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Oct. 25, 2008 11:11 p.m. Duke Dork

Hey, I used the search, and didn't find what I needed. And I'm scared of what I'll have to wade through at a Protege forum.

Looking for a '99-03 vintage Protege for my daughter. The base car seems pretty, well, base. But what're the big differences between the LX and the ES? I've seen ESs with "ES 2.0" on the fender - do LXs have the 1.8? Or is it more of a trim level thing?

I know they've got the typical Mazda rep for running a long time, and prices are a little higher than budget, but not much, and February isn't that far away. So what should I be looking for?

Thanks,

:Duke
Oct. 25, 2008 11:39 p.m. kcbhiw Reader

The 99-00 LX/DX used the 1.6 ZM-DE whereas the ES models employed the 1.8L FP-DE. All 2001+ models used the same 2.0L FS-DE that is nothing more than a stroked clone of the earlier 1.8L FP. The later engine was obviously the most powerful of the three, albeit rated at only 135HP.

The only real variant between the 2001+ models is trim level, power features, stereo, etc. The ES models were equipped with 4-wheel disc brakes and a 5-bolt wheel pattern whereas the DX/LX models were front disk/rear drum, 4x100.

As far as longevity goes, the cars and all engine series' are quite sound, especially for a daily driven car. My 02 Protege5, now at 75k miles, has had no problems short of a faulty O2 sensor. I regularly average between 29-32 MPG. I couldn't be happier with the car.
Oct. 25, 2008 11:42 p.m. jezeus Reader

edited

kcbhiw was quicker and made my post redundant.
Oct. 26, 2008 12:56 a.m. Duende New Reader

I've got a '96, sorry I know that's a bit earlier than you're looking at, but have no complaints. Great, fuel-efficient, reliable little car.
Oct. 26, 2008 6:33 a.m. aeronca65t Reader

We had an '02 model Protege' with the 2.0 engine, auto trans and rear drum brakes. Nice car with good gas mileage and great handling.

But::: At about 75,000 miles, the trans started slipping and shifting funny (I actually posted a note here asking about the causes). The car was almost 100% driven very gently by The Missus. From what we could tell, it was sort of a fluke..the dealer said there no history of problems with Mazda automatics and I couldn't find any common problems on various Mazda-owner websites either. So I guess we were just unlucky. We needed a bigger car to haul the grandparents around anyway, so it got swapped for an '08 Accord.

But if I were ever to buy another, I'd look at the trans fluid and make sure the trans shifted nice when it was fully warm.

We have an Escort GT that went 125,000 on it's similar (Mazda) automatic trans with no problems...it's now my NASA racer (I swapped in a 5 speed) and is still going strong with the original, untouched engine.

And my daily driver is a 1.8, '00 Miata...best car I've ever owned.

Nice thing about Mazda engines: they are not "interference". This means you can snap a camshaft belt and not bend all the valves.
Oct. 26, 2008 7:24 a.m. njansenv New Reader

I'd heard the 2.0 was substantially different than the 1.8....but I could be wrong. I have a 2k3 protege with 100k miles. Average fuel economy to date is 32.4mpg over the last 40k miles.
A couple things: sway bar endlinks clunk, and need replacing more regularly than most cars. 2k3's have a reputation for "eating" some screws from the VICS. The damage can vary between minor inconvenience of hearing terrible noises for 30-60 seconds, to needing a complete topend rebuild. My car ate a screw at a local auto-x a few weeks ago. EGR was the only casualty that I could tell so far, but then, I haven't had the head off.

I find the engine pretty rough sounding: it doesn't at all remind me of the miata motors, and is a decent torquey commuter motor. (not much fun to rev)

It's been reliable though, and I don't consider it a bad purchase. They handle VERY well, IMHO, and it was very entertaining on the Dragon.

Nathan
Oct. 26, 2008 8:14 a.m. ZOOMiata Dork

LX cars in Canada came with the 1.8 until 2001. I've owned two 1.8s, and we have a P5 with the 2.0. I like the 1.8 better. It revs much higher and feels more perky than the 2.0.
Oct. 26, 2008 9:31 a.m. Duke Dork

Thanks, everybody! It sounds like the 2001-2002 ES is the number to get (4 wheel discs FTW when you're doing your own brake jobs). There's a 50/50 chance it will be ATX - jury is still out on whether she'll like driving a stick, so I assume the torquey, low-rev 2.0 is a better match for that.

Thanks again. If anybody's got a nice one they want to sell in the next 6 months or so, give me a shout.
Oct. 26, 2008 12:16 p.m. skruffy Dork

base cars didn't have rear swaybars either.
Oct. 26, 2008 2:38 p.m. RXBeetle New Reader

aeronca65t wrote:

We had an '02 model Protege' with the 2.0 engine, auto trans and rear drum brakes. Nice car with good gas mileage and great handling.

But::: At about 75,000 miles, the trans started slipping and shifting funny (I actually posted a note here asking about the causes). The car was almost 100% driven very gently by The Missus. From what we could tell, it was sort of a fluke..the dealer said there no history of problems with Mazda automatics and I couldn't find any common problems on various Mazda-owner websites either. So I guess we were just unlucky.

I dunno, my 00 626 with the 2.0 auto trans blew and it seemed like it was a pretty common problem (probably more so with the heavier 626) and was a huge problem in earlier probes and 626. The manual swap was pretty straight forward though except for bypassing the factory immobilizer.
Oct. 26, 2008 7:09 p.m. Volksroddin Reader

we had a 02 ES w/2.0 5speed disc brake all the way around. awsome car (for a fwd) handle'd every well. Never had eny probems with it.
Oct. 26, 2008 9:57 p.m. JohnW New Reader

Early Protege's have proven very reliable and if the example in the link below is any indication, the new ones seem capable of big miles as well:

http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/887180482.html
Oct. 27, 2008 11:53 a.m. ggarrard New Reader

I can add to the transmission concerns.. my mechanic friend suggested I stay away from an automatic when I said I was buying a '02 Protege 5. In the year that we've owned it we've replaced all 4 endlinks and the EGR valve (under warranty).

Car currently has 110,000 Kms (68,000 miles)
Oct. 27, 2008 11:53 a.m. Xceler8x Reader

JohnW wrote:

Early Protege's have proven very reliable and if the example in the link below is any indication, the new ones seem capable of big miles as well:

http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/887180482.html

$5k for a car with 270k miles on it?
Oct. 27, 2008 10:05 p.m. Nitroracer Dork

From my experience with a ford probe and its stable mates the mx6 and 626 I would advise staying away from mazda/ford automatics. About 100k is as much as you can expect from them, even when driven nicely and cared for.

Another note, the FS-DE engine in a 4cly probe is an interference engine.
Oct. 28, 2008 7:58 a.m. Duke Dork

Well, I'm teaching her how to drive a manual - she doesn't get a choice about that. But whether she wants to continue after she learns, that I can't guarantee.
Oct. 28, 2008 7:05 p.m. integraguy Reader

I would second (third?) the advice to avoid a Mazda/Ford with the auto tranny. I read either here, or on another forum, that these cars have trannys that are equipped with factory coolers that are too small. Unless you are buying a new Mazda and can get a larger cooler installed at VERY low mileage...you need to start banking money for a rebuilt tranny, like yesterday.

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