I cant think of anything "bad" about this exact car.... and by the way my car will be a race car someday lol

 

Hahaha omg, same here as well! They should have moved those window controls a few inches back so that my hand hits the front windows instead of the rear ones... I thought that i was because of my gimp eye, which distorted my depth of perception. haha(jk jk)

I guess Mazda should have done more testing on their design specs lol. Cupholders.... and window controls.

Also don't you find it annyoying that you can't open the door from the inside because the locks don't "auto unlock" when you turn your engine off? So everytime I park my car, and when I try to open the door I forget that the doors are locked and make a fool out of myself. Because on my Cobra SVT and the Maxima that my gf drives, the doors either auto unlocks or can be opened from the inside. What are your thoughts on this?

 

Fords always unlock automatically, and Ive owned many Fords, so I was used to it, and it is a pain when it doesnt "auto unlock", but most cars dont.

 

My alarm unlocks the driver's door when you shut off the engine.

 

same here but i wired it so when i go back to acc. it unlocks all the doors, the alarm has an option function to turn it on and off too

 

Mach 1, No it's a 5-speed. Maybe the problem is that I traded in a Civic SI for my Protege. I guess I got a little spoiled on it. I had to trade it in last year when I had my daughter because I wanted a four door. But it seems like Mazda wanted this car to appeal at least slightly to the sport compact crowd. Since I'm driving my little girl around at least part of the time, I am no longer looking to build anything resembling a race car, but it would be nice to have a little more power, just enough to keep up with some of my friends when we all go out and play(without my daughter of course). Don't get me wrong it's a sweet car. I think mine looks good as hell,and I'm hoping to take some more trophies home with it once I've had it enough time and money to do a little more with it but I would've paid a little more for a little more power. Maybe up to where my SI was when it was stock. I hope no one bites my head off for comparing our cars to a Honda

 

Installshield, Actually, I think I paid about the same when I bought my SI and my Pro5 new. And the civic had a lot more power to start with. Like I said, I still love my Pro5, but I think Mazda could've done better to make a little more power. But I do see what you're point is and that's true , compared to a lot of cars in that price range, it's very comparable, and it does have definate potential for upgrades, but that's just what bugs me about my car. I'll have to spend money to get it where my last car was to begin with. And I do think that mazda is tryinf to tap into our crowd. There's a lot of money there. And I think you'd see a lot more of them with our crowd if they had a little more power.

 

Well, if you like the power of the honda, maybe you shouldnt have bought a slowtege...

As far as Im concerned, these are all terribly slow compact cars, and thats what they will remain. If I was looking for speed, I wouldnt have bought the Protege, but I certainly wouldnt have bought a Honda either.

 

Mach1, In case you didn't notice it, I already said I was not interested in building a race car or going a hundred down the street. I merely think it would be nice to go as fast as most other cars on the road. If you also would have paid attention to my reply, you would've noticed I said that I liked my car. The name of the topic is, "What bugs you..." that is what bugs me. Sorry I guess I should've stuck with the windows or dash or something since giving my opinion on the subject was too much for SOME of us to handle. And by the way, I have a hard time believing that there aren't some others that feel the same way. Since you are so against about twenty more horsepower on a car, maybe you should've bought a golf cart or something like that.

 

i dont know why people complain about the lack of HP. i find the protege quick enough for everyday driving, passing or winning races from the stop lights.
the car just takes off in 3rd or 4th gear above 3k rpm....
DONT FORGET HOW MUCH YOU PAYED FOR YOUR CAR!....it's in the economy class.
more Hp means you wil pay more $$$$ and that means that the protege would compete with diferent cars and might end up in a different class altogether.
i have driven different cars and i find that the protege is very quick and handles great. it's not the fastest but there will always be something faster.
hp doesnt necessarily mean a faster car or better acceleration.
why would anyone buy the protege for Hp? get an SUV with 260 horses etc.
if you want to haul heavy stuff...well,yeah the protege will not suit you...again a different and more expensive car would
be suitable for that...mininvan,suv ,big sedan etc.
the protege is an affordable , stylish , high quality,reliable , very responsive and a great handling car.

i drive it aggresivelly and thats where the car shines the best's... it serves it's purpose very well.

 

I agree with jjac28. If 'we' wanted more hp why did 'we' buy the Subaru Impreza WRX? For me it was the money; $34000 vs. $23000. I want to buy a condo so the Subaru was out. The cost in HP was to much for what it was worth. The P5 has been/will be peppy enough. I would love more HP if the price was the same.

 

In case you didnt notice it, IN MY OPINION, the mazda goes fine when compared to other economy cars and if I wanted to go fast, I wouldnt have bought an economy car in the first place.

You gave your opinion, I gave mine. Sorry that was too much for you to handle.

By the way, the power of a car is something that can be determined before the sale, on a test drive, unlike other things that people discover that they dont like about thier car after buying it, like the quality of other things that are falling apart as the car ages. Thats why I made the comment about why did you buy the car if you didnt like the power? Was that the one that yanked your chain?

 

WEll, Mach1, Why is it that I origanally posted my opinion and got my head bitten off, and then when I try to reply to that, I have a problem with expressing opinions. I just wanted to tell you what I thought. There was really no reason to get so defensive. One of the first thingss I said was that I really liked my car. But the topic is what bugs you about the protege. Apparently, I shouldn't have given my opinion. SInce I am new to ProtegeClub, I thought I would try and get in the conversation and meet some people with my interests. I repeatedly said I am not looking to build a race car. I repeatedly said that I like my car. I just gave my opinion of one thing that I thought could be improved. I thought that was the reason for this topic. Everyone is right if I wanted a race car I should've bought something else. But I'll say it again, I DO NOT WANT A RACE CAR. I don't think my opinion of adding like 20 hp is because I want a race car. I think if I did, I would be asking for more than 20 hp. If you disagree with me that's fine, but you don't have to be an *** about it. I guess I came to the wrong place to meet people to talk to. And that is by no means directed towards everyone here, just some of the ones I have met so far.

 

AS YOU CAN SEE ..WE HAVE SOME HARDCORE PROTEGE5 FANS HERE....
IT'S DANGEROUS TO SAY NASTY THINGS ABOUT OUR CAR
GRRRRRRRRR......

 

Is that smart-***, fat-***, ****-***, lame-*** or kiss-***? There's all 31+ flavors available...
Special of the month: Fine-***!!!

Awww, don't form too hasty of an opinion. Most of the folks here are pretty cool and very helpful.

So you're from Knoxville? What kind of hick place is that? I've heard all sorts of horror stories regarding inbreeding and nuclear experimentation. (Not to mention the Big Golden Golf Ball).

Now Knox-vegas - that's a place I'd like to go....

To thread topic: I dislike the Ground-effects associated with the P5. I'd be happy if Mazda kept the excess plastic to themselves!