Faults:

Air conditioner compressor.

Electric seat belt motor.

Electric window motor.

UV joints.

General Comments:

I just bought the car about 5 months ago from an individual. When I purchased this vehicle there was a rattling noise coming from the dash every time I pressed the A/C button. I found out that the compressor is going out. It has not gone out yet, but it doesn't run cold air unless I'm driving.

The electric seat belt motor has gone out. The belts are stuck in the correct position, so I have to lift it up and get under it every time I get into the car.

The electric window motor is going to go out. The windows are rolling up slower and slower every day.

UV joints are in need of repair. Every time I make a left hand turn there is a horrible rattling noise coming out from under the car.

Other than that, I would say that this car was a little less fortunate than the others, but it has severed me well. I love the pick up it has for such a small engine. I like the gas mileage. The handling is great. I just wish that it was in better health.

Faults:

The seat belt warning light comes on and off randomly. I heard that this is a common problem for this model so I didn't do anything for it. Besides this, nothing really went wrong in my one-year ownership. The only thing I did is regular maintenance such as oil change. The windshield got several little cracks for being hit by little rocks when I was driving it on highway. I fixed them with windshield fixed kit by myself.

General Comments:

I'm the 5th owner of my little protege. When I bought it, the timing belt, water pump, and tires were just changed. Considering the age of this car, I have to say it is very reliable and economical. It always starts at the first turn of the key and never gets me into trouble. I drove it from Seattle to Crater Lake this summer. In the total 1200 miles travel it didn't disappoint me at all. It's probably not so powerful when it's going uphill. But I can always down shift to compensate the lack of power. The gas mileage is pretty good too. I got around 33mpg usually, which is much better than my friend's 97 civic-DX.

The only cons about this car is that, when the speed goes beyond 70 mph, it becomes a little shaking and unstable. But it doesn't really matter because I'm not always driving so fast and never want to race it. Just one year after I got it, unfortunately, it got rear-ended by a teenager driver (who was driving a 98 Jeep Cherokee) and totaled. But luckily I was not hurt at all.

Now I'm having another protege, which is a 96-DX. Everything is great (especially the roominess) except the engine, which is weaker than before. It's a pity that Mazda reduced the engine size from 1.8 to 1.5.

In general, I would say protege is a very reliable economical car for a student. I'm always wondering why some people goes for civic or corolla like crazy while the price of them is crazy also (I mean the used civic or corolla).