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Mazda Protege Owners: Meet the Members

335 messages,  Last post on Jan 25, 2009 at 9:59 AM

You are in the Mazda Protege Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? Mazda Protege, Mazda Protege5, Sedan, Wagon

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#307 of 335 Congratulations Andrewk. by mazdafun Feb 09, 2004 (5:32 pm)
My wife and I are quite pleased with her P5, and I'm very happy with my Protege. Yours should reward you with fun reliable service, as ours have.
#310 of 335 New 2003 ES Owner by kenv Jun 01, 2004 (9:26 am)
Hi all, I've been reading this Forum for over a month now. Started in the Mazda3 forum, but after I came to grips with the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to get in one (based on my budget) I decided that the Protege would be my 2nd choice. If I had the time, I may have held out; however, my old car was a 92 Nissan Maxima with 198,700 miles on it. It would stall on me at random times and the A/C was not blowing cold. Here in Dallas they both are issues. I got my money's worth out of her. So I was hoping to at least be able to drive her on a lot for a trade. I located several Proteges (over the internet) still new on a few area lots and checked them out. Unfortunately, they sold by the time I got to them. I did notice that they sold for about 5,000 under MSRP so I used that ammo to help buy the ES I found on a lot near my work. The sticker was $18,060 w/ABS, side air-bags, and wheel locks. I managed to get them down to $13,900 including my trade ($600.00 towards TTL). After reading some more on this site I decided to go with the Mazda extended warranty - because I will keep the car for a while. Got 7yrs/100,000 w/$50 deductible for $799.00. I am very pleased with car. It's white, which wouldn't have been my first choice since my Maxima was white, but now I'm pleased with the color too. Wish it had the moonroof and 6 disc in-dash changer though. Anyway, it's all you guys have said yours were, and I look forward to driving mine every time I get in it. It had 114 miles on it (brand new) when I drove it off the lot. Now, I'm up to about 700 "babied" miles. A few things I want to do is to tint the windows (right away) and upgrade the speakers to the Kenwoods that many of you have gone with. I've checked out the on-line Mazda sites you have mentioned you purchased yours at, but I've also seen some on Ebay for less. Debating whether to go with the Mazda ones because of the factory wiring/connectivity or save on the Ebay ones. Also would like to know how easy the speakers are to get to for self-install. I visited tboggs' homepage (http://homepage.mac.com/tboggs/Menu7.html) where he shows pics of his installs, but I'm not too car audio savvy. Plus I don't want to risk causing any cosmetic damage. I will try though if you all advise that it's easy. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Also, what are anyones thoughts on going with an early oil change for the first one? Or, should I just wait for the 1st scheduled one?   Thanks for your time - if you took the time to read this. This is a great forum and has been a great help so far.   Aim High! KenV
#311 of 335 Stop into the chat Ken! by pf_flyer HOST Jun 01, 2004 (10:02 am)
New faces are ALWAYS welcome...   It's Tuesday, so it's Mazda chat time again. Drag a friend along tonight!   Mazda Mania     Liven up your evening and join your fellow enthusiasts every Tuesday from 6-7pm PT/9-10pm ET for our Mazda Mania Chat! The chat room opens 15 minutes before the scheduled chat time, so come early and get a good seat! Hope to see YOU there on Tuesday!   Mazda Mania Chat Room   PF Flyer Host Pickups & News & Views Message Boards
#312 of 335 Ken, be proud. by mdaffron Jun 02, 2004 (5:01 am)
You may wind up being the final owner of a new Protege to post information here. I thought that by mid-2004 all the 2003s would be long-gone!   Welcome to our happy family. Some of the long-time regulars (Larry, Protegextwo; and Dinu; to name two) have just jumped ship for new cars (Larry traded his two 2000 ES's for two Pontiac Vibes and Dinu traded his Protege for a Mazda3), but they still hang around and offer advice. I still own my 2000 ES and my wife drives a 2002 Protege5. I plan to trade my Protege, which is still going very strong at 75,500 miles, for a Mazda3S 5-door next May, but we'll probably keep the Protege5 for a couple more years since it only has 30K on it. At any rate I plan to stick around here as new owners always show up -- used Proteges make pretty good deals!   Welcome, and enjoy! I'm 75,000 miles ahead of you, and zooming ever on!   Meade Replies to this message: kenv (Jun 03, 2004 4:37 am)
#314 of 335 Congratulations on your new ES. by mazdafun Jun 02, 2004 (5:19 am)
It should treat you well.   The front speakers in the door are fairly easy to get at. Just remember to take your time and don't force anything (except for the grip on the passenger door, after you've removed all the screws you need to pop some snaps). Wiring isn't hard. If you go with the Mazda-supplied ones, it's just unclip the old ones and clip the connectors to the new ones. Other than that, Crutchfield may supply adapters if you buy from them. If not, then you'll need to use a soldering iron.   On the driver door, make sure you disconnect (and reconnect) the power window and side-mirror control boards from their wires when you remove the trim panel.   The speakers in the rear deck can be a hassle to replace, but the results are worth the effort, I think. It took me more time to do those than the ones in the front doors. I didn't figure out how to remove the panel completely, but got it detached enough I could work underneath it to replace the speakers. You may break a few of the plastic fasteners here, but you can always buy replacements from your parts department.   I didn't post pictures, but I did describe in text how I replaced mine in the Protege Accessories and Modifications board (msgs 272 and 274). You can go to that board, do an "advanced search" for "speaker" and "replacement" in the message text and restrict the search to just that board. It'll list every message posted about the subject in that board. Replies to this message: kenv (Jun 03, 2004 5:03 am)
#315 of 335 Re: Ken, be proud. [mdaffron #312] by kenv Jun 03, 2004 (4:37 am)
Replying to: mdaffron (Jun 02, 2004 5:01 am) I was affraid I might be one of the last and there'd be few left here to play with. Thanks for responding. Hopefully, I can contribute some around here as me and my car get further aquainted and broken in.   KenV

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