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:rant:

In regards to the ridiculous transmission configuration of the Protege:

I AM.

This is the 21st Centry; 2002.

With an engine of this size we should be getting nearly 10 more mpg; but that's not happening. Compare our efficiency to that of the Civic? Protege loses. To that of the Corolla? We lose again (and big time). The Corolla sports equal HP and comparable torque, yet it's a smaller engine and gets 40+ mpg on the highway. The FS-DE is a poor engine in regards to comparable efficiency, noise, and refinement. That's among the reasons Mazda is replacing it with a totally new engine line...

Anyway, I've long hated the manual transmission of the (3rd Gen.) Protege. Since it was new it has loosened up, so now it's actually pretty smooth and nice feeling, but there's nothing we can do to fix the lousy revolutions we have to turn at boring ass highway speeds. As if our engine wasn't outclassed enough the way it is (in another discussion this has been discussed: Engines from Nissan, Honda, and Toyota are just plain better than the 'DE), Mazda had to add insult to injury and tack on a transmission that's inefficient, and leads to even MORE noise from the engine when moving at standard freeway cruising speeds. You won't find a single modern small car that turns the same high RPM's as our Proteges. Not Acura, not Subaru, not Honda, not Toyota, not Nissan. None of them. This was a poor decision on the part of Mazda and I've been resentful of it from day one.

That's not to say there aren't a lot of good things about the Pro (wouldn't have bought mine, otherwise), but there is massive room for improvement; especially that God damned transmission.

Othere things that the Protege should have had from the start?

*Recessed door locks (like they USED to have in the 2nd gen.). Why the hell they changed the design to have the door lock stick up out of the door is totally, and irrefutably, moronic.
*A power lock switch ON THE PASSENGER SIDE.
*A center arm rest that's good for something. The current one is too short and low to be of any use. It's pathetic.
*A light that indicates when your fog lights are on.
*A light that indicates when your cruise control is on (on the 2001 up to 2002.5 Pros). The old control wand cruise control, like on my 2001, can easily be left on all the time; just like lame-ass GM vehicles. I find that irresponsible on the part of Mazda.
*This was noted by others: An off timer on the friggin' rear window defogger! I mean, duh!! :yell:
*MUCH better noise control. The Protege is still too noisy inside; from the engine, to wind, to road noise. It's louder than my old '91 Nissan Sentra, a car 10 years older! I think it's quite evident that Mazda cares little about building noise competative vehicles. Even the new Mazda6 is said to have poor road noise characteristics. Whether you like them or not, the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra; even Hyundai Accent; are quieter than the Protege. This is a poor showing on the part of Mazda and it must stop.

yikes guy, thats alot of gripes

Road noise? well then get some squishy poor handling suspension :rolleyes:

Gas milage? look at performance cars and see thier gas milage. i dunno if you test drove the civic or the corolla but i know i did, and even though on paper the specs are pretty similar the feel is very different IMO

and the fog and cruise the button is either down or its not, and its not that hard to tell.

I agree. I just test drove a loaded Honda Civic Si (Canadian equivelant to the HX Coupe, not the Hatchback) on the weekend, and I must say it was the most un-inspiring car I've driven in a long time. The engine may boast a similar horsepower rating, but there's no torque and definately no zoom-zoom. I took another P5 out for a nice long test drive tonight, and I'm so in love it's not even funny.

I see a lot of gripes in this thread, and I gotta say that if some of you drove my 9 year old SUV around for awhile you'd realize how awesome your little cars are :)

LOL too funny man!!

You know.. i have yet to try the wonder pop that is Faygo.. We don't get it up here in Canadaland...

Heh, yeah I was wondering if any juggalo would catch that line. Props to you man. But that sucks you don't get Faygo. We just got it here on the west coast recently. Shit I had to fly 7 2-liters back from Detroit last year when we went to the Gathering Of The Juggalos in Toledo. I got Rock 'N Rye, Moonmist, Cola, Root Beer, Fruit Punch, Candy Apple, and of course Red Pop. Faygo tastes great, and its even better when it gets all over in your hair and clothes and shit.

It was already in the driveway and I didn't feel like pulling out and turning it around.

Thats cool. I was just curious. I agree that the reverse lights are really bright.