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Comments
http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/summary_small_earlier- - .htm#99005
To me, small does not equal cheap, like with the Mini Cooper, another very good-looking small car.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the 3 is much imporved in refinement, but I looked at them side-by-side when I bought my Pro and honestly, I think the Protege looks MUCH better, and more importantly, will look much better five years from now.
Actually, when we replace my wife's Saturn L200 it will be with a Mazda 6, unless things change drastically in the mid-size class in the next 18 months.
The rattle come from the passenger side dashboard vent. I know this because if while driving, I put my finger right on the wheel that enables or blocks airflow and push slightly, the rattle vanishes immediately and remains silent as long as I maintain pressure. Let go, and its rattle-city.
The dealer has replaced the bezel that covers the vent, and when that didn't work, he replaced the entire vent. THe rattle is softer than before, but still present and still infuriating.
Any ideas?
It really bothers me because the rest of the car is just so good.
Usually, if there is a rattle coming from one of my outboard dash vents, it's a leaf or a leaf fragment. I have to use small needle-nose pliers to get them out.
If all you care about is crash tests, don't buy a Protege, but don't come crying to us when you realize you purchased a boring or unreliable vehicle instead.
If you never drive long distances, high speeds, or leave the city the Protege is perfect.
My old Galant cruised all day at 90MPH in silence which the Protege will never do, but otherwise this is a better car.
Dinu
The same goes for my Miata. If your goal is quiet, be prepared to pay for it and buy a Lexus.
Ted
Next week I'm driving it to Vegas, that will be the test and I'm really looking forward to the drive.
Then we took it to Florida. That exacto knife handling got kinda nervous. And the great low end didn't turn into a lively top end like the Honda's we had been driving before. Since we live in the boonies and spend a lot of time on the road we found that we favored higher end smoothness over the low end torque. But anyway.
To each blah blah.
Still I get in my other car on the weekends and the whole vehicle seems eerily quiet now.
On styling, I think the last generation pro is one of the best looking small sedans ever. slightly larger tires help it look more serious. I still haven't seen a 3 in person, so will withhold judgement.
Still, the 2.0 isn't bad, and I love the torque.
Speaking of the 2.0, does adding a K&N Filtercharger give noticeable performance boost, and would it void my warranty?
fowler3
So I dropped the car off on Sunday afternoon and had them make a copy of my grad school diploma for the college grad rebate info.
The next day I called the dealer to see if the car would be ready by 7 pm. The service person said yes. When I asked about the fobs, he said that he couldn't do that as sales didn't authorize it.
This led to a round of phone calls and the sales manager telling me to call him back. Huh? What sort of customer service training do these guys have? If a customer calls with a question, take his name and number, find out the info and call him back.
Supposedly, it was all settled and I arrived to pick up my car that evening. The first thing I noticed was that the Pro had obviously not been detailed in any way. The windows on the inside still had the sticky film. The exterior was dirty and not a single scratch had been buffed or removed. Nobody had gone near the car with any wax, that's for certain. It looked as if they vacuumed the interior and that's it. Naturally, the CD player was on (I removed my CDs and turned off the radio when I left the car) . Not sure why one would need to load all my CDs (an arduous process) and fiddle with the radio or drive the car 5 miles. It takes 5-10 minutes just to load 6 CDs into that player! It didn't look they spent 5 minutes in or near the car?! Lastly, the Pro was unlocked and sitting
I entered the stealership and the first thing I noticed was the reclining sales man. Eyes shut or in the middle of a really long blink. No receptionist. Another salesguy was camped in front of the TV, Tele Mundo displaying some garish harlot demanding players choose a door. Nobody much cared that I entered. They sure make you feel welcome at the dealership!
A salesman I recognized from my original purchase slithered out of his office, offering a head dipped, eerily obsequious hello. The sales manager appeared and asked if he could help me.
After he passed on my keys (with the fobs...finally), he then said, "That should take care of everything."
Not quite. I asked about the college grad rebate and if they sent the info in yet. He said, "You handle that, not us."
So, the Mazda reps were lying to me? Don't think so. I gently corrected him and asked to speak with the person in charge of finance. The manager shot back, "He's out today and will be back tomorrow. Call him later."
Great customer service.
I did call back and the finance guy at first said he doesn't know anything about the college grad rebate. What? When pressed he insisted then that they mailed the info out on Monday. If he was out, who mailed it?
I'm going to contact Mazda at the end of the week to make sure they did get my college grad rebate. Once I'm positive that's progressing and the dealer didn't screw it up, I'm going to author a invective filled letter that will go to both the stealership and Mazda USA. Attached to the letter will be a receipt from a professional establishment that cleans cars.
Maybe it won't do a bit of good, maybe it'll anger the dealer or more likely the dealer will chuckle and throw it away. No matter what, Westcott Mazda is by far the worst dealership I've encountered in San Diego. And I'm appending a new signature to my entries that lets people know that.
Westcott Mazda lied to me about sales practices, didn't deliver what they promised and they have shoddy customer service to match their shoddy business practices.
Say, isn't Morries around San Diego somewhere? I've heard good things about them.
Thanks,
Andrew
I only bought from Westcott because they were the last place to have a Pro ES 5 speed in November.
BGDC
Westcott Mazda lied to me about sales practices, didn't deliver what they promised and they have shoddy customer service to match their shoddy business practices.
Get estimates for full detailing, including any needed paint work, then multiply your daily salary by the number of times you had to go back to the dealer. If this totals more than $5000, the redue the amount to $5000 and go file in the whatever courthouse is closest to Westcott Mazda.
Thats what small claims court is for, to protect the consumer and allow a real remedy in cases too small bother with attorney fees.
He then offered to look up my car for me. I supplied the VIN and he asked me to spell my name and give my address.
My first name, last name, street address and zip code were all written incorrectly on the information Westcott sent to Mazda. That info is on my driver's license! It can't be any clearer.
He told me to call him back in a few days and if they don't have any record of the college grad stuff, he'll do a workaround from Mazda corporate.
If I ever cross paths with that dealer again I will pour out a string of invectives with such force they will forever hang over South Bay.
If the dealer lets you walk away and doesn't call you back to talk some more, they don't really want to sell the car. Keep on walking. If you leave your name and telephone number and ask a salesperson to call you and they do not; don't call again. Good salesmen return all calls regardless if they may be wild goose chases -- volume comes from many, not the few who don't haggle much.
The hardest deal I ever made took nine and half hours of haggling, walking out, haggling some more. I had gone into the dealership at 3 in the afternoon; got my price at 12:30AM. His wife called five times saying she had re-heated his dinner three times and was going to bed. LOL!
fowler3
Also, it didn't happen AFTER the purchase, but was (along with other significant rebates at the time) my only down payment. I went to the dealership without a check book. Drove out with a new car. At 0%, it made no sense to put even a penny down.
As it's a rebate, it should logically come post-tax as you don't buy computer parts with rebates and get coin off on the tax (anyone else even do rebates beyond electronics and cars?).
I know you get taxed on the $2500 mazda rebate too.
Update on my Protege experience. I'm satisfied with my 03 LX overall. Now that I've had the opportunity to drive on snow, I'm even more amazed at how DANGEROUS the stock Potenza's are. Terrible traction in rain and snow.
For $13,1XX for 03 LX w/ auto, airbag-ABS, cassette (did not want), and sunroof-6CD the Protege was hands down the best car value.
Do you think I should get my Protege a Christmas present? How about a strut tower brace? Or a fog light kit?
I wouldn't mind lowering my Pro an inch or so, adding a strut tower and popping on 17s. That'd make the handling a little more me friendly.
Still needs a turbo though...
http://www.mazdastuff.com/product.cfm?ProductID=972
That's when I switch to my Artic Alpins by Michellin and move on out no matter what the weather.
Regards,
Pete