2003 Mazda Protege 5 from North America - Comments

Response to 9th Nov 2008, 20:51

Check with a Mazda dealer to make sure it went in for the engine recall. The butterfly valve in the air intake has loose screws that can get sucked into the engine. The precursor failure is your engine flutters at idle. It may even stall.

Back in 2004 I managed to suck the screw into my engine. I wasn’t too happy about it at the time, but it was all covered under warranty. Later that month there was a recall on that exact problem.

Other problems I saw from earlier posts

A few people were complaining that their car was eating brakes and tires. I have 78k on mine and in total I have had to put 4 tires on it, and have never had to replace the brakes. (I engine break a lot, and replace the tires in sets of 2.)

The rear struts are shot, but that is because of my misuse of the car. I’m a geologist, and it doesn’t make a great field work car ;-)

For normal driving on paved roads this car is a very good car. It is mechanically sound as long as you maintain it. I have abused mine for 4 years, and have very little to complain about. If I were to mistreat an American made car like this one I would be walking by now.

PS.

I forgot the car has a weak starter if it gets below about -15 degrees F. If you switch to synthetic motor oil in the winter the car will start better, and the starter will struggle less.

It will eat headlights (low beam). Don’t bother to buy expensive ones or you’ll just be mad.

Protege 5 has issues with brakes - not just normal wear issues.

I was told by dealer service tech that the emergency brake has a flaw in the design, such that it causes the rear caliper to stick and so grind the pad and rotor. I can't be sure that this is the design, but my experience has been that using the e-brake has been a problem, and I stay off of it now.

I have had to replace the brakes at least 4 times in 110,000 miles, including 2 sets of calipers. This is the only major flaw I have had with the car - the rest has been fine.

The only other issue is a nuisance - using the defrost / defog setting for the AC can only take in outside air, and not recirculate internal air. This is annoying in the winter months, in traffic (sucking in other people's exhaust).

I recently bought a 2003 MP5 with light front-end damage from a tow company's auction for $2000. Though I have no way of knowing how the maintenance was conducted under the previous owner, I have done all I can to ensure a good start for mine. I had to replace the front clip and one headlight, but the interior was perfect, and a look under the hood revealed my great fortune: chipped engine with a Mazda issue turbocharger, all in exceptional condition with less than 116,000 miles. My guess is that if the previous owner added those upgrades, he wasn't driving it like a papaw, and it STILL has the original tires, brakes, and clutch. It sat still out in the elements in an impound yard from December of 2007 to November of 2008, when I purchased it, and the paint is still as shiny as the day it rolled out of the showroom. (and once I jumped off the dead battery, she ran like a song.) How's THAT for Mazda reliability??

I'm extremely pleased, and I wish I'd bought one of these years ago!!

My 2002 Protege was having a terrible idle problem. It would shudder, shake, and eventually die. I pulled the EGR valve off and found it to be stuck open. I cleaned all the carbon off with carb cleaner and worked the valve back and forth until it moved smoothly---Problem solved!

I'm disappointed to hear others having a rough time with their Protege5s. As for us, it has been an exceptional car. We have owned our '03 protege5 since new, it has 87,000 kms (I never thought I would put so few kms on a car/year). We have put new tires on it and are about to do timing belt and battery (Mazda stock batteries aren't known for their life span), and simply done the oil changes regularly. Other than that the car has been very good to us.

I'm guessing that this is a case of the people with gripes having the loudest voices and people who are happy with the cars simply not writing about it. Or maybe living on the west coast of Canada is easier on the cars than wherever the rest of these people live. I think resale value is a very good indicator of how good a car is. To buy our 2003 protege5 today used, it would cost $9-10,000+. We paid $25,000 (taxes in) the end of 2002. That's a pretty impressively low depreciation rate compared to most vehicles.

In my opinion, our 2003 protege5 has been the 2nd best car ever owned (2nd only to our 91 Tercel, which was owned by our family for 14+ years, 300kms+ and has to be one of the most indestructible vehicles ever built).

If you are thinking of buying a Protege5, I would highly recommend them.

I am looking into buying a used 2003 Protege 5. The car I saw has run 120,000km. I'm wondering if I need to ask the dealer to change the timing belt, battery and spark for me before I purchase it. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Rebecca C.

Find out how much this would cost. Then you have a bargaining chip. If the services have not been performed yet they should drop the price some significant amount.

I own a Mazda Protege ES 2000 which I purchased new. It now has 107,000 miles on it. It has been a very reliable car until at 60,000 miles the timing belt was replaced by our local mechanic.

At about 70,000 miles the idle became rapid, but the car was running fine, until the timing belt slipped off in the middle of the NYS Thruway, our local mechanic provided a tow, and replaced the belt stating the idle screw was loose.

A 90,000 miles the belt was again replaced at the recommendation of a Mazda dealer by the dealer.

At 107,000 miles the timing belt slipped off again. Our local mechanic replaced the belt and showed us how the tension pulley spring was stuck in the belt. He stated he had never seen this before.

This is the 4th timing belt for this car. We are very careful with regular maintenance for this car, but 4 timing belts has been very expensive.

We would appreciate any explanation or advice.

This is a response to the 6th comment, I work for Jiffy Lube, and the reason that we recommend an oil change every 3000 miles is because Pennzoil, the primary oil that we carry, recommends it be done every 3000 miles, however Pennzoil recommends it to be changed every 5000 miles if, and only if, you are using their full synthetic oil, Pennzoil Platinum. Once again I am a certified employee for Heartland Automotive, the company that owns Jiffy Lube, and I am very knowledgeable about the oil that I put in cars everyday.

I have a 2002 Protege 5 that I bought new 7/1/01. It now has 161,000 miles on it and has been an extremely reliable car.

Yes, I have had to replace some parts. The headlights don't seem to last long, but I do buy the cheap replacement bulbs. I've never had a single repair bill over $300 in the entire life of this car, excluding tires.

This car has never left me stranded, it has never quit. I can rely on it starting and getting me to where I need to go, even with its high mileage.

I'm sorry to hear about others having major repair bills. I consider myself very lucky to have such a great car. I plan to hand it down to my teenage daughter. At 8 years old, the paint and body still look fantastic.