1999 Mazda Protege LX review from North America

First problem I had with this car was the muffler rusted & rotted. The car had less than 40,000 on it. Cost approx $400.00 to have Mazda replace it. Really aggravated me to have to pay out that kind of money when car had so little mileage.

Shortly after that, it was the engine light. Of course I got the bank 1, too lean codes.. tried changing oil, flushing the trans, getting fuel injection flushed.. The car was still not running right, idling hard, would clear the code and it kept coming back. The car had to go to dealer so I could shell out more money to replace the O2 sensor. WOW, is that a pricey little item.

The car was OK for about a year, maybe 18 months.

In July this year, surprise, engine light again, car running badly, progressively got worse, bucking, bogging down, hesitating, started stalling. This turned out to be a really easy fix... all the problems were being caused by a $20 /$30 vacuum hose that had 2 huge splits that were not obvious unless you looked at the hose and physically checked it. My brother was looking at the car at my house, told me to rev the engine a bit and air came blowing right out at him. Changed the hose, cleared the code. Car is fine and passed inspection.

Check your hose.

The location of the locks jab you in the arm because they do not recess all the way.

Basically quick & reliable.

Handles pretty good at higher speeds.

I don't feel really safe in it as the doors are very light.