Hey guys. New poster, but I'm been reading for some time. I've had my ES for 2 years, and it does everything perfectly (peppy city run-about) except a few things, which honestly prevent me from investing into it.

No question, this cars need a bigger 5th gear. The fuel efficiency, and more importantly the noise, is ridiculous. To be honest, it works as a great speed-limiter, because I find anything more than 110kph too loud. If the 5th gear was bigger, I'd gladly downshift to 4th gear to get some power.

The seats are the worse I've ever sat in for an import. I have zero back problems or seat comfort issues, but these Pro seats kill me after only 30 minutes. There is zero firmness in the middle of the back rest. Only after I pulled the seat-cover up, cut two piece of 'crazy carpet' (thick, flexible plastic) and added some foam on it, did the back-rest firm up. I won't even begin to mention the lack of lumbar - bummer the MazdaSpeed edition didn't address it as well.

No side airbags in Canada. Stupid, especially since it's an option in the States. I'd gladly spend a grand for the extra safety.

IMO, all of the previous points are all things which Mazda could have addressed within the scope of the Protege's intended market and cost constraints. These are the main reasons I won't be keeping the car after the lease in done in a couple of years, although I will watch to see if the next gen will address these issues.

For handling improvements, there's a little too much bump-steer and an LSD would be very handy.

Now, there are things I really like. Design inside and out. Interior space for it's size is almost unbelievable. Very reliable car, only issue is the CD player which rarely freaks out and won't spit the CD out (disconnect battery and CD player will reset). Versatile, fold the seats down and my mountain bike slides right in (in fact I've fit 2 bikes in the car). Very tossable with nice brakes. Mileage is great, I get 550-600 km per tank of city and urban country roads. Switching to synthetic got me an honest extra 50km extra per tank. Those numbers tend to drop 50-75km per tank if I do any highway driving even at 110kph.

 

Rattling here too from the 2 12"s in the trunk

 

I went down through everyone's list and even went out and checked my car on a few of them. The first one, about the side blinkers on pro5's, yeah, we have them, at least mine blink when the lever is pressed. The door lock switch, its in a good place. Don't see a need to have those all over the car. The location of the lock, I can see that as a big red butt irritation to some people. I'm a smaller guy so I've got no personal issue with that. The high rpm's on the freeway is a little on the ridiculous side. I had a mustang just recently and it was ridiculously high geared. It was so bad that I would keep it in 4th until I was cruising over 70mph, then go to 5th and hope I didn't have to slow down too much. People swap rear gears constantly in those cars to get the rpm's up to a livable level, changing out 3.08's for 3.73's and 4.10's. It makes the car much livelier the way it is. Road noise, not bad from where I sit. Maybe mine is quieter than most but I have a nice quiet ride till about 75-80 when the wind noise against all that glass finally starts working its way through.

Improvements? power is obvious. would also like to see a five speed auto. I have the sport mode which is ok. 5 would be better. Seats need major improvement. I'm swapping out those for my conquest seats as soon as I get them reupholstered. Personally, I think a Mazdaspeed5 would be a kickass idea. Why not? Subaru did it with the WRX. I would also look into painting the strut bar body color. I hate that mine is red. I like monochrome. If one part is blue, the whole thing should be blue (exterior-wise). Other than that, sign me up for a new one when I break this one. These things are great!

 

Hey Fritz,

I agree with the noise, its horrible. Funny thing is that i noticed it when i first test drove it but for some strange reason thought it was the cold and the car wasnt warmed up. I had a 1997 protege LX and it was a lot quieter.

I did a lot of searching and the only solution, besides changing the car, is to add noise barriers on the floor (front and rear), under the hood, and under the trunk wouldnt hurt. The doors, well thats something that i will keep at the VERY end cause it looks like a lot of trouble.

Xfimpg

 

That´s weird. I have a green little figure of a light (like the drawing on the actual button), but it lights up green when the fogs are on... just below and to the right of the odometer.

 

There isn't an indicator for the US spec models. Probably because Americans tend to drive with their foglights on constantly anyway. Might annoy us having a light on our dash telling us they were on. BMW disconnected the rear fog-light on the Mini because of our driving habits. They didn't want us blinding other people by driving around with the rear fog-light on constantly.

 

too tired and too long of a thread, will chime in with my "issues" later.

 

I've driven a lot of cars.

And '01 Protege Sedan is one of the best for the money.


You will not do any better in this price range. The handling of this car is outstanding. If you think Protege's are bad. Try driving a Cavalier, Sentra, neon. They suck, Honda probably comes close.


So, if you want a faster car, buy a Infinity G35 coupe. But it will caost you double.

 

I've driven a lot of cars.

And '01 Protege Sedan is one of the best for the money.


You will not do any better in this price range. The handling of this car is outstanding. If you think Protege's are bad. Try driving a Cavalier, Sentra, neon. They suck, Honda probably comes close.


So, if you want a faster car, buy a Infinity G35 coupe. But it will cost you double.

 

I use my 02 ES (7k miles) only for driving around town. I think the car is perfectly suited for the job and is well enough equiped for what you pay for. One major problem on my car!
When the gas tank drop to below 3/4 tank, the car start to surge and the motor cuts out at times. it is very inconsistant, so you never know when it going to happen. If you fill the tank up, the problem goes away. The local dealer cannot solve the problem. As far as I am concerned , the car is no longer a reliable drive, a few times the engine cut out as I was crossing a busy intersection, thats not fun.
Wish I could get the problem solved, otherwise I will fill the tank up and trade it on something else.

02 ES 5 spd
02 Durango SLT
85 Porsche 928S

 

Die? No, don't die! I just read the whole thing, if it died now, what a waste for me!

 

In mine, i also get some kind of rattling from the dash on the driver side, it seems to be coming from where the door meets the dash when you close it, if i put my finger in the little space it stops, i dunno how to remedy it permanently though...

 

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH guitargod!
seroiusly, the car is the god of all compact cars. it handles like a sports car and is very well built.
try driving a neon or a cavalier and then all your little complaints will become irrelevant.

i havent had any problems with the car. no rattles, no annoying noises . it has a solid built.
the rpms are high on the highwat but isnt that true for all 4 cylinders? my friends vw golf does the same.
i drove my friends neon and that thing makes noise on the highway! what a piece of &%%%$
however, since i got my ractive intake installed the car seems more quiet at high speeds.

i have no complaints regarding the gas milage and regularly get 600-650km.
the armrest is ok and supports my arm and the seats are very comfy too (i'm 6ft, 190lbs)
the protege5 '03 has a side turning light on the side so there's no problem with that and i always keep my fog lights on.

the only complaint would be that mazda didnt offer any stronger engines as an option when purchasing the car. how about a v6 with 180hp ? that would be cool


but it's peppy 130hp engine does a great job. it feels more responsive than some... dad's v6 chevy lumina and my friends v6 mx3.

theres really nothing to complain about and i think most protege drivers are just a bunch of spoilt brats seeking perfection in an imperfect world

 

someone said 80MPH and at 4K RPM?!? are you serious? dude have that looked at.. my dad's car and my Bimmer both cruise at 80 in 5th at about 2500RPM.. not good man

 

No he said 80km/h at 4k rpm

depending on what gear you're on though.

The short gearing kinda sux though. 100km/h at 3200rpm...too high. My friend's saab is doing 100km/h in 4th gear at around 2600rpm. This p5 needs a 6th gear