It was raining, after all!
Meade
;-)
-larry
Meade
P.S. "Seriously bad luck"? You may be asking for some bad luck if you keep driving around with that piece of wood lodged in your tire!
-lovetrain
start driving in front of a 16 wheeler.
brake.
u get a new car.
and auto, and the 6 disk cd-moonroof package with a msrp of about 18,700.00 which compared with the civic ex is a great deal. as far as the golf gls goes, the only reason i was considering it is cuz thedealer sells both mazda and vw products and i was comparing both cars and the golf does come with a lot of standard saftey equipmnt as well as a host of other neat stuff as well.the only thing that has me concerned as far as the golf goes, is reliabilty of vw products which i heard is not great. also, the mazda 6 they have on the lot caught my eye as well.thanx steve