1994 Mazda Protege DX review from North America

Nothing major has gone bad on the car since I bought it, however, I inherited some problems when I bought the car:

* horn button bad

* tires worn

* oil consistency of gear lube

* no air conditioning

* no radio

* seat belt warning light flashing intermittently for no reason.

* right rear door dented.

I purchased this vehicle at a lein sale for a really reasonable price ($200), knowing that I had my work cut out for me. I have thus far :

* did a complete tune up

* did 2 oil changes

* replaced all 4 tires with oversized 70 series H rated tires

* installed OEM radio with castte player I purchased on ebay

* replaced entire right rear door with one I found at a salvage yard

* removed OEM steering wheel entirely and replaced with an aftermarket sport steering wheel

* installed a 200 watt cd player, 5000 watt amp and a 4000 watt 12" subwoofer

* installed a modified intake system with cone air cleaner (hard to find an aftermarker cold air intake for the 1.8 SOHC engine)

* installed an aftermarket MAF sensor spoof device

* unplugged the wire under the center console to silence the seat belt warning bell, and covered the seat belt warning light on the dash.

Cabin area is efficiently laid out to maximize space for the size car it is. Even with the aftermarket mods that I estimate added a good 5 - 10 horsepower to the car, she still isn't very "peppy". seems to wander between 3rd and overdrive a lot at speeds between 50 to 60 mph, but seems to really get a second wind at about 85-90 mph. Fuel economy range has been 21 (under sporty driving conditions) to almost 38 mph (really watching pedal pressure to maximize fuel economy - attempted to see what the best possible mileage I could get). Even with the wider tires, car would benefit from a bit stiffer shock damening and a front strut bar to decrease body roll.