Mazda Protege5

bluong1

With 70% Hwy (80mph) and 30% City, windows down or AC on, acceleration to 4000-4500rmp, mostly on the flat roads, I average about 28.2+ mpg.

ateixeira

22-23 mpg seems kind of low. Maybe the engine is green, and it will improve after break in. This happened to me with my Subaru, I got +2mpg after the first year.

-juice

cappyk

Guys,

I had a great experience with my purchase from the internet manager here in Baltimore. The deal shook down like this for my Silver P5 with a Moonroof and no other options:

Went to Autobytel.com and Mazdausa.com and placed orders for the exact car. Got several emails stating whether that car was available in my area and how much they would sell it for. The salesman at dealership "A" said they didn't have it but could get it from dealership "B" about 60 miles away. I called dealership "B" to see if they would sell it to me at the price dealership "A" offered. They said no. So I allowed dealership "A" to go get the car from dealership "B" and I gave "A" the sale. (Needless to say, the folks at dealership "B" are a ship of fools.)

My price for a Silver 5-speed with a moonroof and nothing else?...$16, 761.

If anyone is in the Baltimore area and would like the name of the salesman, please write me. It's rare to find such a good guy in the capacity of a salesman.

BTW My cold tire pressure is 32psi. If you can't trust the people who built the freaking car and put the Dunlops on it to know what the proper tire pressure is, then we are all in serious trouble. Oooh, maybe we should use Wesson instead of 10W-30 or perhaps switch the AC back to R-12 because it's one degree cooler... (Please take this in jest.)

Enjoy!

Cappy

wordk@hotmail.com

vocus

You bought a P5 in Baltimore? What area if I may ask? Just wondering, because I live in Baltimore as well and just started seeing a couple P5s recently. And what dealer?

matso

We bought ours on the S-Plan. Here's the breakdown for our red P5, fully loaded. Some of these numbers are from memory and may be off by a couple hundred here or there, but you get the idea.

Dealer sticker: $20,700. MSRP: $19,700. Dealer invoice: $18,500. S-Plan price: $17,877.

In our case the only negotiating was how much the dealer would give us in trade on our '93 Explorer. The "closer" on the deal did say that dealer participation in the S-Plan is voluntary, and that they were giving us a great deal on a P5 by letting us have one for that price. Oh well!

Good luck and good hunting.

tisteve

Went and drove a P5 last night to see if I thought I would like it. Nice little car but I really didn't get a chance to "drive" it due to rush hour traffic.
A few observations, the exhaust was louder than I expected. Engine noise was quite noticeable inside, kind of razzy sounding. The clutch engaged way high, needs adjusting. Stick shift is a bit tight and notchy, but maybe that loosens up with use?
The red lighting a bit too much Pontiacish. I guess my green Pioneer stereo would not look too good in there. Speaking of, that stock stereo occupies a large space in the dash, do they make a filler kit so if you installed a regular size stereo you could fill it up?
Fit and finish seemed pretty nice for this level of car. Wasn't real crazy about the black upholstery, looked like every piece of dog hair and fuzz would stick and show up.
The rear area was a bit smaller than I expected, thinking wagon and all, definetly more of a four door hatch back than true wagon. But it did look like you could get some larger items in there.
The dealer I talked to is asking straight sticker (full MSRP), no dealing. Another one locally is advertising on their website prices that appear to be $400-$500 over invoice, not bad.
I am coming from a Toyota Tacoma and trying to see if I could drive this car and enjoy it. It seemed roomier inside than our previous Corolla, which was very cramped. Overall very typical Japanese car, which is to say everything is laid out very logically and no major unusual items. It was pretty nice for the price but I still need to think about it, it is still a small econo car, but a very cool one at that.

mustang87

Yes, it is an econo car, nobody ever said it was not. Did you expect it to be a towncar stretch limo? And red lighting is not Pontiacish. Mazda was going after the everyday middle class BMW wannabe driver, that is why its red. I would not be surprised if Matrix has the red lights.

And you could always fill up the radio are with this:

bluong1

I don't think it's normal the exhaust noise: mine doesn't have it. When starting cool, the engine may seem a little noisy, but it get quitter after it warms up correctly. The noise is slightly less noticeable at 80+mph (~3700 rpm) than 70mph (3250rpm) for some reason (resonance?) I love the stick shift after 6500 kmiles: tight, accurate and quick (the 2th seems to be smother than before, which was a little slow to engage in hard acceleration). The clutch needs to be adjusted as you said. When you get use to the red lighting, it's actually very nice since it blend better to the traffic lighting color at night. By "upholstery" do you mean the cover for the cargo space? If yes I agree, it seems cheap, Mazda can do better. For me the P5 is more an hachback than a wagon! But it's just one person opinion.

Bruno

ateixeira

The guages are white-faced with a little bit of red in the needles and numbers. Doesn't look like a Pontiac to me, not at all.

Pontiacs tend to look lit by orange light, that's different.

-juice

Sporin

Interesting you brought this up.

I am a car-cleaning nut. I detail cars on the side so mine is immaculate.

A huge complaint about my last car ('99 Passat) was the black cloth upholstery. It is refered to as a "linterior" among dubheads. That cloth grabbed and held onto every peice of lint and hair. And it didn't clean up well. t was murder to vaccum.

So I was a a bit worried about the black cloth in my Pro5. RELIEF! It vaccums up INCREDIBLY well! :-) It doesn't seem to have the "tack" of the VW cloth adn easily let's go fo lint and hair.

ateixeira

Here's a detailers tip: use tape! Save those large mailing labels on the sides of boxes, and use that to grab the lint from the seats. If not, use roll tape. Works like a charm.

-juice

bluong1

what is a efficient way to clean of the dash without scratching the protected transparent plastic?

ateixeira

Try a Swiffer or Pledge Grab It cloth. They sort of use static cling to remove dust, so you don't have to apply any real pressure.

-juice

mazdafun

Like that used for blowing dust out of keyboards and the insides of computers. It should blow off most of the dust and dirt.

After that, use a soft and clean cotton cloth or rag. Make sure you didn't use fabric softener on it, or you'll smear fatty waxes onto that plastic that will attract yet more dust.

phoenixmp5

Upholster: I too, thought the black interior would be a nightmare to clean after my dogs were in the car. I always cover the seats (front & back) to avoid a big mess, but fur will still gets through. I found that simply wiping your hand over the seats would take off the fur and lint very easily. The fur even lifted out of the carpet with much more ease than I’ve experienced in previous cars.

Shifter: I spend most of my driving time in traffic, so I opted for the automatic. I did however drive my parents 2001 Pro. LX 2.0 and found the shifting pattern and clutch easier and smoother than anything I’ve driven before! IMO, what you experienced was a rarity and not the norm.

Sporin

California Dash Duster... there is no substitute.

Be careful using sticky tape to clean cloth seats. Over time, the upholstery picks up the glue from the tape and causes MORE lint and hair to stick to it.

bluong1

OK, California Dash Duster and electro-static cloth for the dash.
Now another question: do you apply any leather/shoe polish on the Nardi leather of the steering wheel now and then?

Sporin

I'd just clean it with some Lexol every once and a while.

mjudson

Has anyone found mud flaps that will work on the pro5?

Also, has anyone tried using a pad that will fit around the cargo bars to change the amout of wind hitting the bars?

Thanks

iamz

Just a comment on the red/orange dash lighting....if memory serves me correctly, red lighting reduces fatigue to your eyes and can improve your night vision.

raduga750

I asked the dealer who sold me my P5 whether Mazda is now offering 0% financing. He said that offer only applies to 2001 Mazda models, and not to the 2002 P5. The Mazda US website doesn't include the P5 in its 0% offer -- see:

http://www.mazdausa.com/promo_finance/

Maybe dealers in different parts of the country are operating differently?

jskho

According to the salesman I talked to, it started on 11/1. This is confirmed by audia8q.
I was surprised when he said that since I haven't read about it anywhere, incl mazdausa.com

douglam

You could also say that the red lightning is too BMW-ish too! BMWs use similar red lighting. I like the red instrument panels!

Well, maybe the rest of the radio and other switches don't need to be red... but then you can always change to an aftermarket cd receiver and those have nice colours.

tisteve

I guess I haven't been in a beamer lately (or ever), so I didn't know they had the red. It was just a bit of a color shock after seeing green lighting in Toyotas and Nissans for years. I'm sure it just takes getting used to. I do love the white dials during the day, they remind me of an older Maxima we had.
I hope you all don't think I am too critical of the P5, it's really a nice little car. I just wanted to know if any of the nits I had became more serious annoyances after ownership.
The overall enthusiasm everyone has for this car speaks volumes about it's qualities and characteristics.
What in the heck is that picture of in the radio hole, a nav system? I was looking for more of a cubby hole that would fit in under a typical size stereo. I'd like to keep my pretty decent Pioneer stereo, but the green would really be odd with all that red lighting.
Are most of you happy with the stock CD player? I'm not an audio nut, but usually find stock units lacking in ummphh and sharpness. During my brief test drive I really didn't mess with the stereo too much.
Thanks for all the great info on this forum, there's no better source for info than people who actually own one, I might be one of those one day.

robr2

...does work to reduce eye fatigue and looks great (IMHO) at night. But those people who suffer from visual color deficiency (color blindness) have a hard time seeing and or distinguishing shades of red. For many years there was a local auto writer who suffered from it and he hated test driving BMW's because he couldn't see the guages at night.

jskho

A few cars of sporty pretensions has it also, e.g. Corolla S, Altima...
Mazdas in the late 80 early 90 also have it.
BTW, got invoice + $400 quote from dealer over email. Now asking if they participate in S-plan.

douglam

It's not that good. Really lacking in kick. But the good thing is that it DOES play CDRs and CDRWs!

If u're thinking of upgrading, there is a slight problem. Mazda decided to change the factory audio connector this year and so NO wire harness is available yet. So if you're going to change it right away, u'll have to splice into the factory plug (which i'm not gonna do). So i'm stuck with the factory radio until the harness is out.

Also, you need to get a pocket or something to fit the other DIN space because the factory radio is a double DIN (assuming that your new stereo is single DIN).

Sporin

I'm thinking that you could improve things a lot without replacing the head unit.

I plan to upgrade the speakers and add an amp. That should satisfy my needs.

douglam

Well, i don't think the factory head unit has RCA outputs. The only way to add an amp is to amplify the speaker signals, which IMHO isn't as good as connecting to RCA outs.

Don't know where I read, but i heard the stock speakers are or decent quality... so i'm gonna see if the head unit makes any difference before upgrading the speakers (eventually).

bluong1

Oh really? I heard the exact contrary: the stock speakers of the P5 are low quality. Few peoples in the forum did changed only the speakers and they seem all very happy afterwards. In general, in an audio system, speakers are always the weakest link, therefore greater improvement can be achieve from upgrading them first.

Bruno

tisteve

I have some pretty decent pioneer speakers that I'll be bringing over from my Taco, I believe they are 6" round, the rears are two way and the front three way. Could I put those in the P5?
I guess I'll sell my Pioneer head unit rather than try to hack it into the P5, but it would be nice to keep my speakers.
No one answered my earlier question, what type of unit is that shown in that picture from 15-20 posts ago?

mazdafun

Front doors are 6x8in, which is not a rare size, contrary to someone else's post.

Rears are 6.25in rounds.

hondaaccessory

I just got a packet from Mazda and one of the items in it was an accessory brochure which included items I hadn't seen before. One of them was upgrade speakers for the front doors. Anyone familiar with them?

They also had a picture of the autodimming rear view mirror (I still want to know how it is wired in) a car cover and a trim piece for the rear bumper, the top part right infront of the hatch

ashutoshsm

http://www.mazdausa.com/protege5/gallery/

According to an email I just received from mazdausa.

iamz

This is just my opinion, but the stock speakers actually have pretty good bass and highs. The weakness in the stock speakers seems to be in the midrange. They seem to overly emphasize some midrange frequencies(the head unit could be doing this to). I found by adjusting the base and treble above nominal,(70 to 100% of boost)while knocking down the midrange 3 or 4 notches BELOW nominal, the sound improved dramatically. The effect was especially noticable while playing CD's.

todd_p5

I read the question and answers about gas mileage, and I guess I should be pretty pleased with mine. I have an automatic, and the car is still pretty new. I drive about 80 percent highway, and on the 3 tanks of gas that I have put in the car, I got 30, 30, and 31 mpg. Maybe I just need to stop driving like a grandma

Todd

elec3

It's not awful but it's not really good. It just doesn't have that clarity and power which say "Hello, I am a high wattage mobile audio system." I like the head unit because of the reasonably large buttons and red display. The stock speakers are not very good (they are only rated at 25 watts I believe and have small magnets). I put an 8" 100 watt powered Bazooka sub in the hatch of mine and it helps tremendously with bass response. It's very balanced and adds exactly the right amount of bass to any music. This makes up for the weak bass response of the stock speakers. My only remaining complaint is that the sound still lacks power and clarity. My first instinct would be to replace the speakers with higher quality, name brand speakers rated at more watts. If this doesn't solve the problem, either an amp or a new head unit likely would. For me the addition of the sub plus fiddling with the tone controls is good enough. Maybe I'll do the rest later when I have cash to burn.

iamz

The display of the tone controls shows 10 segments and the tone control knob clicks twice (2 notches) for each segment. So when I say 3 to 4 notches below nominal, there should still be at least 3 segments displayed. Below that, things start to sound muddy.

Sporin

I seem to get right around 30 mpg no matter how I drive. I tend to granny-shift around town and we really don't have stop-and-go traffic up here. So my "city" driving is pretty close to most people's "highway."

On a recent long highway trip, I expected MPG to improve over my usual 30. But it only went to 31. So the car seems frugal, no matter what. That's a good thing in my eyes. :-)

doctor_r

I now have about 5000KM on my 5-speed P5. I thought that the mileage would tune its way out, but so far I haven't seen any change. When I first got my car I went on a 2000Km round trip and averaged about 35-36mpg. In the city I sit some where in the range of 28-29mpg (kind of hard driving). If anything the mileage seems to be degrading, which would be contradictory to what most people are saying.

Oh and ash, that screen saver sucks #$%. Its just a flash executable that you invoke manually. Not a true screen saver. Although you could probably turn it into one.

Also I was into see my dealer the other day and pick up my floor mats (that have been on back order for over a month now). Noticed the P5 in the showroom had one of those "zoomzoom" stickers on it. So I thought I'd ask for some. Man they had quite the wad of them thar stickers. Scored myself 6 of the things no questions asked. I think he would have gave me the whole stack if I asked.

r

protege_fan

When I took my '01 LX Pro for it's first oil change a while ago, the assistant service manager told me that it wouldn't be until 10000 km that gas mileage would get better. However, she's also the lady who tried to tell me that I could not use -1 size winter tires. So she may know some thing, but I take everything she says with a grain of salt.

PF

ateixeira

She may have been concerned with brake clearance, or load ratings for the tires. They may indeed fit, but a manufacturer is wise to recommend against it.

-juice

westy5

FYI... a local dealer here in Oklahoma has said that he will give me 0% financing on a new P5. I'm going to take a test drive on Monday.

I have yet to hear of 0% financing on 2002 Mazdas via the TV, radio, or Web, but apparently all one needs to do is ask their dealer.

protege_fan

I would take that 0% financing and RUN! Sounds like a good deal to me! We can't get 0% up here in Canada...only 0.9%. What term was the dealer offering for the 0% (36 months?, etc.)

tisteve

0% is great, but it's usually only on 36 months. That would equal about a $500 monthly payment on a P5 with minimal down. If I could afford $500 a month, I'd be looking at some larger and more expensive vehicles.
That 0% is a bit overrated IMHO. But they do offer 4.9% out to 72 months, that makes for a nice low payment, although a lot of interest over such a long time.

mazdadude1

I like the reddish-orange personally. It looks like the needles are that color for the most part. Very cool looking imo. Mileage is again being questioned. I got the sticker mileage... plus about 1 mpg. For my automatic, that means 30-31 on a road trip... Had my p5 since august and grinning still. Saw a student driving one on campus just like mine! Same color too; silver. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Another advisee of mine came into my office and we chatted about vehicles... his a black cherokee. Told him I had a silver p5 and he said, "The one in the faculty lot?" I said yeah and he said "Sweet car." Second student to note it. Now one has bought it. Must be catching. later P5 lovers and those who r curious.

alana3

Hi,

Wow, 30mpg. I sure wish my P5 would get close
to that. I have about 2200 miles on mine and
my car only gets 23mpg. I drive
about 2/3 freeway and 1/3 on the streets, with
AC on. Since it is getting cooler in Texas
now, I have been driving with the AC off and I am
still getting about 23mpg. Since my car
is Automatic, I thought I would average 27-28mpg,
not 23. Do y'all have any ideas why the gas
mileage is so low?

Thanks,
Alana

alana3

Hi,

  I exported my mpg spreadsheet to a html chart

which shows my gas mileage over time.

the Url is

http://home.austin.rr.com/acable/2002mazdap5_mpg.html

thanks,

alana

khoa_98

Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed by the gas mileage. I just took a highway roadtrip, and I got 28 mpg, all highway. Around town, it's 25-26. I've got 1500 miles on it. I'm waiting for my 30 mpg tank.

iamz

I've been getting around 26 to 28 mpg. With 95% freeway driving I have been able to push it up to about 29. I have about 8500 miles on the engine.

I had to put about 15,000 to 17,000 miles on my 97 protege before it started to loosen up and show improved gasoline milage.