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I too purchased the Armor All Glass Cleaner wipes. In fact, I purchased all the products that come in the wipe type.
I have used the Glass Cleaner and the dash cleaner, but I have not used the protectant.
Both the dash cleaner and the glass cleaner left lint, but the amount of lint left by the glass cleaner bordered on the ridiculous.
Another cleaning product NOT to try is that orange cleaning sponge. I do not know the name, but I do know that using it left all kinds of orange bits all over my dash.
Spoilers are more effective at MUCH higher speeds than, say, 100mph. And are useful to increase traction on the driven wheel, usually the rear-wheel (most really fast cars, or those built for racing, are RWD). In fact cars like the Porsche Carrerra (hp?) have a moving spoiler that stays retracted all the way until it exceeds something like 140/150 mph, and then it starts to slowly rise higher.
That aside, I've taken my 95 DX up to 110 or so, on a relatively steep sloping section of freeway (as freeways go), and with two new Michelins up front and a recent wheel alignment, it seemed pretty stable! And I have the 13 inch wheels! Pretty impressive for a small car, I think
-ashu
http://www.canadiandriver.com/testdrives/01mp3.htm
I actually like how it looks, but I agree that spoiler's gotta go, doesn't fit with the rest of the car. The spoiler that comes with standard ES probably would look better.
By the way the engine is not all that loud even at 5-6k rpm. Wind noise on the other hand is scary. I'm all done playing Speed Racer. I like to get it all out of my system and then drive normally.
Now that it is summer, could everyone post what kind of gas milage you are getting "with the AC on", AUTOMATIC ENGINE 2.0 size. I am trying to figure out what to expect. And correct me if I am wrong, but the protege lx 2.0 has a 14.5 gallong gas tank correct? I drive in ATL area 80+ degrees here.
fowler3
True "highway" conditions, as stated by the EPA are rarely met in real world conditions. EPA considers "highway" driving as an uninterrupted 50mph cruise with no obstructions. So if you are driving 50mph in the middle of Kansas, you are driving under "highway" conditions.
so that said - the spoiler is effective mostly for RWD cars - FWD cars anyways have the whole engine weight on it's driving wheels
I lined the ashtray with asphalt rubber - the same that I used to line the trunk.
No more coin rattles!!!
This statement is partially wrong. The EPA highway rating is definitely not from driving at a constant speed (though close to it). How do you explain getting 38 mpg on a Civic EX 5-sp with an EPA highway rating of 35 mpg or getting 32 mpg on a 01 Protege 2.0 auto (currently with non-functioning lockup feature in 4th gear) with an EPA highway rating of 31 mpg. These real-world numbers are results of 90% (% of miles, not time) highway/10% city. 135 miles highway + 15 miles city a day.
Years ago (10, 15 years?) to make the ratings more "realistic", the EPA lowered the city numbers by 10% and the highway numbers by 22% (from their test results)
OTOH, the highway gas mileage ratings Consumer Reports publishes are "real" numbers and are much higher than the EPA numbers.
Now with AC on I am getting about 330. I need to refigure my numbers.
As for the top speed question... hehehehe
I've managed to hit the speed limiter of 119mph when I was racing a Mustang and an Integra. Once you hit 119-120mph, the limiter kicks in a won't give you any power for a couple of seconds. I feel my car could probably get close to 130mph, since it was still pulling hard up to 119mph. Stability and handling were excellent at those speeds. Of course, I no longer have the standard tires. I'm now running Nitto NT450 "Extreme Performance" 205/50R15's. My original Bridgestone Potenza's lasted a whole 18,000 miles before they were just about bald. I now have about 42,000 miles on the car and the Nitto's are at about half-life. Excellent tires, although they do "speak" quite often!
As far as mileage... I generally average about 22mpg in the city and about 30-31mpg highway. In the city, it's all stoplight-to-stoplight drag races. On the highway, I average about 75-80mph with the AC on.
I've replaced my spark plugs with Bosch Platinum Plus 4's. The car seems to have a bit more high-end power and it runs slightly cooler than it was with the old spark plugs. Of course, it may just be that way because the other spark plugs were old and needed to be retired. What will I put in next time? I'll save the extra money and put regular spark plugs back in. That is until I can find a supercharger or turbo to put under the hood!!!
BTW, the speed limiter doesn't work during a free fall.
But at 1,665 miles I don't expect it to be doing its best so soon.
fowler3
Me: Once when I took delivery of the car. Never after that in 28,000 miles so far. Still no shimmy or vibrations. Runs as if on rails - goes like an arrow if you take the hands of the wheel.
On the other hand, My friend's 300M (which he doesn't zoom-zoom in and treats like a child) has steering wheel shimmy and vibrations coming up at 22000 miles.
How does anyone figure how much of their mileage is city and how much is highway? I don't know about you, but there is more to my miles than my commute to work.
When I compute my fuel economy, I just take the number of miles divided by the number of gallons and leave it at that. I don't try to figure out, "Well, I had 75% highway and 25% city street this time." Or "I had 90% highway and 10% city street that time."
Has anyone looked at the major auto magazines (Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Road & Track, Automobile) this month? Each one has a large two-page ad of the MP3. It's pretty cool with a tag line that says something like, "All MP3's allow you to download, play, and burn songs, but only one lets you downshift!"
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to do Windows. Which is a good thing considering how often the computers at work crash...
I wonder though, is the computer and the shift programming behind the rough shift from 1st to 2nd in the auto tranny? I've learned when to lift off the accelerator to minimize the thunk, but it's still annoying.
Honestly, I could have afforded the lease payment on a Bimmer, but didn't really see the sense in putting out so much money a month.
I did look at the Protege, but the fact that the styling has basically remained the same for a number of years did not win me over.
I don't have many miles yet, no shimmy-shake.
Maybe your buddy hit a curb when cornering or parking - that's enough to make it go out-of-whack. A friend of mine used to complain about tire troubles which I didn't understand until I saw him parallel park, ouch - he rammed into the curb several times and wasn't aware it might be the problem.
p.s. you guys were right about the oil filter location, it does suck
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Well, maybe a couple zooms here and there.;)
This afternoon, I was behind a Buick and it started to buck up and down sort of porpusing. I started to brake wondering what he ran over. It was a small dip in the pavement and the Buick’s soft suspension really made that car go through the craziest actions. My Protegé LX didn’t budge, I never felt it at all. Now, I know WHY I stopped buying American cars 30 years ago!
fowler3
Where in the world has everyone gone? I haven't seen Speedypt, Mdaffron, and Protegextwo post in quite a while...
I was in a real ritzy neighborhood the other day(houses in the 500k and up range) and there in the driveway of one of them was...not one but 2 proteges. Made me feel like one of the elite crowd, like you know, even the rich people can live with the lowly Pro and not feel outclassed. Could that have been prox2's house?