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Mazda Protegé

24043 messages,  Last post on Jun 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

You are in the Mazda Protege Forum.

What is this discussion about? Mazda Protege, Sedan

Messages Page 1916 of 2405

#19149 of 24043 Advice needed -- need to buy a car for 2 teenage drivers by kinshasa

Dec 18, 2002 (8:16 pm)

I have two new teenage drivers coming up this March. I've been looking at late model Proteges with less than 30,000 miles. My 21 year old bought a 1999 LX last April with 53K miles and it seems pretty reliable. (And he's not getting pulled over by the cops like he was in the 1986 Olds Cutlass Supreme!).
 
Now I read that Mazda is offering 0.0% APR on new 2003 models. Am I better off buying a 2003 with the great financing, or spending $10K for a 2001 LX? I don't want these teenagers to have a new car. Insurance premiums will cost more, and I don't think it's right to give a brand new driver a brand new car! The "learning" car has been a 2000 Saturn LS with V6 engine. This car has 33K miles and is my husband's car. I could let the kids drive this car and my husband could have the 2003 Protege.
 
Any advice?

#19150 of 24043 Get a left over brand new 2002 by newcar31

Dec 18, 2002 (8:23 pm)

if you can. It's the same thing, and you could get it really cheap. I know Morries here in MN has quite a few 2002s. You can check the mazdausa site and load inventory data from your local dealership. I'd bet you could get the 0% financing and a heavy discount. It's worth a shot.

#19151 of 24043 Ashu, Darren, Todd, Dinu... by chicagopro

Dec 18, 2002 (9:19 pm)

Thanks.
 
And I wouldn't call anybody a 'jackass'...folks were just getting, um, er, 'enthusiastic.'
 

#19152 of 24043 RPM at 80 by sfrat

Dec 19, 2002 (6:25 am)

On my 01 ES 5spd, I'm just a hair under 4,000 rpm's, looking at it straight on from the driver seat, which is where I usually sit going that fast.
 
I think it would be dangerous to sit anywhere else at that speed. No?
 
The Pro is geared very low, makes a lot of torque in 1st through 3rd, which I find to be a real pain in stop and go traffic and parking lots. My only complaint with the car. I'm constantly on the clutch in low speeds.

#19153 of 24043 Dale by newcar31

Dec 19, 2002 (6:27 am)

I was calling myself a "jackass", nobody else. ;0

#19154 of 24043 2002 Leftovers by thel

Dec 19, 2002 (6:28 am)

Unless you can get a dealer to take a big loss on one of the 2002's (selling it to you below their cost) you will be far better off just getting an 03 with 0% financing (if you qualify). The rebates on the 02's are not that much more than on the 03's and by getting an 03 you get:
 
1. One year's less depreciation
 
2. A longer warranty (4 yrs/50,000 mi instead of 3 yrs/50,000 miles)
 
3. The usual upgrades that occur from one model year to the next.
 
I don't think that 2002's can get 0% financing so that means you are left with whatever the factory to dealer cash incentive is. Of course, if you don't qualify for the 0%, you just take the rebate cash, but I'm pretty sure that the difference between the 02 and the 03 is only about $500-$1000 (not enough to warrant getting an 02 instead of an 03 IMHO). Hope this helps.

#19155 of 24043 Thank you Sfrat by gee35coupe

Dec 19, 2002 (6:35 am)

I remember talking about the cruising rpm while we had our ES. I also thought the gearing was a little short on the highway. Didn't mind it in the city. But anyway....

#19156 of 24043 thel by newcar31

Dec 19, 2002 (8:02 am)

How will the dealers get rid of the 2002s then? They don't want them sitting there forever so they will have to make the deal sweet enough for someone to consider it over a 2003.

#19157 of 24043 Dale and al, by bluong1

Dec 19, 2002 (8:45 am)

It seems like everywhere I go, argumentative discussions follow me like a shadow.
 
To be honest, I think the MP3/P5 discussion yesterday is really silly and I want to apologize to all, especially Todd.
 
However, I do like other "discussions". I want to understand how things work. The discrepancy between reading RPM and calculated RPM is something that bugs me for some time. The overreading of the tach get even worse if one considers that the speedometer is underread, which is generally admitted to be true for 99% of cars. I double and triple check the RPM on my P5 more than once making sure that I read the numbers right. For me, the only explanation for the above discrepancy is: the tach design on the Pro - probably a simplistic magneto-mechanical device (?) - is far from being accurate. The rpm reading of dynotest however is however 100% accurate, since it uses a stroboscope to count the number of engine revolutions.
 
That is the conclusion I reach for now. Since then, I change my way of accelerate my car a little bit. When in a hurry, I line to push the engine a little higher than the optimum shift points read from the tach in order to get out maximum torque and few extra hp.
 
Bruno

#19158 of 24043 TTL by bluong1

Dec 19, 2002 (8:57 am)

I believe Mazda is the first to use it. After all it's their patented design.
 
Bruno

Messages Page 1916 of 2405

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