2002 Mazda Protege 5 review from North America

Nothing major has gone wrong with the car although the brake calipers tend to rust really quick on these cars. Mine got to the point that they looked like a ball of rust. But than again I did not have the car for long enough to expereince any problems.

The handling on this car is really superb, although a bit on the stiff side. Fuel consumption is quite good if you keep your speed below 100km/h anything past that and the car has some serious appetite. Over all I was really disappointed with this vehicle. The car is really loud on the highway anything above 100km/h and the engine sounds like it's about to explode! I have no idea why mazda does not do anything about it... but the engines on these cars are very very noisy to the point that on a long trip it gets really annoying, not to mention the wind noise! Another problem is the rust!..i had one of those electro-magnetic rust modules installed and the car was already beginning to show signs of rust especially on the welds. On the plus side the seats are comfy and the cabin has a sporty touch to it. But this was not enough to convince me to keep the car and I got rid of it just after 3 months!..if you get this car be prepared to invest in some serious ear plugs or a big bottle of tylenol for your head-aches! Currently I purchased a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder and I absolutely love it!