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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
#22608 of 24043 I Love It by garcia92
Oct 02, 2003 (7:15 am)
I have a 2001 ES and Love it. Lots of power and reacts well. Great Suspension and wheels. Most of the problems I see on others Protege is due to either buying a base modle or beating the hell out of the ride. I have a buddy with a 2002 Mazda Speed. Nothing but problems until Mazda come out with some fix. Most problems due to using leftover equipment from other cars. With minimal upgrades(intercooler, blow off valve, boost controller, flash upgrade from factory)it now is a street machine with no problems. The protege is the best bang for the buck. No matter if you go with the ES, 5, or Mazda Speed. Mazda is doing a lot right now in the performance area just look at the RX8 ahhhhhhh the RX8.
#22609 of 24043 my pro by tomciviletti
Oct 02, 2003 (9:51 am)
"99 es 5sp31k miles
cd player fritzy at times
door lock cover plate broke off, stuck in keyway
buzz in dash [someday i"ll find the damn thing!]
difficult to drive slowly
#22610 of 24043 '99LX. by mazdafun
Oct 02, 2003 (10:21 am)
Purchased Jan '99.Currently 45250miles (or thereabouts).
When new, the steering wheel was off by about 15 degrees. Fixed under adjustment period warranty.
Driver-side plastic door lock flap cracked and fell in. Replaced driver and passenger door lock cylinders with new ones with metal flaps under warranty. I now use the keyless entry remote; batteries are cheaper than lock cylinders since my car's out of warranty.
CD player stopped playing CDs this past spring. Replaced it with a JVC SX-780, which makes even better use of the aftermarket Pioneer speakers I installed. And I can plug in my iPod for long trips too.
AT sometimes "stumbles" when accelerating after coming to a brief stop or a crawl. I can manage around this quirk by pausing a little longer before accelerating, but still annoying.
Other than the issues above, no problems. It's been a blast to drive too, especially after adding the strut tower bar.
#22611 of 24043 Mazafun... by vocus
Oct 02, 2003 (2:47 pm)
My auto used to stumble in the 99 DX I had. It started around 35K miles, but I traded the car at 38K so I never got it looked at. Funny everyone's CD player went nuts too, mine in the DX used to hold CDs captive, but again I never did anything about it.I have noticed on the road that alot of Proteges have burned out taillamps, the top part of the taillamp only though. Anyone notice this?
#22612 of 24043 re22600... mazdafun 100K plugs by according2me
Oct 02, 2003 (3:34 pm)
It is indeed possible to go 100K with NGK double plats. I changed my OEM plugs (above NGK's)
102K miles and just for curiousity checked the gap. They were still gapped correctly. I was shocked. These plugs had platinum on the center electrode and the ground electrode. They were $12/each to replace, so I went cheap and replaced with NGK coppers.
I had also heard the horror stories about plug removal at 100K, but I had no such problem. I changed them first thing in the morning, when the engine was cold and they popped right out.
I'll probably stick with the coppers for the next 100K.(
30K intervals)
#22613 of 24043 I had an FX16 once and tried by gee35coupe
Oct 02, 2003 (3:37 pm)
Copper plugs. They were Champions but still copper. I blew em one night while "testing" my top speed on the interstate. When I slowed doen the car would barely run. Checked the plugs and they were burned right up. I'll never cheap out on my plugs again.#22615 of 24043 I used either... by newcar31
Oct 02, 2003 (3:46 pm)
NGK or Denso plugs in my Hondas and Mazdas. I think the platinum plugs are an absolute rip off.The regular plugs are cheap enough that you could replace them every 15,000 miles and still spend WAY less money than replacing platinums at 100,000. I have never burned up any spark plugs, they are always pretty close to stock gap when I replace them. Now, if the plugs were a pain in the ass to replace, I might be more willing to use platinums, but the Protege's plugs are easy.
As far as burned out light bulbs are concerned, I haven't seen a 99-03 Protege with a burnt out bulb. I haven't really noticed any newer cars that have a high percentage of burnt out bulbs except for VW/Audi cars. I've seen TONS of those cars with burnt out bulbs.
#22616 of 24043 PITA... by gee35coupe
Oct 02, 2003 (4:06 pm)
Try on a Lexus LS400. That's a job. Especially if you change the wires too. I couldn't even do the distributor cap and rotor because of one of the shields. I went Iridium. Normally I used Platinum +4's. Just because I like the way they look. Duh.German cars in general seem to have a lot of burned out lights. Older Celicas, LS400's, and Camrys used to seem to have a lot of out tail lights.
#22617 of 24043 all V8s and V6s by newcar31
Oct 02, 2003 (4:28 pm)
are probably going to be tough to replace the plugs. My 91' Mustang basically had a truck engine shoved into a relatively compact car. The plugs were hard to get at, and there were 8 of them.My parent's 92 Camry didn't burn out any bulbs in 11 years. Unbelievable.
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