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Comments
I'm actually really happy with the price. It looks like the deal is done. If all goes well I'll be picking it up Saturday afternoon. I guess some people can really negotiate a good price, but I liked this autobytel thing, an email and a phone call and I've got a deal. I hate the car buying game so this was great for me.
I'm getting the blue. I know it's going to be a bear to keep clean, but I just loved the color. My cars have been silver, blue, red, green and currently white, and I've been really wanting another blue car. I almost got the white after seeing it in person but decided I didn't want two white cars in a row.
Meade
Now I just have to decide which cd I listen to driving off the lot. Early leader is U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind. It's supposed to be a nice day tommorrow so Beautiful Day seems like a good 1st song.....
Thanks for the input. It is just the muffler and tip. I would like to get the Racing Beat one at 495 but it is still not available as of this week.
Has anybody heard when they might release it?
We are just as anxious to have these as you are! As with most new items, I
have found over the years that the first batch to come off the line usually
takes a month or two longer than anticipated. Many times during the final
prototype sessions, changes will be required before final production can
begin. The last thing we want is to ship product all over the country and
encounter fitment issues.
We are expecting these in around the end of March... but until I hear the
final word, don't hold me to it. I promise the wait will be worth it, these
systems are going to look and sound great!
Best regards,
Jim Langer
Racing Beat, Inc.
714-779-8677
www.racingbeat.com
Shrique,
We make a fully polished stainless steel cat-back exhaust with an
interchangable tip for your car. Part # 112-215.
Additional tips are sold separately and will be available by the summer.
Here are some good mail order companies.
Exhaust Systems Technology 973-464-2719 *
Summit Racing 1-800-230-3030
Strano Performance 1-800-729-1831
Thanks
Mick
Bruno
Congrats on the new car. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who's wondering what CD to play in their new car. I've already got the CD picked out (Sublime - Sublime) but not the color!
vf
PS: Mine is silver
Will rolling my car on one ramp on one of the front wheels let all the oil out of the engine?
Here is what my ramps look like... I usally only use (1)
that link shows exactly what I normally do. Any suggestions?
As far as alarm goes-it's made by CodeAlarm and has their shock sensor somewhere under the dash. It's a square thingy that says code alarm on it. It has a little handle sticking out that adjusts sensitivity.
If when you unlock the door the car beeps several times it means alarm was triggerred and the number of beeps says which sensor did that. You should have received an installation manual that explains how to install the whole thing, and how to adjust it. I didn't get mine until I bugged the dealer for a while..
Good choice on the blue. I would have gotten the blue as well except that my wife's 99 Protege LX is blue and that seemed a little much. Plus, with that black interior, I really wanted to avoid a dark exterior for our glorious Texas summers (ugh). So I went with the silver.
Your P5 gets up on those ramps? They look awful steep for the front end. I had a pair that looked like them, but couldn't get my Protege sedan to go up them w/o scraping the front bumper fascia. I got a pair of Rhino Ramps that work though.
Would you be willing to send me a copy of the alarm installation manual to me?
krotine
After checking tire pressures and making sure the car was on a flat level sureface, I measured the distance from the ground to the top of the fender lip at the center of the wheel hub.
My fronts are dead on even, and my backs are about 1/4 inch different. Now I didn't have a lot of stuff in the hatch, but it wasn't empty either so I expect that if I emptied it completely it would even out.
So, no problems here. Have you had your dealer check it out yet?
That would be cool... thanks.
Email: jason_krotine@limbachinc.com
Thank you,
krotine
This was the best I've ever felt after buying a car. Two emails and two phone calls and the deal was done. I was worried things would change when I got to the dealer but that didn't happen. Numbers were just as I expected, car was in perfect condition, and the people were helpful and enjoyable to work with.
More on my initial thoughts later.....
Thanks to all who helped me through the shopping deciding process. At this point, I couldn't be happier with the car.
I've narrowed my search to these two cars; I really wish the P5 had more options available, as it is a car I'd much rather be driving every day. Has anyone heard anything about the 2003 P5 having more options available?
The Matrix, does have a DVD player with a navigation system, which is pretty amazing for a car that starts around $17,000. You can also get the Matrix with side-impact air bags, rear seat heater ducts, a first-aid kit, a picnic table, and many tie-down hooks (I counted 8).
But the Matrix had the power of the previous generation RAV4. Even with the manual (which I tested), the ride was less than inspiring, to say the least. You can get it with a 180-hp engine, but you can't use any of it until you hit 6000 RPM. Also, I found that the handling was not nearly as good as the P5, or, for that matter, my 1996 Nissan Altima!
It's funny, because the horsepower, torque, and weight are nearly identical between the two cars, but the P5 felt so much better. Any idea on why that might be?
I'm going to try and break it in as best I can, but it's hard. We had a 1.5 hour drive home from the dealer, some traffic, some highway, and I enjoyed all of it. The engine seems to let you putter around in traffic without lurching you around or anything. You can tell it really wants to go, but I held back. On the highway we varied our speed, and didn't go too fast, but felt great, controlled, stable, and not too loud at all. I didn't notice any of the noise and whistles others have complained about with the sunroof, but then again I drive a convertible with wind leaking in from all around so the P5 is dead quiet in comparison.
I'm sure there will be more likes and dislikes as I go along, but 2 days in there is not a hint of buyers remorse. It's just a great car!
The Matrix, does have a DVD player with a navigation system, which is pretty amazing for a car that starts around $17,000. You can also get the Matrix with side-impact air bags, rear seat heater ducts, a first-aid kit, a picnic table, and many tie-down hooks (I counted 8).
But the Matrix had the power of the previous generation RAV4. Even with the manual (which I tested), the ride was less than inspiring, to say the least. You can get it with a 180-hp engine, but you can't use any of it until you hit 6000 RPM. Also, I found that the handling was not nearly as good as the P5, or, for that matter, my 1996 Nissan Altima!
It's funny, because the horsepower, torque, and weight are nearly identical between the two cars, but the P5 felt so much better. Any idea on why that might be?
Revka
Host
Hatchbacks & Station Wagons Boards
The P5 comes with rear seat heating ducts standard, as do all trim levels of the Protege sedan. The ABS comes as a package with front side air bags, I believe. The P5 has a fully-independent rear suspension with TTL (helps in high-g turns by toeing out the rear wheels to counteract understeer). It also has a front strut tower brace to stiffen the front and yield faster responses to turning inputs.
Ultimately, the Matrix and P5 are aimed at slightly different markets. Both are aimed at practicality blended ith fun, but the Matrix is more on the side of practicality (the additional cargo space). The wilder (not better, IMO) styling attempts to make up for the resulting shortcomings in the drivetrain. Also, the Matrix's drivetrains try to eke out more economy, so the gearing results in less peppy responsiveness.
This is where my wife and I disagree. We both value practicality and reliability, but she wants more fuel economy than fun-to-drive, whereas I will sacrifice a couple mpg for better handling and responsivenss. I think the P5 with the optional upgrade to the base Mazda6 4-cyl would be a great machine. For her, a Civic or Corolla would be a better fit.
I also want to buy some mud flaps but I can't find any specifically for the car. I know most people would say that you don't need them, but I had an NX2000 that had the side sills like the P5 and within 1 year I was repainting the lower doors. Has anyone put some mud flaps on their P5? If so, what did you use?
Thanks for any help.
1. There are four wires connected to it -- which wire is the high
side?
2. What is the voltage -- 0-1 VDC or 0-5 VDC?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It was the souped up version, with nice big wheels, sports exhaust (pretty nice one) and the sports trim. But that thing is much bigger than our P5's and it's like 6-8 inches taller! So it's more like a mini mini-van than a wagon. I would say that when doing high speed cornering, our P5s would beat it hands down because we would have less body roll. I would also say that the Matrix is bigger and heavier and therefore it needs the extra power for good acceleration.
The front is the only part I liked about the Matrix. The side is kinda ugly because of the taller body and they try really hard to make a "flow" pattern with the door and windows to make the car seem not as tall as a mini-van.
The dealer noticed my car too and he said it looked nice
Needless to say that trip to the Toyota dealership didn't change a thing how I feel about my P5! hehehe...
Oh BTW, the new corolla is nice, just like a mini camry. But I wouldn't buy one, coz there's no driving feeling at all and the shifter is really bad...
A- swing axle
B- double wishbones
C-MacPherson strut
D- (semi) trailing arm
E- torsion beam
F- multilink
G-weissach axle
H- none of the above
Bruno
Of course this is only for the rear, McPherson struts up front.
Thanks Hank. Just a small question: you wrote "Improved" in which sense? Cost? Compactness? I though that the multilink design is actually more sophisticated and the handling is better than with the TTL. IIRC, some more expensive Mazda models come with the multilink rear suspension like the Xedos or last few generations of Wankel motorized Mazda. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I also had the rear-facing infant seat in my P5, but my little one crossed the size threshold for that seat and he's now front-facing. When your little one gets to that stage I highly recommend the Century NextStep DX. This is not why we chose this seat, but it turns out it's almost a perfect match for the P5 interior. It's uncanny.
And yes, the hatch is large enough for a stroller and other baby gear.
You can get at least some parts from www.mazdastuff.com. I'm pretty sure they sell the cargo tray.
Here's a generalized definition of a multilink suspension:
A rear suspension consisting of at least four links, or "arms," and no struts. Because multilink suspensions assign specific wheel-locating duties to each element, they provide great flexibility for optimizing both ride and handling.
As you can see, the definition of a multilink suspension could be quite broad, and there are definitely many many variations by various manufacturers on the basic multilink suspension design.
To find out how TTL differs/improves upon other multilink designs, I suggest go to Mazda's official site and read their spec on TTL. (I know most of it is marketing propaganda, but it does give you an idea on its purpose and goals)
My club members actually complimented me on how good it looks. BTW, protege5 has 7 hooks which is only 1 less than matrix. Personally, i do like the matrix but having your power betweet 6 and 8 thousand rpm is stupid. Not only does your engine wear out faster at higher rpm, but you waste more gas. And the equally equipped matrix does come out more expensive than the p5. And the car doesnt even come in yellow. I don't care for cars that don't come in yellow.
I've had the thing for since november and I'm still giddy. This really had nothing to do with anything but I just wanted to know if I was the only freak who possitively LOVES their P5.
Mustang87: You said it has cutouts for the tie downs? does that include the bottom tie downs? Specifically I was wondering if it would keep spills of some kind of getting to the carpet.
Thanks
Negatives:
* An intermittent rattle has crept into the passenger side of the car; it's not bothersome yet, but it's there.
* As everyone else has noted, a bit more power wouldn't hurt (never does!).
* The stock tires (Dunlops) are OK on snow/ice, but we've had a mild winter in S. Ontario so far. I'm definately getting dedicated snows next winter, if only to save tread on the OEM tires. Also I find the grip on wet could be better.
* The driver's side mirror doesn't adjust out far enough for my taste.
* Gas mileage isn't as good as I would have thought. I'm getting around 11.5 l/100 km (I think that's about 24 mpg), which I consider low. Note: I do take zoom-zoom to heart.
* Noise levels are a bit high at 130kph+ (expected), but there also seems to be a resonance just under 2000 rpm that's annoying. However it's dead quiet at idle.
* Exclusivity is declining - but I still wave at every P5 owner whose path I cross, and every single one has waved back.
Positives: Everything else! I mean it -- I love this car!
When my sister was in town over Xmas, my kids were amazed that I would lend it to her while she was here. (To my credit, I only hesistated for a moment.)
My neighbour (w/BMW 740) across the road still thinks I pamper the car too much. Last time I was caught washing the P5, he said I'd rub the paint off if I didn't stop.
Summary (for Shrique): I love this car!