2001 Mazda Protege 5 review from North America

Bought the car brand new and drove it right out of the dealership. Have put on a little over 64000k on it in the 3 years that I have had it.

I have had what seems to be manufacturing problems (or at least that is what the dealer calls them). Within the first 3 months, the lights (all of them) would just shut right off! It was quite a pain at night time. Dealer replaced a faulty relay timer.

The driver side window also got "stuck" half way down. I drove straight to the dealer, and they fixed it within an hour. There seemed to be a flaw with the design inside the door which caused this problem.

At 59,000km, (1000k left on warranty) the paint on the rims bubbled and started to flake off. I got new rims from the dealer for "free" while the car was still under warranty. No real hassle from them at all.

Great Car for the price.

Handles well.

Standard transmission makes this car fun to drive.

A lot better on gas then the 89 Jeep Cherokee Ltd I had!

Wish for more cargo space in the trunk.

Everything is within reach from the drivers seat and where it should be.

Make sure you get winter rims and tires, as the low profiles with the 5 star are impossible to drive in, especially in Canadian winters. It is also a sin to ruin the rims and tires in all of the snow and salt.