Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

Mazda Protege5

1124125127129130154

Comments

  • cogs25cogs25 Member Posts: 39
    After perusing this board for over a year, I finally joined the fraternity Sat. when I got a RED 5-spd. Boy it's a fun car! I got several positive comments from my co-workers.

    Insurance-
    I didn't realize the average age for this car was in the 40's. I assumed it would be in the 20's. (I'm helping to raise the average.)

    DJL
  • capitanocapitano Member Posts: 509
    Like I said, USAA had higher rates because (as near as the agent could tell) of "worse than average" injury rates.

    Even with higher insurance, the P5 will be cheaper than the other cars I am looking at. It is discounted now, but that mazda3 looks inviting. Might have to wait for that.
  • iamziamz Member Posts: 542
    Congratulations on your new P5.
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    ...did things that made sense. According to the 99-01 stats (latest available from IIHS) the mean score for all small cars in injury losses was 140 (100 being average for all cars, 0 being ideal). The Protege scored 138. That is slightly better that average for small cars, but worse than average for all cars. A sampling of competing cars shows that the Corolla, Focus, Sentra, and Neon all scored worse. The Civic scored better. You can check it out for yourself here:

    http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ictl/ictl_4dr.htm
  • protojasonprotojason Member Posts: 13
    Welp, finally got the first road trip out of the way.

    Went from S.A. Tx to Rocky Mtn nat'l park in Colorado, and through Carlsbad NM. Total mileage of 2,299 miles..about to turn over 4k miles on the car at the end of the week.

    The car swallowed all of our hiking gear with ease,(packs,bags,pads etc)..just folded the seats down flat...good to go.

    ** i didnt realise, but the entire lower seat cushions come completely out with ease,** that was useful.

    The long haul was comfortable...but the real fun came from the winding roads. Just like you guys said....she may not have the power, but she's wicked on the curves.
    Those winding roads going into and out of the CO national park were a hoot.

    My car felt a bit sluggish on some grades, but i chalked it up to the fact that my 'best friend' filled her up with 85octane instead of the recommended 87. I hope that's not too terrible of a thing.

    Fuel : In Colorado, 85 87 89 was the standard levels. In NM 86 88 91. So i went with 88 there.

    My best mpg was 36.34 mpg driving from amarillo, Tx to Colorado springs. This is also my "new car record."

    ROAD TRIP DAMAGES :

     1) Friend backs over camping sign post leaving green scratches on right rear quarter panel.

     2) Friend puts low octane into tank ?

     3) Friend has rock thrown up from car ahead and
         chips front windshield.

    thanks bud.

    Anyhow..was a great road trip. I think the most fun driving was the winding desert road leading up to carlsbad caverns in new mexico...was 2am...no traffic...dark...speed limit suggested at 30mph..we were doing 55/60 with gusto!
    bad bad bad...but memorable! And didnt come close to hitting that jack rabbit. :)

    Also slalomed some road construction cones on an barren highway road somewhere in north Texas at around 70mph. (i say slalom, but was just weaving in one, out the other...) still a first for me. (bad bad bad)

    PS. I'm not a really a 'car guy' though this purchase is rapidly pushing me that direction...what do you guys think about the feasibility of 'small upgrades' like a cold air intake and some sort of exhaust?
    What brands are reputable? Does an exhaust actually help or just change the pitch? I kinda like being quiet...but quiet and faster would be neat. :)
    Oh...and typical prices for easy upgrades or posting some sites you enthusiasts browse would be helpful.

    I saw the turbo kit mentioned earlier on flying miata/protoge...but a 3k upgrade is more than i really deem necessary right now.

    PPS.

    Do 'sport wagons' qualify for 'limo dark' tinting in the back like many SUV's? And how do you folks post pics on here?

    Sorry so long a post!

    Jason
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    I have seen the dyno curves comparing cars with and without exhaust and/or cold air intake. These curves are from the vendors, and have to be take with a grain of salt. There is an increase of few hp, not that spectacular. Changing in sound and cosmetic would be the first you'll notice with the new exhaust. Like it or not depends one your taste.

    Do not get the turbo right now, unless you want to void the warranty.

    Bruno
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    My car felt a bit sluggish on some grades, but i chalked it up to the fact that my 'best friend' filled her up with 85octane instead of the recommended 87. I hope that's not too terrible of a thing.

    No, because the car is fortunately equipped with anti-knock sensor. Notice that in the mountain, the octane requirement is generally lower (lower air pressure and temperature).

    Bruno
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    I think the most fun driving was the winding desert road leading up to carlsbad caverns in new mexico...was 2am...no traffic...dark...speed limit suggested at 30mph..we were doing 55/60 with gusto!

    I know this road and I was visiting the same cavern not long ago. On the way back from the Guada-Loupe mountain to Hwy I10 (Texas), there is a small desertic road with no trafic what so ever. I reach the max speed there (electronically limited). It read 111mph!

    Bruno
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    I double that the P5 can be even half qualified as a limousine. ;-) Please check out this website for windows tint regulations http://www.pcisys.net/~bpc/auto_law/tint/

    Bruno
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    Everything you need to know: click on "Town Hall Help" on the left side, then "Navigating Boards and Discussions"

    Bruno
  • audia8qaudia8q Member Posts: 3,138
    Starting today....0% for 60 months in most regions on P5....
  • capitanocapitano Member Posts: 509
    Can that be combined with the $2250 cash?
  • cogs25cogs25 Member Posts: 39
    Unfortunately, NO. It's either 0% or $2250 CB. Speaking from very recent experience.
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    I get my baby back today. Turning the key, she starts without hesitation despite 2 months and 7 days of sleep. I almost forget how tight she is. She drove me home nicely. We took the sunny autoroute. Still love her as the day one!

    Bruno
  • dinu01dinu01 Member Posts: 2,586
    Have you seen any P5s/PROs in France since you arrived? I know the European PRO sedans have a diferent front bumper and lightts (like our 99-00 models if I'm not mistaken), but the P5, is it also different?

    Dinu
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    I saw just one Protege5 (but many Mazda 6). Here it's named 323. Hatch is the queen on the road. I'm not even sure if the sedan version is for sale. The bumper is different (the lower part is simply round, and does not include the air-effect), not as nice as the US. The head light looks similar. I say "looks" because here in europe spec requires an asymmetry in the light blocks, whereas in US they are mirror symmetry. The fog light is rectangular and not round. The back lights is different (red with an horizontal white strip). There is a chrome in the front nose (bearrk...). No sport model here. The biggest fuel engine is 1.6l, the 2.0l runs on diesel. 14" steel wheels are standard. US version looks nicer, definitively.
  • cogs25cogs25 Member Posts: 39
    I haven't seen this discussed before. Has anyone else noticed a problem this time of year with sun glaring off the instrument panel? It's not horrendous, but definitely irritating. I haven't had a car with this problem in many years.
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    No more so than with any other car, in fact a bit less.

    If it bothers you too much, get a pair of polarized sunglasses. They should eliminate much of the glare off the IP bezel and off other cars' glass. Check them at the store. Sometimes, cheaper ones don't orient the direction of the polarizing material correctly. Find a spot that reflects glare (preferably the floor or something horizontal) and rotate the glasses clockwise while looking through each eyepiece. The reflections should be greatly reduced when the glasses are held as if you're wearing them and then increase as you spin them about to about 90 degrees and then drop again when the glasses are upside-down.
  • yodaroniyodaroni Member Posts: 23
    I am in the market for a compact size car, was looking at the Honda Civic when i wondered off to the next door Mazda dealer and was very impressed with the way the P5 looked for almost the same price...Any recommendations??? I know Hondas very well but never owned a Mazda...any comments?? I understand there is $2250 rebate going on...
  • baggs32baggs32 Member Posts: 3,229
    Does anyone know if the P5's side air bags protect the head too? I can't find any info on them.
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    As with any make, it depends on the model. The P5/Protege is Mazda's most reliable model. The MPV, 626 and Miata are also very reliable. The 6 is made in the same plant as the 626 was, so it should be reliable as well. The only one I'd be wary of is the Truck, which is a rebadged Ford Ranger. I'd also check the Tribute carefully as it's assembled in a Ford-run plant, though I think the Escape/Tribute has improved over the last year.
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    Don't worry, Mazda P5 is as reliable as any Honda. It feels more solid than the Civic.

    Bruno (who uses to own a Honda)
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    In the Protegé(5), the side air bags are supposed to protect the upper torso and head. It is not a full torso air bag nor a head curtain style. It is sort of in-between. BTW: this is similar to the type used in the Tribute/Escape. In those vehicles the side air bag significantly improved test scores on side impacts.
  • iamziamz Member Posts: 542
    From what I can tell, the air bag deploys from the top of the seat back so I assume it will protect your head.
  • iamziamz Member Posts: 542
    Just about the only things I can think of that the Civic has against the P5, is resale value and gas mileage. If those two things aren't high on your list of wants, I'd go for the P5 (my opinion is biased of course). ;)
  • baggs32baggs32 Member Posts: 3,229
    Thanks boggse and iamz. That was exactly what I was looking for. I knew they weren't curtains, but I did want to know if they were like the Escape's.

    The one I'm looking at has the ABS/SAB package and I'd rather have it over a 6 without them (very hard to find this year). Even though the monthly payment will be almost identical.
  • icvciicvci Member Posts: 1,031
    Just went on the first road trip longer than 15 miles with my P5. 470 miles on one tank of gas. I have no idea what the exact mileage was as I have no way of knowing how much gas was left in my tank when I filled up. But, I put in 13.467 gallons and based on that I got 34.9 mpg. Not as good as my Civic hatch but, the Civic didn't make the twisty roads to Elk Rapids, MI as fun as the P5.

    BTW temps were in the 90's and I didn't have any problems with A/C temps.
  • isseyvooisseyvoo Member Posts: 121
    Am I correct in thinking that Canada requires daytime running lights? If so, I would assume a U.S. spec car could be retrofitted with whatever the required parts are at relatively modest cost. Has anyone done this?
  • iamziamz Member Posts: 542
    Wouldn't it be easier AND cheaper to just turn your lights on? ;)
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    Here is someone who did it to a Miata. You may be able to adapt this to the Protegé. Let us know if you do.

    http://www.miata.net/garage/drl/DRLs.htm
  • dsantiagodsantiago Member Posts: 13
    I live in NJ, where insurance can make or break a car budget...

    I would like to know which car in the economy class has the best insurance rates...
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    The first place I would ask is your insurer. Pick several models in which you are interested, and get a quote for each.

    Edmunds used to list the relative insurance cost of a particular model, but I cannot seem to find that information anymore.
  • capitanocapitano Member Posts: 509
    but it's buried in the True Cost of Ownership feature.
  • pciskowskipciskowski Member Posts: 155
    I had a Civic for eight years, and it was never in the shop other than routine maintenance. I have had my P5 for 15 months, and it has been in the shop seven times for problems, some of which are still unresolved. I like driving the P5 much more than the Civic, but I don't like owning it as much.
  • mazdafunmazdafun Member Posts: 2,329
    Every mfr has some. Bummer for those who get them. :(
  • feijaifeijai Member Posts: 17
    My single biggest annnoyance moving from the Corolla to the P5 is how the P5 handles headlights. In the Corolla, if you turn off the car, the headlights turn off automagically. To get the headlights to turn on while the car is off, you just turn them off and then back on again.

    This is a great feature: no insipid beeping to "inform you" that YOU need to turn off your headlights; you can just leave the headlights in the ON position forever and use them as daytime running lights; and likewise, you'll never forget to turn them on at dusk.

    The P5 doesn't do this. And it hurts. True story: last week I drove down to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Washington D.C. Mall. I got a primo parking space literally in front of the White House (on Constitution). Unbelievable. And in my haste, I forget to turn off the lights in my P5. It's 85 degrees outside, and in 3 hours flat the car's battery is entirely wiped out. The White House police can't help us -- they're no longer permitted to jump cars after one of the senior officers got hit in the face with an exploding battery. A person in a Prius tries to help us jump but, for reasons I can only attribute to the Prius's hybrid status, his lead acid battery won't do the job. Finally someone else helps us jump, in the mean time creating a major traffic jam between the White House and the Washington Monument. People were not amused.

    It is SO OBVIOUS that the Corolla's headlight policy is Correct and the P5's headlight policy is Incorrect that I'm wondering why in the WORLD Mazda hasn't adopted it. The only thing I can think of is that Toyota might hold a patent on it. Anyone know?
  • meinradmeinrad Member Posts: 820
    Not to me. I would hate for my headlights to be like that of the Corolla. My buddies Chrysler is like that and it has always made me nuts.

    I turn my lights on when I want them on and off when I want them off.

    The less the car does by itself the better as far as I'm concerned.
  • feijaifeijai Member Posts: 17
    Yodaroni, let's get down to brass tacks. The Civic is generally a better car than the P5. Because it's generally a better car than anything on the market.

    This is not to say that the P5 isn't a very *very* good car. It is. It's a great car. But the Civic is the single best car on the market, and has been for quite some time now. It has a gas mileage much better than the P5, reliability at the same level as the P5, crash results that are better than the P5's, better emissions, etc., etc. You can't compare the P5 with the Civic on simple drive-around-value because you can't compare *any* small car with the Civic on this metric.

    So why do I have a P5? Two reasons. Reason one: the Civic doesn't come in a wagon. The SI is interesting, I guess, but it's tiny and of little real functionality. Reason two: the Civic isn't fun at all. It's a profoundly boring, unimpressive car. The P5 handles far better than the standard Civic does. It's enjoyable to drive, and the Civic is not.

    So that's why I went with the P5 ultimately: it handles better than anything in its price and function class (from the Civic to the Matrix -- no, the WRX is $8000 more), and has as good or better reliability than all of them. If you're looking for a fun wagon that is still reliable and well-built, well, Honda doesn't make one of those.
  • capitanocapitano Member Posts: 509
    Motor Trend found that the high strung version of the Matrix, the XRS, handled better than the P5. The XR and vanilla version are decidely less capable though.

    I am interested in both the P5 and Matrix XRS. P5 will be cheaper, but cost more to insure (according to my insurer). P5 will offer better mileage, the XRS more room.

    There are a couple of issues that may swing me to getting the P5. The XRS is damn hard to find in my region. The 2004s do not exist in my region at all. There might be an 2003 around somewhere.
    The Matrix gets dinged on driver position and engine buzz. These might turn me off, but I want to at least give the car a try.
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    All Toyotas have daytime running lights. These are not necessarily the same as running your headlights. Usually they are run at lower output to extend lamp life. You still had to hit a switch to turn on your tail lights didn't you?

    As for the Civic, you say it is a clearly superior car, yet you point out the very areas which make the P5 the superior car for you. I found the build quality on the 2003 Civics I drove to be unacceptable. Perhaps if I were shopping for a Neon, I would have had lower expectations. IIRC, C&D found the same thing in their last small car comparison test. Emissions are the same as both cars have ULEV engines. About the only areas I see the Civic being superior to the Protegé5 are fuel economy and sheer boredom. If you drive the Civic as if you were trying to get the same amount of torque out of its engine as the P5 has on the low end, the fuel economy advantage would mostly disappear as well. I think Honda has slipped a bit compared to the other offerings out there (Hyundai Elantra anyone?), and the Civic is no longer the clear winner in this segment. There are several good cars that are right up there with the Civic, if not better.
  • icvciicvci Member Posts: 1,031
    You might want to look into the Vibe. It's the same car as the Matrix and, with all of the incentives offered right now, a really good deal. I would have bought a Vibe over my P5 if there had been a manual anywhere in the Metro Detroit area.

    The engine in the Matrix I drove was VERY buzzy. I didn't have a problem with the driving position but, I didn't drive it for hours.

    In hindsight, I'm really happy I didn't get a Vibe though. The P5 is a blast, IMO it looks alot better and Vibes are a dime a dozen here. (5 miles west of...Pontiac, MI.)
  • icvciicvci Member Posts: 1,031
    I recently test drove a 2003 Civic EX and found the interior to be very nice. I loved the gauges and the textures were really nice. The only build quality issue I've ever had with any Civic (I've owned 3.) is the awful silver paint on my mother's 2002 EX.

    Edmunds recently did a small sedan comparo -

    http://edmunds.com/reviews/comparison/articles/100022/article.htm- l?tid=edmunds.e.comparison.content...Honda*

    Personally, I think the Civic rides quite nicely for what it is. The other thing it has on the P5 is resale value. I sold my 2000 DX hatch with 50,000 miles on it for $7800. I put $2000 down on it and owed $4200 when I sold it so, I was pretty happy to be $1600 in the black. But, it wasn't nearly as fun as the P5, not by a long shot.
  • cbmortoncbmorton Member Posts: 252
    The way headlights work on Toyotas shouldn't be confused with DRLs. On a Toyota you can leave the headlight switch in the 'On' position all the time and the headlights, taillights, etc. will turn on and off with the car. If you don't have DRLs, or otherwise want all the lights on all the time, you need never touch the headlight switch to turn the lights off. A co-worker was telling me just the other day how his '86 Celica worked this exact way, so it's nothing new, just something that other manufacturers (including but not limited to Mazda) haven't adopted for some reason.
  • boggseboggse Member Posts: 1,048
    I stand corrected.
  • cohenfivecohenfive Member Posts: 85
    sorry if this was covered earlier but i'm thinking about getting a p5 at some point (when my daughter gets her licence) and if so was wondering whether a full size bike would fit inside without removing the front wheel? anyone have experience with this, thanks in advance.
  • vamazdapr5vamazdapr5 Member Posts: 2
    Hello everyone, I just took delivery of my new silver Mazda Protege 5.

    I was surprised to find that the driver's door can be closed shut AND locked simply by pressing down the lock button on the interior window sill and then closing the door.

    This is in SHARP CONTRAST to every single other car I have seen, in which one has to LIFT UP THE OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE when shutting the door.

    Is my experience normal - i.e. no need to lift the outside door handle? Or should the door only be lockable when lifting the outside door handle?

    Thanks!

    VAPROTEGE5
  • maltbmaltb Member Posts: 3,572
    and most power lock cars are like this now. I recall what you are accustomed to to but only from the manual lock days. It is however how all current Mazdas are.
  • rworrellrworrell Member Posts: 149
    My wife and I just moved in January and when we got our bikes out for our first ride of the season, all the tires needed air. At some point during the move, however, we "misplaced" the pump. Not a problem--I dropped the rear seatbacks in the P5 and put BOTH of our adult mountain/touring bikes into the P5 without removing any wheels.

    I was quite impressed, to be honest--I figured I'd be removing the front tires.
  • bluong1bluong1 Member Posts: 1,927
    it depends what kind of bike (and its size.) My friend mountain bike can get in the cargo without removing the wheel but I have to remove the front wheel for my road bike, even if it's a small (50cm center to center).

    Bruno
  • icvciicvci Member Posts: 1,031
    I've gotta say, it's kinda lame to complain about having to turn your headlights off.
This discussion has been closed.