Faults:

Replaced tires at 40,000 and 85,000 miles.

The CD player quit working at 60,000 miles.

Replaced battery at 70,000 miles.

Replaced the rubber air intake hose between the manifold and radiator that cracked at 80,000 miles to resolve intermittent misses and and loss of power under load.

General Comments:

This Protege has been a good car.

Gets good mileage.

Very little spent on maintenance.

Faults:

Floor carpets have become worn.

General Comments:

So-so performance, so-so gas mileage (compared to my expectations), but a very reliable and comfortable car that is EXCELLENT for city driving:

Extremely compact yet spacious 4-door with a tight turning radius. Only downside for city driving is that its off the line acceleration is sub-par.

Faults:

The O/D off light stayed on.

The check engine light stayed on.

Would not pass emission with this happening.

Transmission automatically shifting while driving.

On may 1st someone wrote in regarding the same problem. I followed his advice and had my son check out the TPS (throttle position sensor) along with the air hose that is located on the transmission. This took care of the problem. I just wanted to thank this individual for the help that he gave. Thank You.

Faults:

NONE!!!

General Comments:

This car is just a true dream come true, since I bought it back in september of 20005,nothing and I do mean nothing had go wrong with it, the fuel economy is excellent and the car is really easy to customize with after-market parts also.

Faults:

At 80k miles my timing belt went, this is my fault as it recommends replacing it at 60k. Everything else with this car was routine maintenance based on it's age. The stereo had some interesting problems involving whether it would come on or not and the front passenger side speaker went, all would have been fixed under warranty if I'd bothered to get the car in there. It was all solved when my son replaced my stereo with a better one (right before the car was totaled, of course!)

General Comments:

I loved my Mazda. I loved it enough to replace it with a 2000 Mazda ES when I was rear-ended and the car was totaled. It was reliable, comfortable, and fun to drive. The small things that bothered me were not that important - except - if they could fix one of them it would be that the window did not defrost unless I turned the air on - the heat option just does not do the trick - so in the winter that could be a bit chilly.

General Comments:

My wife and I bought this car in 01 and it had 50,000 miles on it. The only problem we’ve had on this is the “Check Engine Light”. To tell you the truth it hasn’t effected anything on the car. It now has 210,000 Miles on it. With a few cross country trips (4) we’ve been regular with our oil changes and brake pads and other normal fixes. Above all I have done nothing about the “Check Engine Light” for the past year and a half, still no problems.

Faults:

I had to fix the flow meter. The igniton has been fixed 3 times. When I bought this car brand new I couldn't use regular gasoline it has to be premium gasoline because the pistons would start making a sound. I have had to change 2 times a sensor that is plugged next to the engine and I also changed the cars' original radio because one day it just decided to turn on. Now, I have a problem with the transmission. When I'm driving the car begins to slow down all of a sudden & the overdrive & check engine light up on the panel.

General Comments:

This is a very comfortable and spacious car. Economical in price when I purchased it in 1999.