2003 Mazda Protege 5 from North America - Comments

Water pump leak, needs to be replaced. Quoted almost $600 by Mazda for this. A bit excessive.

Intake manifold shutter valve. Something about the screws that hold it on were not torqued correctly, became loose, wrecked manifold cover. Whole thing is being replaced at Mazda's expense, which is nice, but they act like they are doing me a favor. They did not bother to tell me of course that this is a pretty common problem (or why would they fix for free). And a google search of "intake manifold shutter valve Protege" confirms this. Apparently I was lucky, mine was only loose, other peoples screws came right out and entered cylinder, which wrecks the engine. At that point Mazda won't fix for free. Why didn't they check the screws during one of my many maintenance visits BEFORE I encountered this problem though? Symptoms: rough engine while in idle, ticking noise which increases with RPMs.

Both headlights went as soon as warranty expired (convenient).

Very fun to drive with just me, but throw 2 friends in, or 1 big one, and it turns into a slug.

Windshield has had 4 chips in it. Seems to chip EVERY TIME a rock hits it.

Car was fantastic until about 80 000 kms. Now its seems one thing after the other. I waited about 5000 kms too late to sell.

Does look good, very roomy interior.

Litres/km not quite what advertised.

Not really a reflection of the car, but service is horrible!!! Maybe cause I'm female, but they treat me like I'm five years old. So patronizing. Or maybe it's just cause they know they sold me a lemon.

Kinda sounds like my experience with Ford over my Focus's bad fuel pump: Covered under recall... but did Ford ever call me about any recall? No. Did they act nonchalant like they were doing me some great service? Yes. Admit no fault is the way it goes.

You need to go to mazdausa and REGISTER! If you do that with your VIN number, you will see that the intake valve has been recalled. Afterall, people do buy and sell cars and how do you expect Mazda to know you have bought one of their product without registering? The onus is on you.

As to dealer experience, I am sorry it happens to you. But the recall for the intake valve came out in 06 (maybe 05) so it's not like they know that since they sold the car as new. And even though the Pro5 span only two model years, only certain VIN is affected. Bottom line is if you want to keep your car in good shape, it takes one call to your Mazda dealer and you are 17 digits away from finding out any recall. If you don't like your dealer, try another one.