Yes, Jim, I am afraid edmund2460 is correct: SC no longer inspects their vehicles. Personally, I was relieved & don't believe it was a beneficial system. Although it could be fun to have a NC inspection sticker w/a SC tag No, no Fowler, you cannot get rid of me that quickly ... I am in love with the sporty little Protege & want one all my own. Maybe I'll even name it Tippy. Wondering who I am, eh? A true sleuth would check out my profile.
Which model did you purchase? Do you mind telling me which options you chose & your cost on the S-plan? Did you have a trade-in also? I have not driven the ES because there was not one available in Charleston to test drive. I drove the LX 2.0 & thought it was dreamy. The ES is appealing to me b/c of the dark fabric = never see dirt! I have a feeling I'm going to be driving to High Point VERY soon
Have you seen Edmunds' review of the new Pontiac Vibe? Check out the front and rear photos of the (surprisingly yellow too) car. Man, if that don't look like a ripoff of the Protege5!
A year from now, when these 2003 models come out and everyone starts raving about the new concept in design, let's just all keep in mind who started this new 5-door trend, shall we?
Mazda once again is leading the way!
And speaking of leading the way, have any of you other automotive afficianados ever wondered, as I have, why Honda has never come out with a pickup? You know as well as I do (unfortunately) that since Honda has so many comatose American carbuyers by the short-and-curlies, if Honda came out with a pickup truck LIKE ALL OF ITS COMPETITION DOES, it would sell like hotcakes for no other reason than having a Honda badge on the grille!
I read somewhere that Honda cut a deal with GM to trade engines. GM gets Honda's V6s and Honda gets GM's V8s. This suggests that Honda will come out with a large SUV and, possibly, a large pickup. As maltb points out, the compact pickup truck isn't exactly exploding these days...but another year of high gas prices might change that.
Mazda B2300 5sp is rated 24mpg city & 28mpg hwy, not bad at all for a pickup.
If you are really interested in swapping engines, it would be a better better to get an engine from CorkSport such as this Japanese spec FS-ZE 2.0L DOHC 4-cyl with 170hp for $2,061.
Or, there is the 210hp 1.8L DOHC turbo from the 323 GTX...
CorkSport also sells many performance items such as engine, suspension, exterior, and interior modifications for just about every Mazda vehicle. Check them out!
(For the moderators: Before you slap me with copyright infringements and such for the pic, I have acquired permission from CorkSport to use their pics in Edmunds Town Hall. I have the e-mail exchanges if you insist.)
Hey folks 70+ posts to catch up on, since last Thursday, yikes! I was in a Pro/Am Bass Tournament in Ontario, Canada and I just got back last night. The Muskoka-Georgian Bay lake country of Ontario is breathless.
I spotted several Mazda Protege's traveling thru the Toronto area, several Mica Black ones, vocus, ;-)!!! Mini-vans seem very popular in Canada. I guess cold winters with nothing to do, lead to larger families, LOL!!!!
You want to swap engines for 10hp? Anyway, I'm pretty sure its the same engine with some timing advance, more aggresive cams, new fuel management parameters. I bet that gets about 5-7hp running premimum gas. The rest (3-5hp) probably comes from the freed up exhaust (Racing Beat?).
Really the MP version is not about power, its more about driving dynamics and looks. 17in rims, sticky tires, fat sway bars, fast spring rates, and so on. Its pretty much ready to autocross straight out-of-the-box.
On the other hand, if you did have about $6000-10000 sitting around you could just give it to me (which I prefer) or invest in a forced induction system. I bet most decent racing shops (if they were motivated) could build you a custom turbo set-up for $6000-10000 (give or take) or a supercharger set up for a few beans less. That would get you close to 200hp with some decent reliability and minimal mods. Then with a boost controler and bigger turbo close to 250hp if you think that pistons and rings are disposable. I guess you could get fancy and go get bored out to 2.2l, some kind of cold air induction system, intercooler, free flow headers, new exhaust, water or alcohol injection to curtail detonation, better fuel pump, some other doodads and get close to 400hp but then we are talking about some serious change. Probably $50k in mods. Or you could by a 2002 Z06 with 405hp stock. Unless you are really into racing...street or otherwise most mods that are not cosmetic really are not worth it. The flip side of the coin is that if you have the time and money and you like your car......why not?
BUT if all you want is power....the cheapest way to get power is still NOS. I bet you could a 50/100shot system set-up for $2000 (or less). You could easily get to 200hp for a little while.
By the way, any and all of those things would probably void your warranty faster then you could say VOID.
Larry, Not so sure it's the cold weather. In my case, it's just an irresitable wife that has led to 4 kids. I guess I could blame it on the fact that it gets down in the 40s at night in the winter.
nematode, You have an awesome sense of humor but you forgot one thing that goes back to a VW Corrado commercial in the early '90s: "How do you make a VW go 140mph?" the next frame is a Beetle plunging off a cliff.
GUESS WHAT???? I just talked to your salesperson in High Point!!! What a nice man. He thinks the world of you, BTW. He just received a shipment of Protege's. We're going to talk later tonite about the inventory. I'll keep you informed!
That japan engine or custom mods look like a much better idea than the MP3 engine. I wasn't aware that there were this many engine mod options. Thank you!
I was looking to lease the Protege ES. With the rapid depreciation I was forced to go the CIVIC route.
I'm not totally upset with this choice as I needed solid reliability and economy. I did however try and work a deal with MAZDA, but just could not justify the higher payment.
The big + of the Protege is the car's handling and this swayed me to Mazda as a first choice. The only concern I had was with the Protege was the engine's tendency to resonate or vibrate when pushed even moderately otherwise the engine is very quiet at idle. On the other hand Honda's 1.7L is soo balanced and smooth when pushed and very quiet when at idle. It's hard to believe, but for 115hp the Honda has alot of punch when coupled to a 5 speed.
Both cars are fun.
Now I guess I will have to go and look for a stabilizer bar somewhere to take out the Civic's softness in the corners.
I got the ES Auto with moonroof (no deflector). The price was 15595 without the 500 rebate (because I took the low financing). They also charged me $4.00 for the tag. Then I had to pay SC taxes and tag myself. Getting the prem. pkg. adds about another $500, I used to know that figure by heart but can't believe I've forgotten so soon but that's close (or look back at my earlier posts). Also there is a volume dealer in Columbia (don't remember the name now they also sell VW's). It's on Broad River Road. You can get their address at Mazda.com dealer locations. They seemed nice but they didn't get back to me either after promising to look for the car I wanted originally. High Point is willing to hustle more than any other dealer I've seen. You probably know there is no choice in the interior color - it's black - on an ES. This will trap lint though.
Did you lease your Civic? If so, I would be careful about adding the stabilizer bar. It might cost you at lease end. Better check it out with the dealer first.
While I would never do it to my own car, I love tricked out cars. Has anyone here done fancy stuff to their Protege? When I lived in Philadelphia I used to hang out with some guys (from southern New Jersey)who LIVED to make their 4/6-cyc cars faster. The southern New Jersey area has a pretty active underground(is there any other kind??) street racing scene. It was a sense of pride for these guys to beat a 3.0L 6-cyc motor with a 1.8 or 1.6L 4-cyc motor. It was not limited to imports by any means. There were several Saturns, Mercury Cougars, and one killer Chevy Cavalier. There were some muscle cars there too but mostly the 4/6-cyc asian makes. Most of the races were for pride....not for $2k like in the movie. The street racers I know, if they could manage to save $2k, would blow it on new tires, high performance wires, a boost controller, and better blow-off valve.
I dont remember seeing any Proteges racing in Jersey. Lots of lowered Miatas with huge wings and areo kits but I'm a little out of touch...I'm not even sure if they make lots of aftermarket performance mods for the Protege. Thats were I learned more than I ever wanted to know about performance mods. I'm a few years removed so I'm sure there is even cooler stuff out there. During my time there the fastest car there was a Supra TT that was probably making 500hp. Jet black, tinted windows, lowered, full areo kit, 18in chromred rims, chromed exhaust and various engine parts, probably $2k in sound gear...cool car. Not for me but cool car. It was one of those cars that looked fast standing still. I prefer lcars that look slow but go fast.
Has anyone had any experience with these engine/fuel additives i see on tv infomercials? They guarantee to make your car run smoother, cooler and add more horsepower. I forget the names offhand but i sure some of ya'll have seen 'em. I dont know that i would use them anyway unless there was a resounding yes out there. lol.
Has anyone received some touch up paint, gratis, from Mazda. My salesman told me they would send some. I got a package of literature from them but no paint. He couldn't be lying to me cause car salesman dont lie--right? Anyway he wanted me to give him a 10 in this mail-in survey. NO car salesman deserves a 10. Have zoom-zoom July 4th all!!
While it doesn't hurt to add a little fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank here and there, I've heard mixed reviews on many of these oil additives. Some people may have different opinions, but that's my take.
I simply change my oil and filter every 5,000 miles with 100% synthetic oil (like Mobil 1). I've run cars well over 100,000 miles like that and never burned a drop of oil between changes.
Thank you for your reply. The info has been very helpful. I am communicating with numerous dealers from Orangeburg, SC to Toms River, NJ. I am going to find the ES that I want! Will keep y'all posted.
Has anyone else seen The Fast And The Furious yet? I saw it last Friday. I was totally expecting a lot of race scenes and a barely tacked together plot. I was surprised and impressed! There were a lot of race scenes, but there was also a good plot!
I especially love the first race scene. I think it was a given that the Mazda RX-7 would win. There's nothing like a screaming twin-turbo Mazda rotary engine!!! There's a great special effect scene when it shows what it would look like to be sucked into the RX-7's engine... through the intake, then the intake port, being swept up by the rotor to the combustion chamber, igniting, being swept by the rotor to the exhaust port, through the first turbo, then the second turbo, and finally being ejected out the exhaust pipe in a burning flame!! And then to see the RX-7 easily pull away from the NOS burning Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Honda without using its own NOS. And then to see the RX-7's speedo showing 160mph as he presses the NOS button and to see the car just run away from the already losing competition!!! It was all excellent footage and they even got the rotary whine down just right!!
Otherwise, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of Mazda's in the movie. There were two RX-7's that I counted and that was it! I know the MX-3 is a pretty popular car to modify and race, and so is the MX-5 (Miata). I've even seen a few suped-up MX-6's. I didn't see any of these cars in the movie!!! I hope Mazda took notice of this... here's a company that prides itself on performance cars and was once known for it. It's amazing how fast a reputation can be lost!!!
I was just wondering if anyone knows where to get the stickers that the 98 Protege Touring Edition has on the sides and back, my car is getting a paint job done and I will need to replace those stickers.
The dealers are judged by the manufacturers by those surveys and it really counts against them when they are given a bad rating. They get fewer cars the next year, they get leaned on.
Don’t be judgemental and give a rating based on general opinions of car salesmen. Their hours are LONG and the sales are few. What would your attitude be if you worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week? And when you did get a customer you got an argument.
sorry to disagree with you but 9's and 8's are good enough scores. 10 is perfect. Ive yet to come across an automobile salesman who deserves that. Most deserve negative figures for their lying and deceptive practices!! And believe me, i have definitely come across a few of those characters. BTW regarding my post #2980, did Mazda send you touch up paint?
It is funny what you say about how smooth the Civics engine is. I test drove both of these cars and IMO the Protege's engine was more refined and smooth. Also in some very recent magazine reviews (autoweek, road and track)they talk about how loud the engine is and I quote, "The Civic gets a slightly larger engine this year, a four-cylinder that develops 115 hp and a fair amount of noise when pressed. There's no tachometer to guide your shifts, but you'll run out of eardrum before you run out of engine. From stoplights, with four adults aboard, the car was noticeably sluggish." Oh well, to each his own!
That's an interesting review. The 2001 Civic LX 5 spd, has a tach. The engine is exceptionally smooth with noticably less vibration and buzz than a Protege 2.0 litre.
Again both cars are excellent. I just averaged ~ 34 mpg on my first tank of gas. I drive mostly city with some highway stretches. I don't try to stretch the mileage or drive like a mutton head.
The 5 spd Civic LX Coupe has very good acceleration and a world class tranny/ gearbox that allow for quick and smooth shifting. I can't wait until I get my 600 mile break-in complete so I can wind this puppy up to 7K on the Tach. Driving to work is fun again.
I do miss the cornering and road handling of the Protege ES. I came within a whisker of buying the protege and most likely will consider a Mazda early next year when I sell my 99 Civic EX. My daughter also likes the Mazda.
One note. The A/C in the Civic is excellent. With 5 people in the Car, I had to really cut back the fan due to how cold the car got.
Hi, this is his daughter and I do not like the protege. The only Mazdas I remember liking are the rx-7 and concept rx-8 for their unique rotary engines.
What about the Subaru commercials for their new car, now that is NOISE I would not want! The Protegé is acceptably quiet and I do like some sound from the engine. Get a BOOM car if you don’t like engine noise. Kids driving BOOM cars are going to be so deaf when they are older it won’t matter how loud the engines are.
Hi everybody! I just got a new 2001, manual transmission, LX 2.0 Protege in Black. The only options I got were AC, ABS, and remote keyless. I had looked at Civics and Corollas, but I fell in love with the Protege. I've only had it for about a week now, but it is absolutely great!!!! This is my own very first car.
I used to drive my girlfriend's '91 Jetta GL and had a lot of fun driving that. However, it has started to die (although she refuses to admit it) and I needed a way to get to work. So being the practical, but stylish guy that I am, my eyes immediately focused on the Protege. Not only was it well-priced, but it was stylish and had power! Well after some serious thought I went out and got one! What a great decision that was! This car is fabulous and I have no complaints yet!
I've been reading everyone's posts here and love the info! Hopefully I won't run into any troubles, but if I do, I know where to come!! Oh...btw, I'm from Canada, so the block heater was a must as well.
The owner's manual says that there is not really any 'break-in period' but is there anything that I should or should not be doing in terms of driving for the first 1000 kms (however many miles that is...sorry!)? When I rolled it off the lot there were only 7 kms on it. Thanks for any input!
Larry, glad you enjoyed the Muskoka-Georgian Bay country. It is beautiful, isn't it!!
There are lots and lots of Proteges around here, although I don't know enough about them to recognize the difference between years. Most of the cars I have seen seem to be SEs (the Canadian version of the DX) but I'm starting to see more ESs now. And, as I posted in the Protege5 forum, I have seen 3 Protege 5s (2 blue, 1 black) since last Saturday.
the new mp3? I did not see any posts about it and it seems to me it would be the hot topic in this category. The car is stickered @18.5k, and my dealer is marking it up a few bucks. Still pretty cheap considering its nice looks and added performance under the hood and in the dash(the sound system is very good).
Nomi, we stayed at the Severn Lodge at Port Severn. Truly God's country! We fished in a Pro/Am Bass Tournament. I learned a hard lesson about early summer in Canada. It was very warm and sunny Saturday, however, Sunday morning dawned warm and rainy. Nevertheless, within an hour it went from warm and rainy too very very brisk and 50 mph wind gusts! I was out fishing on the lake and soaked and freezing! I thought, I would never be warm again, lol!!! I had a great time anyway and I would love to return to the picturesque Severn Lodge with my family next summer.
BTW, it seems that Toyota and Honda are very popular "North of the Border". Best of all, I hardly saw any Dodge/Plymouth Neon's, hehe. But whats with all the Ford Foci??? Do they give them away in the great "White North"?
Welcome to the club!! I know you will enjoy your new LX 2.0, I have one, too. As for 1000km that's 600 miles in the USA. Read more in the manual you will see where they advise driving moderately for at least that long. No flooring the accelerator at stop lights, no hard braking, and don’t rev the engine way up there in rpms. Give it time for parts to work together smoothly.
After about 2000km the suspension will soften a little bit. By 3000km everything should be working in great harmony -- then ZOOM ZOOM!
If your sales person did a fairly good job with your Protege purchase. Please, give him/her ALL 10's on the Customer Satisfaction Survey. These guys and gals make VERY VERY little money on a small car deal. Believe it or not if you purchased your car for $300 to $500 dollars over dealer cost, your sales person probably cleared a $50 dollar commission on your Protege deal! However, if you give him ALL ten's on the CSI survey, he might qualify for an extra cash incentive at the end of the month. Doesn't sound fair, nonetheless all new car manufacture set up the survey spiff system the same. Just something to think about when filling out the CSI survey.
I read in a previous post that armor all was not the way to go in terms of protecting the vinyl dash, etc. Can anybody definitively say whether armor all is good to use or not?? Any other brands or protectant other than armor all then??Thanks!
Why put any on there in the first place? As long as you keep it clean, it should be fine. I've had my 99 LX for almost 2 years with no nasty Armor All applied, just a wet rag to wipe the dust off, and it still looks brand new!
Today’s cars do not have vinyl dashes, they are painted plastic, similar to the black plastic used for bumper facias. The fascia is the bumper cap that matches the fenders. The bumper is a steel bar behind the fascia.
No need to use anything on it. Just wipe it off with a damp cloth and try not to scratch the paint. ArmorAll doesn’t do much anyhow, just makes it look shinny and causes glare. I think it looks tacky.
I might just be able to take part in the chat room tonight. Since people have been asking about me (I read the transcripts), I might just check it out.
I have a 99 LX 1.8 (Canadian) and I started to hear noise from the front suspension. I have 55 K on the car. It is a grinding sound, not very loud. After the dealer inspected it and drove it, it was determined that the end link bushings/ball joints on the front sway bar were worn. The mechanic that these are not very robust. He has seen a few other higher mileage cars with the same problem. I could hear it at low speeds, over speed bumps, low speed turns while parking, etc. Parts are on order and they are fixing it.
Just thought I would give everyone a heads up. Other than that, the car is practically flawless, save for a few rattles and a couple of parking lot scars. It still feels tight and runs very well.
Hey welcome, eh! What province are you driving your new LX around in? As the owner of a '01 ES I can verify one of the difficulties in driving a new Protege is waiting for the break-in period to be over!
Thanks for the welcome! I'm driving my Pro in Alberta...Calgary to be precise. The dust and pollen here is driving me mad!!! Sigh...it's my own fault. I knew the black would be hard to keep clean! I've had the car for just over one week now and I've washed it twice!! I wasn't even here last weekend!!! Somebody tell me I'm not nuts for washing it so much...please....
Oh, where in the Great White North are you at Norcan? I am dreading winter....Hey and about the break-in period...The dealer told me that I should occassionaly push the car to 6000 rpm so that it "experiences" the full range of throttle and is used to it. Is he telling lies (a dealer telling lies??) or is he right?
I finally got some new pics of my 1999 Protege LX developed and put online. Click on 'New pics of my 99 Mazda Protege' in the link below to view them. Tell me what you guys think...
Dealer wanted 210.00 plus to replace a front wheel bearing on my 98 LX. I bought the bearing at NAPA for 36.00. Three hours later, I'm done. Now if I could only figure out why the shifter on the 5speed gets tight when the engine gets hot. Any ideas ?? Oh yeah the engine check light came on at 58K. The dealer claimed it was in the emissions system. Yes I checked the fuel cap. Two K miles later, it went off by itself. Praise God !
Yes, michael - you are nuts to wash your car twice a week! (Well, you did want someone to say that!)
I'm so glad I have white, and have a covered parking spot! Weeks can elapse before it needs a wash!
A dealer telling lies - its blasphemous to even think thats possible, he he That aside, I wouldn't push it that hard during running-in myself, but wait for some more insight from the others, I haven't owned a new car yet (mine was bought used!)
Was nice chatting with those who could make it today. There seemed to be quite a few people!
An idea was thrown out about custom-designing a Protege or Mazda or Zoom Zoom (or all of the above) sticker of a reasonable size (Not too large IMHO) at iprint.com or somehwre, if enough people are interested
Let yourselves be heard if anyone else is interested and has design/size opinions/ideas
Comments
No, no Fowler, you cannot get rid of me that quickly ... I am in love with the sporty little Protege & want one all my own. Maybe I'll even name it Tippy.
Wondering who I am, eh? A true sleuth would check out my profile.
I have not driven the ES because there was not one available in Charleston to test drive. I drove the LX 2.0 & thought it was dreamy. The ES is appealing to me b/c of the dark fabric = never see dirt!
I have a feeling I'm going to be driving to High Point VERY soon
Meade
A year from now, when these 2003 models come out and everyone starts raving about the new concept in design, let's just all keep in mind who started this new 5-door trend, shall we?
Mazda once again is leading the way!
And speaking of leading the way, have any of you other automotive afficianados ever wondered, as I have, why Honda has never come out with a pickup? You know as well as I do (unfortunately) that since Honda has so many comatose American carbuyers by the short-and-curlies, if Honda came out with a pickup truck LIKE ALL OF ITS COMPETITION DOES, it would sell like hotcakes for no other reason than having a Honda badge on the grille!
Meade
Mazda B2300 5sp is rated 24mpg city & 28mpg hwy, not bad at all for a pickup.
Or, there is the 210hp 1.8L DOHC turbo from the 323 GTX...
CorkSport also sells many performance items such as engine, suspension, exterior, and interior modifications for just about every Mazda vehicle. Check them out!
(For the moderators: Before you slap me with copyright infringements and such for the pic, I have acquired permission from CorkSport to use their pics in Edmunds Town Hall. I have the e-mail exchanges if you insist.)
I spotted several Mazda Protege's traveling thru the Toronto area, several Mica Black ones, vocus, ;-)!!! Mini-vans seem very popular in Canada. I guess cold winters with nothing to do, lead to larger families, LOL!!!!
Respectfully,
Larry
Really the MP version is not about power, its more about driving dynamics and looks. 17in rims, sticky tires, fat sway bars, fast spring rates, and so on. Its pretty much ready to autocross straight out-of-the-box.
On the other hand, if you did have about $6000-10000 sitting around you could just give it to me (which I prefer) or invest in a forced induction system. I bet most decent racing shops (if they were motivated) could build you a custom turbo set-up for $6000-10000 (give or take) or a supercharger set up for a few beans less. That would get you close to 200hp with some decent reliability and minimal mods. Then with a boost controler and bigger turbo close to 250hp if you think that pistons and rings are disposable. I guess you could get fancy and go get bored out to 2.2l, some kind of cold air induction system, intercooler, free flow headers, new exhaust, water or alcohol injection to curtail detonation, better fuel pump, some other doodads and get close to 400hp but then we are talking about some serious change. Probably $50k in mods. Or you could by a 2002 Z06 with 405hp stock. Unless you are really into racing...street or otherwise most mods that are not cosmetic really are not worth it. The flip side of the coin is that if you have the time and money and you like your car......why not?
BUT if all you want is power....the cheapest way to get power is still NOS. I bet you could a 50/100shot system set-up for $2000 (or less). You could easily get to 200hp for a little while.
By the way, any and all of those things would probably void your warranty faster then you could say VOID.
Not so sure it's the cold weather. In my case, it's just an irresitable wife that has led to 4 kids. I guess I could blame it on the fact that it gets down in the 40s at night in the winter.
nematode,
You have an awesome sense of humor but you forgot one thing that goes back to a VW Corrado commercial in the early '90s: "How do you make a VW go 140mph?" the next frame is a Beetle plunging off a cliff.
I'll keep you informed!
I'm not totally upset with this choice as I needed solid reliability and economy. I did however try and work a deal with MAZDA, but just could not justify the higher payment.
The big + of the Protege is the car's handling and this swayed me to Mazda as a first choice. The only concern I had was with the Protege was the engine's tendency to resonate or vibrate when pushed even moderately otherwise the engine is very quiet at idle. On the other hand Honda's 1.7L is soo balanced and smooth when pushed and very quiet when at idle. It's hard to believe, but for 115hp the Honda has alot of punch when coupled to a 5 speed.
Both cars are fun.
Now I guess I will have to go and look for a stabilizer bar somewhere to take out the Civic's softness in the corners.
Oh well....
When I lived in Philadelphia I used to hang out with some guys (from southern New Jersey)who LIVED to make their 4/6-cyc cars faster. The southern New Jersey area has a pretty active underground(is there any other kind??) street racing scene. It was a sense of pride for these guys to beat a 3.0L 6-cyc motor with a 1.8 or 1.6L 4-cyc motor. It was not limited to imports by any means. There were several Saturns, Mercury Cougars, and one killer Chevy Cavalier. There were some muscle cars there too but mostly the 4/6-cyc asian makes. Most of the races were for pride....not for $2k like in the movie. The street racers I know, if they could manage to save $2k, would blow it on new tires, high performance wires, a boost controller, and better blow-off valve.
I dont remember seeing any Proteges racing in Jersey. Lots of lowered Miatas with huge wings and areo kits but I'm a little out of touch...I'm not even sure if they make lots of aftermarket performance mods for the Protege. Thats were I learned more than I ever wanted to know about performance mods. I'm a few years removed so I'm sure there is even cooler stuff out there. During my time there the fastest car there was a Supra TT that was probably making 500hp. Jet black, tinted windows, lowered, full areo kit, 18in chromred rims, chromed exhaust and various engine parts, probably $2k in sound gear...cool car. Not for me but cool car. It was one of those cars that looked fast standing still. I prefer lcars that look slow but go fast.
While it doesn't hurt to add a little fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank here and there, I've heard mixed reviews on many of these oil additives. Some people may have different opinions, but that's my take.
I simply change my oil and filter every 5,000 miles with 100% synthetic oil (like Mobil 1). I've run cars well over 100,000 miles like that and never burned a drop of oil between changes.
I am going to find the ES that I want! Will keep y'all posted.
I especially love the first race scene. I think it was a given that the Mazda RX-7 would win. There's nothing like a screaming twin-turbo Mazda rotary engine!!! There's a great special effect scene when it shows what it would look like to be sucked into the RX-7's engine... through the intake, then the intake port, being swept up by the rotor to the combustion chamber, igniting, being swept by the rotor to the exhaust port, through the first turbo, then the second turbo, and finally being ejected out the exhaust pipe in a burning flame!! And then to see the RX-7 easily pull away from the NOS burning Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Honda without using its own NOS. And then to see the RX-7's speedo showing 160mph as he presses the NOS button and to see the car just run away from the already losing competition!!! It was all excellent footage and they even got the rotary whine down just right!!
Otherwise, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of Mazda's in the movie. There were two RX-7's that I counted and that was it! I know the MX-3 is a pretty popular car to modify and race, and so is the MX-5 (Miata). I've even seen a few suped-up MX-6's. I didn't see any of these cars in the movie!!! I hope Mazda took notice of this... here's a company that prides itself on performance cars and was once known for it. It's amazing how fast a reputation can be lost!!!
I was just wondering if anyone knows where to get the stickers that the 98 Protege Touring Edition has on the sides and back, my car is getting a paint job done and I will need to replace those stickers.
Thanks!
The dealers are judged by the manufacturers by those surveys and it really counts against them
when they are given a bad rating. They get fewer cars the next year, they get leaned on.
Don’t be judgemental and give a rating based on general opinions of car salesmen. Their hours are LONG and the sales are few. What would your attitude be if you worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week? And when you did get a customer you got an argument.
fowler3
Again both cars are excellent. I just averaged ~ 34 mpg on my first tank of gas. I drive mostly city with some highway stretches. I don't try to stretch the mileage or drive like a mutton head.
The 5 spd Civic LX Coupe has very good acceleration and a world class tranny/ gearbox that allow for quick and smooth shifting. I can't wait until I get my 600 mile break-in complete so I can wind this puppy up to 7K on the Tach. Driving to work is fun again.
I do miss the cornering and road handling of the Protege ES. I came within a whisker of buying the protege and most likely will consider a Mazda early next year when I sell my 99 Civic EX. My daughter also likes the Mazda.
One note. The A/C in the Civic is excellent. With 5 people in the Car, I had to really cut back the fan due to how cold the car got.
fowler3
fowler3
I used to drive my girlfriend's '91 Jetta GL and had a lot of fun driving that. However, it has started to die (although she refuses to admit it) and I needed a way to get to work. So being the practical, but stylish guy that I am, my eyes immediately focused on the Protege. Not only was it well-priced, but it was stylish and had power! Well after some serious thought I went out and got one! What a great decision that was! This car is fabulous and I have no complaints yet!
I've been reading everyone's posts here and love the info! Hopefully I won't run into any troubles, but if I do, I know where to come!! Oh...btw, I'm from Canada, so the block heater was a must as well.
Zoom Zoom!!
There are lots and lots of Proteges around here, although I don't know enough about them to recognize the difference between years. Most of the cars I have seen seem to be SEs (the Canadian version of the DX) but I'm starting to see more ESs now. And, as I posted in the Protege5 forum, I have seen 3 Protege 5s (2 blue, 1 black) since last Saturday.
Nomi
BTW, it seems that Toyota and Honda are very popular "North of the Border". Best of all, I hardly saw any Dodge/Plymouth Neon's, hehe. But whats with all the Ford Foci??? Do they give them away in the great "White North"?
-Larry
After about 2000km the suspension will soften a little bit. By 3000km everything should be working in great harmony -- then ZOOM ZOOM!
fowler3
Respectfully,
Larry
Protege_Fan
No need to use anything on it. Just wipe it off with a damp cloth and try not to scratch the paint. ArmorAll doesn’t do much anyhow, just makes it look shinny and causes glare. I think it looks tacky.
fowler3
Not many around and those buyers don’t seem to be online and on Edmunds. They must be too busy ZOOMING!
REMEMBER!! Tonight is Protegé Owners Club chat!!
Come on in and chat about your Pro or whatever!!
6PM to 7PM PT -- 9PM to 10PM ET
fowler3
I have a 99 LX 1.8 (Canadian) and I started to hear noise from the front suspension. I have 55 K on the car. It is a grinding sound, not very loud. After the dealer inspected it and drove it, it was determined that the end link bushings/ball joints on the front sway bar were worn. The mechanic that these are not very robust. He has seen a few other higher mileage cars with the same problem. I could hear it at low speeds, over speed bumps, low speed turns while parking, etc. Parts are on order and they are fixing it.
Just thought I would give everyone a heads up. Other than that, the car is practically flawless, save for a few rattles and a couple of parking lot scars. It still feels tight and runs very well.
Marc
What province are you driving your new LX around in? As the owner of a '01 ES I can verify one of the difficulties in driving a new Protege is waiting for the break-in period to be over!
Oh, where in the Great White North are you at Norcan? I am dreading winter....Hey and about the break-in period...The dealer told me that I should occassionaly push the car to 6000 rpm so that it "experiences" the full range of throttle and is used to it. Is he telling lies (a dealer telling lies??) or is he right?
Protege_fan
http://photos.yahoo.com/negatize
Now if I could only figure out why the shifter on the 5speed gets tight when the engine gets hot. Any ideas ?? Oh yeah the engine check light came on at 58K. The dealer claimed it was in the emissions system. Yes I checked the fuel cap. Two K miles later, it went off by itself. Praise God !
I'm so glad I have white, and have a covered parking spot! Weeks can elapse before it needs a wash!
A dealer telling lies - its blasphemous to even think thats possible, he he
That aside, I wouldn't push it that hard during running-in myself, but wait for some more insight from the others, I haven't owned a new car yet (mine was bought used!)
An idea was thrown out about custom-designing a Protege or Mazda or Zoom Zoom (or all of the above) sticker of a reasonable size (Not too large IMHO) at iprint.com or somehwre, if enough people are interested
Let yourselves be heard if anyone else is interested and has design/size opinions/ideas