2002 Mazda Protege from North America - Comments

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.

Are you complaining about the car... or the dealership you go to???

Please elaborate.

A "poor design", or "LEMON", because you had to pay a bit more than you expected for a repair? Maybe you should hold those who you ripped you off responsible, instead of blaming Mazda for the crooked mechanics you are having trouble with.

You say "the air conditioner is to close to the radiator." You're mistaken because almost every car company (minus Honda cuz of their tiny radiators) has the A/C and radiator just centimeters from each other. You can't name a car a "Lemon" based on what you went through at the dealership. Your best bet would have been to go into the dealership with a guy, so that way they don't try to screw you around.