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Granted I've only had the car a few weeks so my input may not be all that informative.
The only bad thing that I have noticed so far is that, twice now, while idling at a traffic light, the engine almost cut off (as if it wasn't idling high enough). It "revived" itself on both occasions.
The engine is peppy at 2.0, but I would love to have the option to have a stronger engine.
I'm 6'1" and my car has a sunroof. My head hits the edge of the sunroof every once in a while. I ended up moving the seat one click further back than I would normally like.
I like the zip of the car, nice performance and accelerates quickly.
The mileage is great, so far I'm still averaging 32 mpg highway.
The MP5 is a good looking sporty car, but still allows me to drop the seats and use it as a wagon.
It has been 2 years since I purchased my Mazda and I am satisfied with it. It's a great car and I haven't had any problems since I bought the car. I will be buying the new Mazda 6 very soon. (2 thumbs up for Mazda)
I've owned my 2003 Protege5 for 2 years now. Its been my first Mazda and will definitely be my last. I use the vehicle primarily for travel for work putting about 50,000 miles per year on it. This was the main reason I purchased a Mazda, for the "supposed" reliability. After 64,000 miles (14,000 miles out of warranty),I had to put over $7,000 into replacing the motor due to severe internal damage with the rods and pistons. Before that I had to replace 3 faulty sensors/solenoids on the transmission, cooling system & cruise control. It's now been about a year since the engine replacement and after hearing noises from the transmission, I stopped at the local AAmaco to see what the diagnosis was - another $1400 to rebuild the trans. The car just rolled over a 100,000 miles and has had ALL the regular maintenance recommended by the manufacturer, which for a Mazda, I thought this was an average amount of miles to have on it. You would think with all these issues I might have a "lemon". I thought the same thing, but unfortunately, Mazda did not see it that way. I purchased the car for around $16,000 new with only (5 miles) on the odometer when it rolled off the lot. I have since put over $10,000 into it between regular maintenance and REPAIRS. That amount kind of puts a damper on the "good gas mileage" it gets. No more Mazdas for me thanks!
I hate to disagree with anyone's comments - but 100k miles in TWO years is NOT average car mileage - average car mileage is still listed at between 12-15k miles a year. If you just got routine oil changes done putting 50k miles a year on that car you'd be getting your oil changed every 3 weeks (if you change it at 3k miles, which you should). Anyone who is slamming that kind of miles on a car in that short a time has to be religious about maintenance. I'm on my second Mazda Protege ES it's a 2000 with 69k on it (my 1999 I bought new and it was totaled in Jan 06 with 84k miles on it) I've been driving it for nearly 2 months with no problems. I can't even imagine saying that 100k miles in 2 years is average miles... maybe it's a typo!
For 50k miles per year with all those major components repaired, your car had to be in the shop for quite a long time. With that in mind, how many miles do you put on your Mazda daily? 50k a year equals roughly 1000 miles per week. How did you put that many miles on the car with the maintenance time figured in? Things do not add up.
I LOVE MY MAZDA Protege 5 Got it tonight 27,000 miles RUNS GREAT great gas mileage.. I had a Ranger before..
Anyone that feels that they don't have to change their oil every 3000 miles is fooling themselves, and is going to end up with a big repair bill very soon!! Case in point, see above where the owner put over 100k on their car in just over 2 years! That's a lot of driving, despite what anyone says.
And, BTW, if you check the owner's manual, it will tell you to get your oil changed every 3000-5000 miles.
Getting your oil changed every 3000 miles is a rule of thumb not an exact # to follow. If you drive a 1000 miles a week you can go out to every 5000 miles. Really its every 3000 miles or 4-6 months, whichever comes first. Plus I would be curious as well as to how he put on 100,000 miles in 2 years with so many repairs.
I have had a Mazda Protege 5 for 2 years myself and I am extremely dissapointed. There have been so many problems this car has literally taken me to the poor hose. EGR VALVE!, Belts, Brackets, brakes, lights, stereo, it goes on and on... In my opinion this Japanese car is really designed and built for a nice, easy life on the smooth roads of Japan... not the rugged and tough demands of life on the real road here in North America!
I purchased my 2003 Mazda Protege LX in May of 2003. It had 8 miles on the odometer. It had the 2.0 engine and 5 speed manual transmission. I took excellent care of this car, the oil was changed EVERY 3000 miles religiously. In April of 2006, with 58,000 miles on the odometer, I got into it, turned the key, started it up, and it shook like there was an earthquake under the hood, the "check engine" light also did not go off after the car idled for a few moments. I immediately turned the car off, and tried again in case it was a fluke. It wasn't. It continued. I had the car towed to the Mazda dealer who ran the diagnostic check on it and diagnosed that it needed a tune up. One of the spark plugs was bad, cyl #4. I got it out of the shop and on my way home at a stop light it started shaking again. The next morning I drove it back to Mazda, later that afternoon they called and said that the "rod" was broken and the engine needed to be replaced. I had them put in another spark plug and I drove the car VERY SLOWLY never over 2,000 rmp to the nearest dealor and traded it in.
3-1/2 years in with my Protege 5. 5-speed with A/C, no real problems to report. Car has been highly reliable and now has over 118,000 kms or about 71,000 miles. So far, have changed the brakes, timing belt, the two other belts and spark plugs. The only other thing was the water pump which was still in OK condition, but I requested the change at the same time as the timing belt to avoid possible future labour charges in case it went later. The time to change just a water pump on that car was 2.5 - 3 hours, while they were doing the timing belt, 30-45 minutes. I will be trading it in soon, looking for something bigger, excellent car, hope the next owner enjoys it. BTW, never missed an oil change, every 3000 miles...ALWAYS!!!
I have a 2000 Mazda Protege LX which has about 80.000 miles/130K Km. After it got off the warranty - time in which I changed the oil religiosly every 3000 miles (by then I had 40.000 miles), I switched to synthetic oil and since then I changed the oil every 6000 miles... It went through 6 Canadian winters and it still runs great, has very good acceleration etc. The gas consumption went up after the 4th year and 4 months ago I had the first oxygen sensor replaced which made it right.
After reading some of the comments here, I'm surprised to see a few wholly negative experiences with the Mazda Protege. This is certainly unfortunate, and I can't imagine the financial ruin I'd be in if my car were unreliable. However, I suspect cases of the Protege's unreliability are exceptions to a reputation of outstanding reliability. Thankfully, both my and my friend's experience demonstrate that.
Anyone even mildly enthusiastic about cars knows full well that the proteges of 1999-2004 vintage are superior performers, even if they aren't exactly fast. But what has continually astonished me about my 2000 Protege ES is both its reliability and solidity. I purchased it new, and maintained it appropriately with 5000 mile oil changes and brakes as needed, and rarely have had any trouble. I was stranded once, but that was due to a faulty ignition coil that I failed to have repaired months after I was given a recall notice. Luckily, it was still drivable, and I happened to be accross the street from a dealer. Beyond that, my windsheild developed a leak at 30K, and my swaybar link bushings have worn out twice. All of this was covered under warranty, and non of it effected the drivability or safety of the car. The bushings merely caused a clunking that was annoying, but not mechanically unsound. Anyway, I now have 94000 miles on it, and nothing else has ever gone wrong with it. And get this, I still have the original battery--this after 2 years driving 1.5 miles to and from work in the bitter cold chicago winters, and 3 years of living in a very small town in missouri with nowhere to drive beyond about 2 miles. My clutch is still sound, my brakes have been replaced twice (the second time at 85K after an astonishing 50k mile stint). After 80k miles, I switched to Mobil one synthetic at 7000 mile intervals, and have experienced better fuel economy right up to the last day before an oil change. The car still handles great, rides solidly, doesn't squeak, tracks dead straight (no alignments ever), and shifts like the first day I got it. At 50k I added a sheilded straight pipe intake system for a negligable gain in HP and economy, and a big wallop of growl at full throttle. I've driven it in every situation, from cross country, to autocross, to switchback canyon roads, and very often at break necks speeds with tires squeeling and the tach swinging above 4000 RPM. Nothing phases it, and I'll be hard pressed to ever give it up.
My friend has had a very similar experience. He bought a 2002 Protege5 new, and has very rapidly put 140k miles on it with religious oil changes and all the expensive dealer checkups becuase he relies on his car's reliability for his job, and he has never been stranded. He's had even fewer little problems that I, and believ it or not, he's still on his original clutch and only his 2nd set of brakes. Obviously, we love our cars. And while hordes of civic and corolla owners have similar ravings about thier cars' relibility, nothing touches the Mazda's combination of pep, handling superiority, and durability both inside and out--okay, the paint is a little thin and If I look at the doors funny, they ding. Still, every car has its flaws, but the protege, in my experience, has so few as to be virtually perfect within this price point.
I purchased a used 1999 Protege. The car has 155K miles and still going strong. Prior to the Protege, I owned a 1987 Mazda 323 for almost 12 years. End of 2006, I purchased a 2007 Mazda3 hatchback and I love it!!! I kept the Protege for my son who is wondering how more many miles he can get out of the Protege. We've religiously changed the oil every 3500-4500 miles. Replaced brakes 3 times, replace timing belt a few months ago, and performed maintenance as suggested by Mazda dealer. Can anyone tell me?
I have a Mazda Protege 2000 (110K Kilometers). Changed the timing belt, water pump, tensioner and idler a couple of months ago. Everything's fine except that the engine gets noisy at 100Kms (highway driving. Otherwise the car runs fine, engine does not heat up.
Can anyone suggest, what can be done to make the engine quieter / smoother? Should I go in an engine tune up or engine / belt timing? I believe the timing is computerized.
"Can anyone suggest, what can be done to make the engine quieter / smoother? Should I go ina an engine tune up or engine / belt timing? I believe the timing is computerized."
Camshaft (timingbelt) timing is never computerized. It's symply a mechanical connection between the crankshaft and the camshaft via a belt or chain. As for your complaints about noisy highway cruising... I wholeheartedly agree. If there's one major complaint about my car, it's the highway cruising noise. Whenever I visit my parents and cruise around in their 2002 VW passat, I'm always amazed at how quiet and smooth it rides at high speed, right up to 100+mPH (don't ask why I'm driving that fast).
My Mazda is a 5 speed manual, and in the interest of sprightly performance (less so by today's standards--the Mazda3 now has 160 HP), the transimission is geared very short. Redline in first is less than 30, and redline in second is less than 60...unusual for any car. The net result is high RPMs in top gear on the highway. in 5th gear, cruising at the usual 80 MPH (in states where 75 is the legal limit, so 80 is reasonable), my RPMs are right at 4000. That's VERY high compared to most cars, and the result is an annoying drone that combines with aweful road and windnoise to produce shouting conversations between my passengers and I. I suspect that automatic transmission Protoges aren't much different, despite the mildly highter gear ratios of the 4 speed in cars equipped thusly.