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Mazda Protege5
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A dealer by me was expecting a yellow p5 loaded the first week in May which mysteriously never arrived .. now he says he's only getting the other 4 colours (red, black, blue, silver)..
I also read somewhere that the first batch of p5's didn't have the ABS package.. so that's why u may have to wait til' August..
once again these are just things I read here and there when I was researching the p5.. not hard facts.. *shrug* ..
-Mark
I haven't seen a yellow one either. The only one we know about for sure is the one the Jerry posted pictures of, which is in California somewhere. I must admit that I was surprised to see it, because I had been told about 2 months ago that the yellows would not be arriving in the first shipment at my nearest dealership. (But then the MP3 was supposed to come out before the P5 and it didn't so who knows.)
Good luck in your wait iamz! We'll see who gets their car first. ;-)
Nomi
But there it was, brand new, RED, and an automatic! I fell in love immediately and had to take it home. I had originally been looking at the Toyota Celica, and I hated that it had very little pickup! The Pro5 has GREAT pickup for a 4 cylinder car, and I love the color and the sporty look of it. The sound system isn't exceptional, but it works for me.
My dealer said they weren't releasing anymore until late August, and he was actually reluctant to sell me the only one they were going to have on the lot, but of course he did. Good luck to everyone else looking. I love it so far!!
Mazda Protégé 5 Test Drive
As posted to the VW Vortex "Car Lounge" & www.nomadcom.com/dave
I called my local Mazda dealership and found out they had just received a Protégé 5 in. It was silver, with moonroof and manual tranny. It was their first one delivered. I left work early (yeah Friday!) to go take a look.
As is often the case, the salesman I had previously worked with there when I bought my 626 in ’96 has left. These guys have a disgusting turnover rate. The good news was that the guy I had talked to on the phone was someone I knew from back in my pizza-slinging days. Seeing as I had thoroughly researched the car already, we went outside to take a look.
First impression: WOW! This is a GREAT looking small wagon. It as very short overhangs, and a nice, subtle body kit. Big round foglights, honeycomb "mesh" in the grill openings, "projector" looking headlights housed in a nicely shaped lens. This is what the WRX should have looked like. Very clean, nicely aggressive. It had the stock 16" alloys. A nice, 5-star rim shod with 195/50R-16 Dunlop SP5000’s. It sits low, but not so much you’d say it was slammed, a good stance to my eye with small wheel well gaps. All the accents are body colored: side sills, door trim, mirrors and the nice rear spoiler. The taillights were clearly Altezza-inspired, but not bad. They fit the overall look of the car well.
The rear hatch opens very high. If you are under 5’10" or so you won’t bump your head. The cargo area itself is not huge, but when I folded down the 60/40 rear seatbacks it was flat and would easily suit my needs. It’s really more of a big hatchback then a wagon in my opinion. Not necessarily a bad thing. The hatch had a wiper/washer and the roof had a nicely integrated rack with crossbars.
Looking in the engine bay, the first thing I noticed was clutter. There is a lot going on in there, wires and pipes going everywhere. There is also a bright red strut tower brace a nice touch. All the fill points were clearly marked and most had translucent boxes so checking fluids was easy, visually. I think this only was noticeable to me because VW uses a LOT of covers in the engine compartment, every thing is neatly hidden. So this realy isn't a bad thing, just not what I am used to.
I opened the door and sat down. The seat adjusts for height, with the front and back of the bottom cushion moving separately. This allowed me to find a good seating position. Noticeable difference right away from my Passat was that the Pro5 has less bolstering on the bottom cushion, but more on top. Also, the bottom cushion was longer, giving me good thigh support which I think is lacking in the Passat. I was able to sit nicely upright, as is my preference, with decent headroom, even with the moonroof. The interior materials are nice, the seats were covered in a cloth that felt sturdy, with a nice pattern. Quite different then the Passat’s standard "linterior."
The dash and doors are covered in various textures, dimples were common. A nice look, with a soft feel. The only hard shiny plastic was around the HVAC controls and the standard, in-dash 6CD Stereo. The surround is painted plastic, in a slightly bronze-ish color, not quite silver, but not really gold. I prefer the true silver in the ES 2.0 Sedan. This color appears in a few other places around the cabin and there is also a small bit of carbon-fiber look trim. Not as tacky as some of the trim in the Lexus IS, though not as elegant as VW’s. I think the bronze-ish would look fine with the blue car color that I prefer, but with the silver, the bronze-ish just clashed.
The insruments are off-white and light up orangy-red at night. All the standard gauges were there, with big, chunky wiper and turn-signal stalks. A highlight was the sweet, Nardi 3-spoke steering wheel also found it the Miata. Noticeably smaller and thicker then the wheel in the ES 2.0, it had some dimpled areas and a very nice feel.
The car is basically loaded, power everything, mirrors included, AC, stereo, cruise control, the whole 9 yards.
Off for the drive! We bucked in and left on a nice loop I know well. I was careful not to beat on the car, and never revved past 3500-4k rpms. Even with 3 aboard, it had good pep. I had already done the math and knew that this car and my ’99 Passat have a nearly identical power-to-weight ratio. I think that once it’s broken in it will move right along. I would suspect that high 7 sec. to low 8 sec. 0-60 times will be easy. The shifter felt very nice, chunking cleanly from slot to slot. It had a nice-feeling, dimpled shift knob.
The suspension rode noticeably firmer then my Passat with very little body roll in corners, even at higher then suggested speeds. Bumps were muted, but firmly so. I took an onramp at a good clip and you could really feel the suspension take it’s set it was a very clear, turn, roll a small bit, SET, hold and power out. I really paid attention to the dive under hard braking since this is something I dislike about my Passat. It was very well damped in the Pro5.
Overall, it was a nice ride. This particular car stickered for around $17,300 with the moonroof. A "base" car is $800 less.
Now I have drawn some comparisons to the Passat and that really isn’t too fair. They are two very different cars, at very different price points. I liked the Pro5 a lot.. it had good pep, it looks great, and it really fits the budget.
My only dislikes were the questionable bronze-ish trim inside, and the unavailability of ABS unless you also get the moonroof. Not sure how I’d go with that. I think it would be very cool to repaint those bronze trim pieces in the cody color.
That's good news, right?
If you want to talk with him, email me at rworrell@usa.net and I can give you his contact information.
Terry
Pocahontas
Host
Hatchbacks / Station Wagons Message Boards
Let's group up and have our own nice forum
we should talk about the mod and after market stuffs ...
talk about exterior and interior mod, perfermance and handling
the problem is , who is going to hook the whole thing up
i will lead up for sure
And are dealers asking msrp or are they willing to negotiate? I'm planning on buying a p5 as soon as a silver manual with moonroof is available in my area (NJ). Any info would be appreciated.. I'll be sure to post whatever I can when I buy for the rest of you.
I can't speak for everyone.. but of course I don't mean to be rude or pry.., if you don't wanna talk about what you paid that's perfectly understandable being that there is no TMV available for the p5 this would be very helpful to us potential buyers..
alrighty then!! off to hunt for p5s!
Regards
-Mark
Nomi
I also called Mazda Irvine today and confirmed 1.9% or 4.9% financing on the P5. Also, confirmed same financing on all Mazda models except for the MP3 and of course the Tribute. I then went to my local Mazda dealer in Nevada and negotiated MSRP minus $700.00 on a P5 with M5, roof and ABS with 1.9% financing. Delivery expected within two weeks. As a matter of fact, the demo unit was silver manual with ABS and moon roof.
Based upon financing, my impression is Mazda is going to be very agressive about P5 sales.
BTW Stay away from the dealers in the Expressway area in San Jo.
//Import2k
I'm sure some people may feel insulted by that. Hehe.
Once supply starts rolling in, there will be plenty around. As you can see from Mazda's constant running of the commercials in prime time, they WANT to sell a LOT of these cars. I'll be shooting for $500-$800 over invoice at the end of the month.
Also, someone reported earlier that the current $500 rebate on Proteges applies to the Pro5 as well. Can anyone confirm that?
KarenS
Host
Owner's Clubs
Nomi
Please go there and support my work
http://pub70.ezboard.com/bprotegepower
What do you expect? Relax and give it time... if people really want it, then they will go.
BB's are only usedfull when there are a LOT of people on-board to share information. So it's a Catch-22 for you, poeple won't join until there are more members, and you can't get more members because poeple won't join until there are more members.
Good luck. I've bookmarked it and wil pop in from time to time... I'm registered btw. (SporinMorin)
Too frustrating. Sorry.
MOST of it? Just some friendly advice. Finance EVERY LAST CENT at that rate. Then, if you want, you could take whatever you were going to use for a downpayment and put in in something as simple as a CD at your local bank and earn 5%. (Or, do something even more interesting.)
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Henry? you seem to have time to always work up numbers. Why not spend the afternoon measuring and calculating that out for all of our inquiring minds? Don't I have one favor left?
I was asking because my roommate was talking about getting another car to replace his 2000 Neon that's always in the shop. He drove my 2001 ES 2.0 and liked it alot, but was also thinking about a pickup truck. I told him he should consider the Protege 5. He doesn't haul alot, maybe like a cabinet here or there for the house, so a wagon would be more practical than a truck I would think. I wanna wait until the P5s are here at Maryland dealerships (they might be though, as I haven't checked yet) and check one out in person.
My dealer also said they're scheduled to receive only 13 of these this year. Does that make sense to any of you that they'd get so few?
The MP3 is a limited edition car, and some dealers have so little product knowledge that they might be confusing the 2. Or they migh tbe tryin got confuse you. :-(
Either way.... don't let the dealer dupe you into a "buy it quick before it's gone and we won't get another one" sales pitch. They may dribble in at first, but I would suspect that by fall, they will be plentiful.
Just my opinion based on stuff I have read.
"financing as much as they allow me on 1.9APR"..
because that is my intention .. I called Mazda on the phone and they said you need like super-perfect credit to do the 1.9APR.. so we'll see 2morrow ..
Thanks for the input! -Mark
Nomi
I think you are in love...(tissues please)...it's so beautiful.
BTW If you are in the Steven' Creek San Jose area, looking for this car ask for a guy named Jim. He's a decent guy. Thanks!