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Mazda Protegé

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Comments

  • protegenicprotegenic Member Posts: 199
    Interesting that these two cars would come up since that is what I am looking at now. We test drove a Millenia last night and my wife liked it. With S-Plan pricing and incentives, the price for the Millenia with the 170hp v-6 is $22K. I have not been able to get any Honda dealer in Atlanta down below 23300 for the Accord EX-V6. Granted, the Accord performs better, but that is not a priority to my wife. I also have read that the 2.3L Miller cycle is 0-60 in the upper 7/low 8 second range while the 2.5L is in the low 9's. I may be able to live with that.

    Another thing going for the Millenia is that there are just too many Accords on the road, and I also think there is a little more prestige with the Millenia. I am sure that is open to debate, but it is just my opinion.
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Time to move the Accord and Millenia discussions off to those topics, dontchathink?

    Meade
  • pw_eastsidepw_eastside Member Posts: 15
    Hello gang,

    I've been following the Pro board for quite a while now and I'd like to thank everyone for their insightful comments and observations about the Pro.

    Currently I'm bumming around in a '98 Cavalier (I know, I know....I'm ashamed to admit it but in all honesty, it has been a decent car for me) but most likely my next car puchase will be a Protege. After following the action here and renting one for myself I feel that the Pro is definately the best small-car value out there.

    Another factor in my decision is that my fiance is currently driving a '90 Pro LX and I find myself trying to drive her car more than my own! Even though it's over 10 years old it has less rattles and squeaks than my 3 year-old car. Granted, it was her grandma's before she got it and granny wasn't exactly Mario Andretti but I'm so impressed with the build quality of the Pro verus my Cav that I feel much more confident in the long term reliability of the Protege.

    Thanks again for the great input (and occasional off topic tangents) and helping to make my next car buying decision that much easier!

    Eastside
  • krotinekrotine Member Posts: 93
    Can I get a short background of the people who are going to the mapp2 this year? I don't want to feel like the odd man out.

    Jason
    2002 Protegé5
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Eastside ... welcome! Nice to hear from you. Your situation is interestingly similar to ours ... except the roles are reversed. I'm the Protege owner and my wife is the not-so-proud owner of a 1995 Cavalier. We just had a baby and since we only plan to have one child (I know, I know ... don't start on that subject!), we don't want to lose our automotive hearts & souls and buy a minivan. We think her next car, about this time next year, will be a Protege5.

    Jason ... Odd man out? Believe me, from having met the group, each of us has oddities to say the least! :) Oh ... and if you're saying you're the "odd man out" because of the fact that you have a Protege5 and the rest of us (so far) have Proteges, please please PLEASE don't let that be the reason you don't come! I've been dying to get an up-close, nitty-gritty-detailed look at a P5, and hear first-hand accounts about it! Your presence would be MUCHO cool!

    Background? OK, I'm 36, male, and a big guy -- 6-foot-1 and 275 pounds. (Yet I find my Protege comfortable!) Other than raving about my car and washing it more often than my wife thinks is necessary (and she may have a point there), my other hobbies include amateur ("ham") radio and astronomy. I have a VHF ham transceiver mounted in the lower dash and an antenna mounted on the trunk of the Protege. I am employed as Public Relations Manager of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, the state agency that operates Richmond's minor-league ballpark, several downtown parking decks, and the toll roads in the Richmond area. (Yes, your tolls pay my salary ... so come and visit Richmond!!!) :)

    I hope you'll consider the journey to MAPP II ... The Sequel. We'll have a blast!

    BTW, I'm going to take that second attempt at the MAPP II info e-mail in just a few minutes ... let me know if you guys get it!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Because of problems with our e-mail server at work, I had to take the original message ... which was supposed to go to everbody, so everybody could see who was getting it ... and send it to each of you separately. Here's who it went to:

    Meade (mdaffron)
    Larry (protegextwo)
    Paul (vocus)
    James (fowler3)
    Jason (krotine)
    Chow-chi (mazdafun)
    Steve (sfrat)

    If anybody else is interested in coming, please e-mail me at:

    mdaffron@the-rma.org

    Wow Paul, quick reading! I see I just got a response from you. I'm off to read it ...

    Meade
  • pw_eastsidepw_eastside Member Posts: 15
    Thanks for the greeting and just to make things more ironic....I'll probably be getting rid of the Cav about this time next year too! I guess that means two more homeless Cavs in the world. There goes the resale value.

    The only thing I need to work on now is to try to get my fiance to change her mind about her next car purchase. She's currently infatuated with getting a VW Golf...she thinks the backlighting on the instrument cluster is cool. ; ) Who knows, maybe I can bring her to the Pro side of the Force!

    Eastside
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    Me, I'm a 31-yr-old 6-ft male, 195lb. Grew up east coast (NYC, then Suffolk County for 4 yrs), undergrad west coast (nice weather out there...miss it) and now live & work in the midwest.

    Probably don't wash my Pro as often as it deserves due to the rain we've been getting weekly here.

    My vehicle: a classic red '99 LX with upgraded speakers (Pioneers) and a trunk organization kit. Will upgrade the stock steel wheels & tires to alloy wheels and tires (AVID T4s, Bridgestone RE910s or Michelin X-Ones) before the REAL rainy season starts (the FR680s are terrible on wet roads). Also still own a classic red '89 323LX (MY first car) with upgraded speakers and wheels/tires.

    Previous rides: '84 Olds Firenza hatchback(death trap that belonged to my father), '76 Chevy cargo van (another death trap that my father owned), '86 Ford Taurus LX sedan(pretty good, except the computer died and had to be replaced twice, inflatable lumbar support sprung a leak, headrests didn't stay up etc...then my brother trashed it). My father finally gave up on the domestic big three and got himself a Honda Civic 3-dr hatchback.
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Eastside, I'm trying to talk my wife out of a Golf too!!!! She likes the looks (why? It's a freakin' box on wheels) and the hatch on the back. I'm scared to death of VWs because of their lackluster service history. I've been working on her pretty hard, though, and I think she's liking the P5 more now. Maybe those "Golf over my dead body" statements, along with other, equally mild hints, have done their job ....

    :)

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Now I've got EVERYBODY giving their personal measurements to Jason! Listen ... if any women want to attend, giving your measurements is NOT an attendance requirement! I just gave mine because I didn't want everyone to yell "SHAMU!" and call the Coast Guard when they saw me!!!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    It'll be interesting to compare notes when we see each other. I plan to have Avid T4s on my 2000 ES (with the stock rims though) by the time we meet. The only thing that would make the stock Bridgestone Poortenzas MORE hydroplane-prone would be a good coating of teflon on the tread!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Thanks to Paul (vocus) for saving this humorous piece I penned last year, right about the time we all started to wonder how safe it was to meet a bunch of strangers in a state park ... enjoy reading!!!

    ------------------------------------------------

    Hey -- who knows? For all I know, Larry's an ax murderer and all of you will read the following in your Sunday papers:

    NORTHERN VIRGINIA (AP) -- Seven people from three mid-Atlantic states were discovered dead in their cars at a local park early Saturday afternoon, State Police officials said.

    All seven died of massive hemorrhaging caused by what appeared to be chainsaw wounds, police spokesman Barney Fife said. "Craziest thing I ever saw," Fife said. "All of these people were parked next to each other in the parking area. They all had the same kind of car -- some kind of Mazda -- but they were from different states, and their trunks were full of burgers and hot dogs. One guy even had a cooler full of lasagna."

    One of the victims, a portly, middle-aged man from Richmond, was incorrectly identified as Drew Carey to local media before next of kin had been notified.

    So far police are following one lead in the tragedy, Fife said. Bloody tire tracks from what appears to be yet another identical Mazda were found leading away from the scene, and a blood-stained Pennsylvania license plate was recovered near one of the vehicles.

    Fife said no motive had been determined. "I don't know," he said. "All we found so far was a bunch of wadded-up e-mails from some guy named Edmund or something."

    And one more thing, he said -- a mysterious message -- written by a bloody finger, across the back windshield of each car: "I think it was something like, 'ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM,' Fife said.

    ----------------------------------------------

    :)

    Meade
  • pw_eastsidepw_eastside Member Posts: 15
    Meade, I think we'd better quit while we're ahead. These similarities are getting way out of hand! : ) I do agree with you about worrying about VW's reliability, I'm not looking forward to possibly soaking a bunch of cash into the thing when it's off warranty. I haven't resorted to the "Golf over my dead body" tactic yet but I might have to go there!

    Eastside
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Besides, we don't want to say so much bad stuff about the Golf, lest the "VW Hawk" comes swooping down upon us to chide us on the error of our ways.

    :)

    Meade
  • nikecarnikecar Member Posts: 460
    I finally managed to wash our Pro after about a month (since it rains every day here) and because of the lack of care, it seems there was a bird poop or something that stained the paint on the roof.. And this after washing it almost every week or every other week. Now i'd look almost daily for any stains and was that section as needed, but this was the first all over wash... I'm so mad at myself... AAARRRGGGHHH... oh well... I shall be hitting the whole Wax/Polish route early September and get back to caring for it...

    now both cars have at least one matching spot... how annoying.
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    I've got some nice spots on my roof and trunk from a meager drizzle we had about a week ago. Just enough to spot the paint and bring some acid down from the oak trees above. Oh hell, this coat of Nu Finish has gone six months anyway. Time to get out the wax too.

    I just don't know when I'm going to get to the trim on the house or repainting the front porch, when there are more important things to do like wash and vacuum the Protege every weekend!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Isn't it time for somebody else to fly off the handle and bash their Protege?

    Meade
  • protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    Ok, I'll give it a shot...
    My damn Pro. It's nothing but trouble. It's been so good on gas that I don't have to go to the gas station all the time.
    When I go around corners tightly my stupid tires don't squeal and I don't feel like the car is gonna spin out of control.
    The damn A/C cools me off too fast. It always blows cold air! What's up with that?
    The darn engine makes me drive too fast. I'm always able to pass people and never have a problem going up hills! What a crappy little engine!
    And the brakes...oh don't get me started. I've already avoided a few accidents because of these poor brakes. With other brakes I could probably have a new car with the insurance money that I would have gotten from the wreckage.
    Never will I buy another Mazda product. I should have known better...My dad's '91 MPV that has over 350k KM on it is still going strong.

    Stupid Protege...Too fun to drive. Sigh, guess I'll have to live with it.

    Regards,

    Protege_fan
  • dsgechodsgecho Member Posts: 89
    Can people give some eperiences with the 2001 Protege LX auto,cruise, on good hiway or city mileage with a light foot? I think I can do 30 in the city and 35-37 hiway[cruise,62-63 mph] with careful driving but want tot know people's experiences. Thanks in advance!
    New owner, obviously.
    Don Gillespie
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Great one!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    ... of putting their city (or at least state, for crying out loud) in their profiles? Dammit, I'm trying to find mid-Atlantic Protege owners for the upcoming MAPP II. But almost every time I see a new face on the topic and I click on their profile in an effort to find out what part of the country they're in, I find that they live in "USA." Well that's really helpful! I think I'll change mine to "Western Hemisphere" ... or maybe that still makes it too easy to find me ... how about "Earth's surface?"

    Let's stop being so paranoid!

    Meade
  • protegextwoprotegextwo Member Posts: 1,265
    I'm not paranoid! Just stop talking about me! HEHE! HEHE! Also, stop looking at my profile! LOL!!

    -Larry "the chopper"
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Edmunds doesn't let you have free reign of saying where you live. But I did manage to update my profile to reflect my feelings on anonymity.

    :)

    Good to hear from you Larry. (OOOOHHH! I shouldn't have said that. Now THEY know we're friends.)

    Meadeball
  • krotinekrotine Member Posts: 93
    My profile has been updated.

    Jason
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    I drive mostly local (at least 60 percent, probably more) with my 1.6L '99LX.

    I typically get 28-29mpg. With a heavy foot, I can get this down to 24-26mpg. On the freeway, at a loping pace (about 3000rpm), using cruise on flat sections, I've easily achieve 38mpg. On the freeway at higher speed (circa 3400rpm), hills, passing, not caring about economy etc, I get 31-32mpg.
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Or anyone else in particular. I guess my ham radio hobby has trained me to wonder "where I'm talking to."

    I'm so nosy, in fact, that sometimes I'll ask where phone solicitors are calling me from -- that is, if I decide to engage them in a conversation, which ain't often. Sometimes the answer is surprising! A few weeks ago, we got a call from a billing agent for the hospital where my wife had our baby here in Richmond -- but the person, who identified herself as a hospital employee, was calling from Louisville, Kentucky! On another occasion I got called by a young lady doing a phone survey about music. When I told her I hoped she had a nice evening, she said she would try -- if the snow ever let up. Well, it was November here and 60 degrees, so I had to ask where she was calling from.

    Calgary!

    The worst (or best) reason to make sure you know where people are is this -- maybe you can all benefit from a lesson I learned. Back in my younger, stupider days (er, five years ago), I saw an ad in our local paper's classifieds offering to pay something like $10 an hour to print computer labels at home from a list provided by a certain company. To find out more you had to call a long-distance number with area code 809. Well, I figured it would only be a couple of minutes and it was state-to-state calling, so what the heck?

    Turns out I was placed on eternal hold by an automated machine that kept coming back every two or three minutes and saying I was next in line, would be helped shortly, etc. -- all the time playing enticing stories about making lots of money while I was on hold. After about 15 minutes of getting nowhere, I pulled out my phone book (still on hold) and found, to my horror, that I was calling THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!

    I hung up and called the operator, only to find that my short call already had rung up to more than $30. I explained what happened and the operator actually removed the charge from my account -- very nice, thanks Ma Bell -- and I then called the paper and warned them about the scam, and they removed the ad the next day.

    You'd have thunk that since it looked like a normal U.S. area code, it was in the U.S. -- not out in the Caribbean! Oh well, live and learn -- you never know!

    Meade
  • protegenicprotegenic Member Posts: 199
    Meade, sorry to trash up the forum with off-topic stuff, but I value others opinions on this forum since I have been frequenting it for the past two years since I purchased my Protege and you folks have a lot of good opinions and experience. Besides, a little off topic repartee is a little nice every now and then dontchathink?
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    Since no 2001 owners have replied, I guess I'll forward my info for my 2000 ES 5-speed (1849 cc):

    26-28 mpg city
    30-34 mpg highway

    Keep in mind that the 5-speed is geared for faster RPMs than the automatic. At 70 mph, I'm right at 3500 rpm -- while my buddy Tom, who has the identical car except with an automatic, is at about 3,000 rpm. I tend to like the higher revs -- gives me better passing power and makes the car feel quicker, since the shortcut tube in the intake manifold kicks in at 3,500 rpm -- but I get poorer gas mileage than he does. He frequently calls me up to brag about getting nearly 40 mpg on the highway. I've never done better than 34.

    FWIW --

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    But being a loyal lurker in the Daewoo topics (for humor), I'm used to seeing the hosts have to come in and steer everybody back on course. I didn't want them to call us down for straying.

    By the way, are you a fan of the movie "Hunt for Red October?" I am, and one of the lines in your post echoed Sean Connery's (er, Marco Rameus') line, "A little revolution, every now and then, is a good thing, dontchathink?"

    Meade
  • protegenicprotegenic Member Posts: 199
    I just watched that movie last weekend...again. It is one of those movies that never seems to get old to me.
  • vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I have a 2001 ES 2.0 automatic, and average something like 23-25 mpg. I have a heavy foot though, usually clipping along at 75-90 mph on the highway. :) By the way, the ES model is shockingly stable at 110, but runs almost 5000 rpm. And please don't ask how I found out. :)
  • black01coupev6black01coupev6 Member Posts: 195
    Wow!

    protegenic..The Millenia is a nice car for $24,000. I just have to get that remaining Honda loyalty out of my blood.

    LMAO @ that news headline.

    mdaffron: I am getting about 30 MPG average with my '01 ES 5-speed. I don't really do alot of stop and go so I haven't really gotten any lower than that.
  • protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    How are you guys calculating your MPG?

    Pro_fan
  • newcar31newcar31 Member Posts: 3,711
    Fill your tank up, reset your trip odometer, drive until you need gas, fill your tank up again, divide the miles on your trip odometer by how many gallons you put in your tank and you have yourself MPG. Despite dealing with horrendeous, atrocious, unspeakable traffic that could only be worse if your were driving backwards, my 01 ES 5sp gets 25-28 mpg. On roadtrips it gets 33 mpg. By the way, I hate my Protoge, I wish I would have gotten a Kia Sephia instead. It is a much better car.
  • protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    Cool. Thanks for the info newcar....but mine will have to be something like km/litres!! Oh well...gotta get the conversions for the 2 variables to get mpg.
    Sephia vs. Protege? I'm gonna keep my mouth shut.

    Regards,

    Pro_fan
  • protegextwoprotegextwo Member Posts: 1,265
    The "Kia Sephia" would have to be "free...ah"! HE HE HE HE!

    Respectfully,
    "Chopper"
  • edmund2460edmund2460 Member Posts: 293
    My daily commute is 25 miles. 20 of these are on the highway but during the return trip it is like a parking lot for the first 8 of the 20. I have an auto and never exceed 65, always accelerate smoothly etc. and I get around 28-28. On the one short long trip I had through the mountaiss I got nearly 32. I sincerely doubt that you get 40 mpg on this car, I think 34 would be feasible on a long highway trip under ideal conditions
  • edmund2460edmund2460 Member Posts: 293
    This doesn't pertain to the PRo but I just cut my insurance bill in half going with AIG. I understand a lot of others have done the same. They just started selling auto ins. in SC. If you have a good driver rating, and an old fart like me, I think chances are that you can see a big decrease. Any one out there with AIG insurance? If so share your experience
  • nikecarnikecar Member Posts: 460
    For those old readers... thought this woul dbe interesting...

    Saw an accident the other day going home... A Red Protege (99 or 00 LX) that was hit by a Daewoo Lanos. Didn't see any damage on the Protege, but the Daewoo had the hood bent abit and the bumper pushed abit down...

    thought it was cute considering all the safety wars we had... and this was in slow moving traffic...
  • vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    I got a quote from them. I am a 23 year old single male living in Baltimore, Md. (in the city), have one speeding ticket with a point, n o at-fault accidents. Coverage of 50/100/50 with 250/500 ded. for comp.coll. I pay $195 a month for State Farm insurance. AIG quoted me $3500 every 6 months. I think I will stay with State Farm for now. :)
  • laurakatlaurakat Member Posts: 69
    This evening I picked up a LX 2.0, 5spd, free moonroof/alloy package, keyless, and ABS/side airbags, 0% financing. Checked out another dealership today and they gave me a fair price for my Intrepid. The negotiation process was actually quite painless, unlike the dealership yesterday which I spent nearly an hour talking with the sales guy and the sales manager, trying to squeeze more out of my trade. I finally walked and said I'll sell the car myself or try another dealer. Well, the 'trying another dealer' worked. I love the car. Actually put nearly 100 miles on it today running errands with my wife and kids. I actually can't wait to go to work in the morning so I can 'zoom zoom zoom' down the twisty back roads on hwy 3! I do agree, though, the stereo needs upgraded speakers. It's not too bad, just a little flat sounding. I'll have to start shopping for speakers in the near future.

    I hear alot about the MAPP II, any additional word about the CAPP (Chicago Area Pro Picnic)? Or any midwest get together?

    Mike
  • protege_fanprotege_fan Member Posts: 2,405
    Hey Mike!! Congrats on the purchase! What color did u end up getting? How does the wife like the car? Actually, it's better if they're not in the car....that way you don't have to listen to them complain when you take sharp corners or "accidently" speed a little.
    I don't mind the speakers....I'm not an "audiophile" so as long as there's sound coming out it's good by me.
    Anyway, congrats again.

    Regards,

    Pro_fan
  • ashutoshsmashutoshsm Member Posts: 1,007
    If I understand crumple zones and crash impacts correctly, the safer car is the one with less ingress into the passenger compartment/shell and more damage suffered to the external sections (front and back).

    If you think about it, two cars colliding would imply identical forces exerted on each car. So if the car takes the impact and parts are crushed, less force is transferred to the occupants in the passenger area. Now I don't know if lower speeds would affect this analysis, but at higher speeds, the Daewoo actually sounds like it would be safer.

    Guess I should read up a bit more about crashes, impacts and car design!
  • jace1jace1 Member Posts: 23
    I have been looking for an LX 2.0 5 speed with ABS/SAB and am hearing from dealers that they don't exist at this time. I see Mike found one which gives me some hope. Are they that rare atthis time. I am also considering the Golf (reliability q's) and the Civic EX (bland driving experience). I don't see much about problems on this site. Have the Pro's been that good??
    Thanks for replies.

    Jace
  • protegextwoprotegextwo Member Posts: 1,265
    Congrats! Enjoy your PRO and welcome to the club!

    -Larry
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    OK, I am speaking for myself here ... do any of you guys really think I'd want to speak for you?!

    You asked if the Proteges have been that good; here comes my personal history, and I feel I probably have the most experience with Proteges on this topic:

    Protege No. 1: 1992 LX automatic. Top-of-the-line back then; there were no ES models. I had every option except the sunroof. No problems at all. Unfortunately, the car only lasted 28,000 miles because of the crappy Bridgestone Potenza tires it had on it. I hydroplaned during an August thunderstorm and struck a Volvo 245 DL station wagon in the rear at a traffic light. I was still going 40-45 mph. The car was totaled, but despite the fact that the Protege only had those motorized "passive restraint" belts and no air bags in 1992, I walked out of it. The front end crumpled precisely as designed -- there was no buckling of the windshield area or doorsills. The engine dived downward instead of toward the passenger compartment. A "textbook total," you might say. I was so impressed with how the car saved my life, I took my insurance check and purchased:

    Protege No. 2: 1992 LX 5-speed. Yeah, this time I decided to have more fun and bought a 5-speed. And this one was decked out with everything including the sunroof. I was in my first job out of college then and not making a whole lot of money, so this car and I moonlighted at night driving pizzas for Pizza Hut. That's rough service for a car! In only 2-1/2 years, I had 83,000 miles on the car. I never had one problem with it, but I regretted the sunroof purchase because I'm a big guy and I could've used the extra two inches of headroom that the sunroof takes away. I made a big mistake and traded this car for a 1994 Mazda B2300 pickup in December 1994. The Mazda pickups are built by Ford (they're Ranger clones) and I started having recurring engine problems at 8,000 miles. That truck was the worst piece of junk I've ever experienced. I was upside-down credit-wise, though, so I had to keep it until it was paid off. It would spend a week, sometimes two weeks at a time at the dealership while they took the engine apart trying to discover why it always ran too lean or too rich. Man, they replaced every sensor, the intake and exhaust manifolds, remachined the head, reworked the entire cooling system, and replaced parts I'd never heard of before. They even replaced the truck's computer at their expense -- TWICE! My dealership really tried, but we all decided it was just a lemon -- but too late for my state's lemon law. Anyway -- sorry to get off-subject -- as soon as I could, in May 2000, I traded the truck from hell for ...

    Protege No. 3: 2000 ES 5-speed. This time I had some money and could get what I wanted. I could've bought a more expensive car, but I knew what I liked. So this Protege had everything EXCEPT the sunroof. (Side air bags only came with the sunroof package, but after my 1992 experience with no air bags at all, I figured my chances were pretty good.) In 24,500 miles I have had only two minor problems, both of which I caused: the plastic clip that holds the trunk springs up under the rear parcel shelf broke when I slammed a too-tall box into it, and the CD player had to be replaced when I put a CD with a label in it and it jammed. (The manual says not to put a labeled CD in the CD player!) Despite the fact that I damaged these things, my dealership replaced them under warranty.

    There. You have the history of my problems with Proteges. Probably a lot more than you wanted to read, but hey! I love talking about my Protege almost as much as driving it!

    Meade
  • mdaffronmdaffron Member Posts: 4,421
    You both will probably get a kick out of this. I infrequently go over to the Cavalier topic to see what the latest problems are -- my wife drives a 1995 Cavalier. I just went there this morning and the first post I read is the one that follows. Kind of makes you wonder how much crap American car owners are willing to put up with, and puts the minor problems Jerry has experienced into proper perspective! Here goes (pay attention to the first line -- "not given me a lot of trouble" -- but then read what this guy considers to be "not a lot of trouble" and a "reliable" car! LOL!)

    -----------------------------------------------

    My 1997 Cavalier with 53k miles has not given me a lot of trouble and has proven to be reliable SO FAR. Problems were wiper motor that took 3 tries to fix, 2 recalls, replacing the tiny front brakes every 2 years along with a set of rotors, coolant temp sensor, and the usual American made squeaks and rattles. Overall, I won't complain as I bought her for a little under $14000 new well equipped.I do have the 2.4 and 4 speed auto which, as far as i'm concerned, is a different car than the 2.2 and 3 speed auto. I also think the 2.4 is a more reliable engine. When I went to the dealer for the last recall which was a cover for the PCM (Powertrain Control Module) I was told that there are several upgrade patches to the PCM memory. One of which is for cold engine stalling and stuttering which I am experiencing. The dealer wanted me to pay for the upgrades. I figured why should I pay for GMs programming mistakes. I contacted GM Customer Service and got nothing but excuses, surprise! The programming upgrades to the PCM seems to be a well kept secret. I wonder how many of the driveability problems people are experiencing are related to this simple reprogramming of the PCM.

    ------------------------------------------------

    Not bad for an American car with 53,000 miles, huh? My wife's Cavalier has 52,000 miles on it and it's on its third head gasket! Glad I've got a Protege!

    Meade
  • dsgechodsgecho Member Posts: 89
    Got a 2001 PRO LX 2.0, auto,cruise, ABS, side air bags, alloy wheels, sunroof, etc. for $15828 whch is just about invoice for one even not counting the sunroof and alloy wheels. And 0% financing. I guess Mazda seems to really want to clear out the 2001's. Nice, solid ride with an interior that seems a grade up from the Honda Civic LX. And the engine doesn't buzz with every little step on the gas. Certainly has more power than the Honda when you need it. But cruises quietly otherwise.
    Don
    Nashville, TN
  • vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    There have been some minor teething problems with the 2001s, but that's it. Nothing close to the problems like Honda had with its fuel gauge recalls or VWs with their spotty reliability, short warranties (until 2002), and high repair costs. I have a 2001 Protege ES now, and used to have a 1999 DX before this (yeah, another repeat buyer - that should tell you something right there). Both were superb cars. The 1999 DX had 37K on it when traded, had been beat to hell, and still ran smoothly. Only one problem in that time, ironically with the CD player.

    Protege 2 (the 2001) has been in the shop 2 times. Once for alignment problems (off when I bought it) and a TSB to fix the steering wheel's off-centeredness, and another time for a repair problem with the radio that also was believed to cause the car not to start. These problems are the most serious from either Protege, but like I said they are just small teething problems.

    Protege is also rated highly by several publications, including Consumer Reports, and are known for their durability and reliability.
  • vocusvocus Member Posts: 7,777
    Did you get another car or trade in your Echo on a Protege? Just curious. I know you have an Echo and a Prius, so I was just being nosey. :0
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