2002 Mazda Protege LX from North America - Comments

Transmission is starting to give trouble 50000 miles.

Brakes already been replaced.

Bumpy ride at slow speeds (wheels and tires are in good shape and balanced)

We bought this car last year, and until recently its been a good car. The transmission has always shifted hard and now is shifting very hard!! We have done some research on the web and found out that this is an ongoing problem with these cars. Some people blame it on Ford, but these transmissions aren't Ford. My car, transmission included has about 5 stickers on it saying the entire car was manufactured in Japan. To the best of my knowledge Ford transmissions are manufactured in Detroit USA. So much for Japanese being better. My next car will definatly be American!!!

Not that I hate American cars or anything (I live in Michigan and have familial connections to Chrysler and Ford), but I wouldn't let a Mazda decide that Japanese cars are lesser. They aren't exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to cars from that island nation...

Hi, I own a 97 mazda 323f 1.5. With regards to your comment about Mazda, Mazda are in general very, very reliable. Infact a recent survey in the uk found the 97 323 to be the most reliable used car you can get. Mine has done 90,000 miles and runs perfectly, has no oil leaks and has just sailed through it's last mot. So the person who said Mazda are not the cream of the japanese crop, I've owned hondas before and the mazda are just as good.

Don't try and stop them! Let them buy american!! They'll find out really quickly that automatic transmission fluid DOES need to be changed, and that cars in general DO require maintenance. The lesson is always best learned when it's learned the hard way.

I have to agree with the last comment posted. normal schedule maintenance is a must. realistically think about it. to make the perfect car is bad business sense. you need to sell more cars to make more money. GM ran into some serious QA issues when they moved parts manufacturing to Mexico. they have paid the price by losing allot of customers myself included. They pushed the QA envelope to much and got greedy. QA dropped and so did sales plus consumer confidence. I'm not saying Mazda is perfect, but they seem to have found a balance between reliability and profit, very similar to Honda and Toyota.

I'm the person that made the original comment on our 2002 Mazda that ruffled some of your feathers out there.

I work at a quick lube shop and I get 50% discounts on my personal vehicles. You should ask before you assume that because the transmission was no good in my car wasn't because my failure to do proper maintenance. I have already flushed the trans twice (with proper fluid) and it still shifts rough.

The reason I said I would buy American next time is because I have owned several cars in my 31 years American and Japanese. My personal experience has been that I had fewer problems with American cars. I know that is hard for you to believe, but its true! We have Chevy's, Ford's, and Dodge's come in all the time for an oil change with over 250000 original miles, and the owners of these (American) vehicles tell us how good of a car its been with little to no problems.

On the other hand I know of several people in the last few years that have bought new Toyota's, Honda's, and Nissan's and have had lots of problems with them. Stop living in the 80's. Stop being brain washed by magazines. American cars are better now, it's a fact! Plus, if American is that bad, why do you see so darn many on the road?

Surprised nobody has pointed this out yet, given the tenor of this debate, but... Mazda is actually a Ford product that is manufactured in Japan. That's why many parts on a Mazda are high-end Ford parts. So... it's an American V in Japanese packaging. Who knew?