'02 Mazda Protege5

Heel n Toe · 08:43 PM

My son's '93 Corolla died last week (probably threw a rod based on what he relayed over the phone... he said a guy where he works was going to look at it) and this is one of the cars that he has run across in his price range ($5K-10K) that fits his needs... a bit more power, decent gas mileage, and enough room to haul his guitar gear with a fold-down rear seat. He has found two while looking through AutoTrader listings.

A guy he knows that has one said that the first part of the '02s had a tranny problem... some bushing that was defective... and if you replace it before it fails, it will prevent a tranny meltdown and rebuild. We will be trying to find out the VIN cutoff so he will know if these cars are in the bad group... and if they've had the bushing replaced if they are in the bad.

One is in Greenville where he lives and one is here in Columbia. We're gonna go check 'em out after work tomorrow and compare notes over the phone.

I would appreciate it if any of you have any experience or knowledge about anything else to be wary of on this car. We plan to have one or both of them checked out by a trusted mechanic.

onewhippedpuppy · 10-21-2008, 05:15 AM

Stick or auto? I would not buy a Protege5 with an auto, it's slow enough with a stick.

I had a 2002, it was a great car. Super reliable, suprisingly big inside, the best FWD steering feel I've experienced, 30+ MPG, and a willing motor. They're not painfully slow, but not fast either, and the engine is a bit loud and buzzy. Mine had a Mazdaspeed short shifter on it, probably the nicest shifting car I've driven. They're small and lightweight, so very tossable and fun to drive. It's not uncommon to see them in SCCA SOLO events, with a few mods they're a scalpel on the track.

deathpunk dan · 10-21-2008, 05:46 AM

Fantastic car. I was looking for the mythical low-mileage low-asking price one for months and months before I bought a Mazda3 hatch. Just a great all-around car. Zippy enough, flat cornering, tons of storage room, great fun to drive the way hatchbacks used to be (ie before the advent of the sport compact hp wars, think 80s GTi or Civic SI).

I think your son should also consider an SVT Focus. They did make a five door version called the SVT ZX5.

Dave L · 10-21-2008, 06:06 AM

I sold mine with 230,000km, after 6 years it was time for something new, but it was still reliable and solid. The only thing I would look for is rust around the rear hatch but the name plates and the rear wheel wells. FWIW the Protege5 is NOT that great on gas considering its a 2L 4 cylinder, my wifes Mazda3 is much better on gas.

Heel n Toe · 12:34 PM

Thanks for the input, guys... looks like he's gonna get the one here in town at the Acura dealership. It's a sweet little ride... driving it yesterday, I wished I was checking it out for me.

We noticed the online listing said it had 72K on it, but the photo of the dash showed 115K on the digital odo. Turns out it was/is a Canadian car, so that's kilometers and they converted to miles for the listing. The speedo is in Km, too... but has the MPH numbers smaller inside the Km numbers.

Because it's Canadian and has a bit of very light rust underneath in a mostly surface kind of way, they're only asking $6K for it and he's probably not going to keep it beyond 2 or 3 years, so our mechanic said it was fine for that. The previous owner was a college student here, so it didn't spend but a coupla winters in Canada.

Question; under the hood (and probably beneath also), the car has a dull, snot-colored, rust-preventive coating on everything. It's pretty nasty-looking, and being in SC, he doesn't need that sort of protection, and may want to have it cleaned off. The dealer said he didn't know how it could be removed... do any of you know?