Teach me: 1999-up Protege

I worked for a Mazda dealer back when these were brand spankin' new. Tough little cars which didn't need a whole lot to stay running. Of course, they were fresh off the boat too.

Fast forward to the present; the Curmudgeonling will be needing wheels sometime next year and a 99-04 Protege is on the short list. Civics are too, but there's the ricer tax (even on four doors) and high theft rate.

So anyone out there have any long term experience with the little things, good/bad? Particularly interested in automatic trans and A/C component longevity.

EDIT: Trying to stay with a light color, how do the silver and beige metallics hold up?

I have a 2002.5 Protege5

After 170,000 miles I've recharged the A/C, replaced the power steering pump, done brakes 4 times, tires 4 times, replaced the ignition coils once, the spark plugs about 4 times. It's on the original timing belt and clutch. Burns about a quart of oil every 5000 miles. I use Lucas oil stabilizer due to a cold start knock that drives me insane. After a year, all is well. I drive it 50 miles every day and it gets 30 mpg doing 75 mph.

Pro-tips: you will replace light bulbs like they're going out of style if you get a wagon. I installed an HID kit at about 100k miles and haven't had an issue since. The car loves to eat brakes and tires. There's no fix for this. Grin and bear it knowing that your econobox is probably more fun to drive than someone else's.

I have a set of springs from an MP3 that make the car a ton of fun to drive. They're in a box in my attic. They could be yours with some persuasion.

Also the Sunlight Silver and Sand Mica actually hold up the best. Red and yellow faded.

I've looked at a couple and it seems like they rust worse than most modern cars, rockers usually, be careful of that when shopping.

I have an interest in this thread too, going to look at a P5 tomorrow morning. Please do not tell me what kind of aftermarket there is, I don't need to spend any money on that

Up here in Canada they're all rusted out, badly. Sentras and civics have held up much better to salt.

Rear quarter wheel arches are rusting out on mine.

http://www.themazdaforum.com/showthread.php/8515-The-MP5T

Wife and I both traded in 2002 Proteges for our current rides this year. She bought Nissan and I went Scion.

The good news for you is that they are worthless as trade-ins. Hers being a bit crusty with 84,000 kms and mine with 123,000 kms were offered $300 and $600 by the dealers. We ended up giving them away to friends since we felt that the cars still had a ton of transportation value left in them. Both cars passed safety and emissions checks with no work needed. Funny thing is neither inspection station would pass the Falken Azenis tires even though they had a lot of thred before hitting the wear bars?

Cars both gave impecable service for ten years.

We had an experiment goig for the ten years we owned the cars: Neither of us paid for any dealer rustproofing. Every year I had my car oiled to prevent rust. My wife could not be bothered.

After 10 years, I had $600 into oil sprays. Since hers was offered $300 by the dealer and mine was offered $600, she figured she was $300 smarter than I was. Regardless of the fact that mine had much less rust.

I endorse the cars.Protege was the cheapest motoring I ever had after the Miata. I can only hope that our new car companies meet the Mazda standard for reliability.

In reply to red5_02:

Have you done the shocks? No matter which brakes I try, I'm going through a set of pads / rotors every 18 months (20k miles)

note: Eating brakes is my main complaint about it... Mine just rolled over 100k, and it needs an AC recharge, but I'm trying to tough it out until next summer.

Oh, and the first time you go to change the headlights, don't throw away the little "extender" that plugs into the back of the bulb or you'll have to dig through the trash to get it.

edit thought: I've also heard of ones rusting up at the top of the hatch (under the spoiler) for wagons... Mine has nothing yet (knock on solid metal), but it's been a VA car its whole life.

I have replaced the shocks. Fairly certain they need replacin again

Twin_Cam wrote: Please do not tell me what kind of aftermarket there is, I don't need to spend any money on that

I have the silver 2002 in my avatar. Only rust really is some paint bubbling on drivers A-pillar which I need to address. PO took really good care of mine with oil changes and tune ups (you should see the reciepts!).

No issues whatsoever with mine but it's a manual. Mine's got Racing Beat springs, KYB struts x4, HID conversion and a B&M short shifter. I have a full 30 minute commute with nothing but undulating curves and it feels like a slot car compared to most other cars I've driven.

Mine's got 130,000 miles, no troubles to speak of.

This will be a first car for a 15 y/o girl, it ticks all the right boxes: small but not too small, Pacific Rim origin, common enough to be easy to get parts for, old enough that the price/taxes/insurance will be reasonable. I have heard nothing of transmission problems, seems that Civics and CRV's around that era tend to wear the case and that's not easily repaired.

red5_02, that cold knock might be the intake 'tumble valve' instead of an internal engine problem. It's sort of like the long/short runner intake system. IIRC there was a reflash available through the dealerships to lessen (not eliminate) the noise.

I had an '03 with the 2.0. I hated that motor. Loud, unremarkable, yet surprisingly inefficient. I much prefer the older 1.6 and 1.8's, FWIW. Tire wear was totally fine, despite my Deals Gap and on-ramp abuses, but the car went through sway bar endlinks like it was going out of style. Decent car, but not the fun appliance I was hoping for, and as noted they rust very quickly. Looking back I likely would've been happier with a clean Civic or integra.

Just picked up an '02 P5 for the wife. White, 5-speed, odometer claims 51K miles, previous owner claims 151K. Kind of weird.

Only problems I can see/find are the beginnings of rust starting in most of the usual areas (rear quarter panels, under the top of the hatch, bottom rear corner of the front doors), a parking brake light that intermittently stays on even when the brake is fully disengaged, and someone obviously hit a curb with it before, because all the plastic under the front fascia is ripped. Oh and a miniscule pit on the windshield, which I'll fill in with one of those windshield repairer kits.

Other than that, even if it was a sedan (and it's a wagon! It has space!) it's a vastly superior car to my Saturn. Better handling, the brakes are so much better that I shouldn't even have to mention them, the shifter is scads better, the clutch pedal actually has weight to it, it feels way more composed on the highway, and it rattles 600% less. And the stock sound system is pretty decent.

So I just need to make a junkyard trip for that plastic under the front fascia, and investigate the parking brake switch. And invest in some POR-15 for the rust, to stop (or slow down) that particular phenomenon before it eats the car alive.

I convinced an ex-girlfriend to buy a 2000 Protege ES. Fantastic car; revvy engine, F-block 1.8 (not a BP), fun to toss. We got a killer deal because it was due for major maintenance (timing belt, tires and tune-up), but after a few hundred bucks the car was top-notch. Had to put in a catalytic converter before much longer, but that was less than $200.

It was a stickshift, too. I liked that car a lot. Her mom had a same-year LX with the 1.6 and an automatic. Fine car, but slow.

I had a '99 LX for over 3 years. Bought it with 76k miles on the odo, sold it at 153k. The second the new owner drove it away, I knew I had made a mistake selling it. Mine was a 5spd with the 1.6L. It was the perfect commuter car. Dead nuts reliable, good on gas (33mpg), and even with my all season tires it was a lot of fun to drive. My a/c worked fine the entire time I had it, never had to touch it. Can't comment on the auto trans since mine was a stick. Had normal brake and tire wear. Only "issue" it really had was an EGR going bad, caused a CEL to go on. I never bothered fixing it, the car ran fine. When I sold it, it needed a new set of plug wires and brakes, but that was all routine stuff.

I'd very highly recommend it for a new driver.

Well, the very first thing I tried to do on this car (other than peel a sticker out of the window and check the major fluids) was change a foglight bulb. That requires taking the foglight out, not a huge deal. Until the bolt holding it in snapped the stud. Guess I'm finding a new foglight somewhere and explaining to the wife how I've managed to break part of her new car after two days. Woot. I hope this is how every repair will go on this car

Good friend of mine got a 2000 5spd with ~215k miles, ran like a champ for the 2 years he owned it. Needed nothing but a sway bar end link in all the time he owned it before he upgraded cars. Drives similarly to a civic, only they cost less :P

I'd say they hold up to rust just as well as any other econobox from the same time period.

I do remember the shifter being awfully vague, and the next owner after him reported that the power steering pump went shortly after the car changed hands(~230k miles), but overall these cars are rock solid and can be head for cheap.