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Registered
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 14,093
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Buying a 2002 Mazda Protege. Good or bad info on these?
Buying locally to replace my Grand Prix which I sold this past weekend.
It's a very nice car with 89,000 miles. It's not flawless but I'll have a body shop touch up a couple of spots. The brakes will get replaced and the tires will get replaced by a more all season type before winter. Any of you guys own the older model? Do you like it?
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1981 911SC ROW SOLD - JULY 2015 Pacific Blue Wayne |
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04-27-2010, 04:59 PM
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Barrie, Ontario Canada
Posts: 2,954
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I had a 2002 Protege 5 and drove it to 230,000km. By far this was the most reliable car I have owned. A few things that did go wrong with the car;
end links - drive over a speed bump, if the car clunks its probably the end links rear calipers - they freeze so be sure they have either been replaced or plan for it RUST - this is why I sold the car, the wagons seem to be especially susceptible in the rear quarters and on the emblems on the hatch. Other than that it was just regular maintenance. |
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04-27-2010, 05:20 PM
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Registered
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 8,513
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I have had two sedans (1.8 litres) -- neither had any significant problems, other than end links. My wife's P5 eats headlights (one or two bulbs a year), which seems to be a relatively common problem, and we've had a seized caliper twice in the rear.
Otherwise dead reliable. Good on gas. Excellent chassis dynamics for a FWD car. |
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04-28-2010, 02:22 AM
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meister member
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I have a 2002 Protege sedan with the 4 speed automatic. We bought the car with 60K miles and it now has 98K. I have the "clunk" in the rear suspension mentioned earlier.
My big complaints which I find unacceptable are; 1) Rust. The car started to rust when it was 6-7 years old and it was garaged nearly its entire life. 2) Bad gas mileage for a car this size. I routinely get about 28 MPG of 80% highway driving. I suspect the automatic transmission and final drive gear ratio is the main culprit. The car turns 2700 RPM at 60 MPH 3) the automatic transmission flat out sucks. It holds 1 gear for a long time when the engine is cold and constantly drains any possible fun out of driving the car. A friend has a Protege 5 and complains about all the above problems as well. I think if I opted for the 5 speed transmission (bought the car from my MIL) it would have take care of complaint 2 and 3. It has been reliable though. Speedy 
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1983 944 guards red with 16" Fuchs, Host of Wisconsin area timing/ balance shaft belt tensioning party 1987 944S Purchased from Legion. Corvette LT-1 V-8 conversion with Mega Squirt II Check on progress ---> www.porschehybrids.com/gallery/speedracing944 Favorite Road = www.tailofthedragon.com 318 turns in 11 miles (11 min 20 sec best run) |
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04-28-2010, 03:18 AM
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