2002 Mazda Protege review from North America

I have owned so many cars in my life time, but this one is ridiculous. However, even worse then the car's possible design issues is the fact that when ever I go to the dealer for coverage under my 100,000 mile warranty they come up with all kinds of tricks to get out of their responsibilities unless I am willing to pay close to $1000 in maintenance whenever I come through the door even though I have a $100 deductible. This time was the last straw. My mechanic (not from Mazda) said that the air conditioner is to close to the radiator and because of how the car is designed I now have leaks in my air conditioner. My mechanic would not take any money from me for the diagnosis he made in a few minutes. So I took it back expecting to pay a $100 deductible. Of course first they hit with the need for a $135 dollar diagnostic. I could not believe the nerve of this dollar amount and became very suspicious. This diagnostic would be covered under the deductible if they found out it was Mazda's fault. Of course they did not, because they want the $135 plus $800 to put in a new air conditioner.

It is bad enough when you have a LEMON for a vehicle, but I bought from a dealer with a 100,000 mile warranty that can only be used at that dealer unless I move very far away. Then every time I deal with the dealer they think because I am a female that money grows on trees at my house and that really is not the case. I have many cars with service warranties, but never before have I experienced anything like this.