Mazda Protegé

Kirstie_H

You might post this in our Real-World Trade-In Values discussion to get opinions on the price.

I had a Protege, earlier version than that, and I beat it all to heck mileage-wise, and it served me very well - cost very little in maintenance & repair. Every used car is different, but if the price is good and it runs well and has been reasonably well-maintained, you could end up with a nice little vehicle that's good on gas that still has a few good years left.

alternator

My personal opinion is that any car with that many miles should only be bought if the price is very low, and if you commit yourself to ditching the car at the first instance of any reasonably large needed repair. Don't hang on to it believing that that will be the only significant repair on the horizon.

gacooper

I have a 2001 mazda protege. This car has taken me everywhere and i love this car. It has finally gave out. What had happened was when you take off, it wouldn't shift. So my dad and I had replaced the transmission. It ran but broke down a couple hours later when I took it for a test drive. Smoke was coming out from under the hood and it smelled like antifreeze. Check and it was fine. But when I was pulling over and just about to come to complete stop, the car just shut off. Thinking it was the fuel pump, we replaced it and when we started it, it sounded like it something wasn't catching. We bought a used engine and replaced the sparkplugs and still wouldn't start. We don't know what to do or what part it could be.

mazdafun

I handed use of my wonderful 1999 Protege LX to my daughter this summer. The rear fenders started rusting but had them repaired and patched so they look almost new. I know forestalling rust is a losing battle, but the rest of the car is still in great condition.
No major problems, one recall (MAF sensor), one after-market radiator after 10 years, two sets of front hubs. I got 31.5mpg average (I usually have a light foot, but carried a lot of speed through corners - explains the front hub replacements), but got down to 26mpg on a tankful if I drove more aggressively.
I miss having her as my daily driver as the seats are way more comfortable than the front seats in my new car (2015 Honda Fit LX) and the upgraded speaker and head unit really rock (I also upgraded the speakers in the Fit, but 6-1/2 speakers just don't have much presence).
Luckily for me, the Fit uses the same oil filter I've been using in my '99 ProLX and my wife's '03 P5 (one spec'd for the 6 cylinder 626 as I use full synthetic oil).
Anyway, the '99 ProLX is still in the family, so I'll still be doing some maintenance on it and taking it out for nostalgia drives when my daughter brings it back!