Who is Mark Martin?

 

Who is Mark Martin?


In any case.... today my stereotyping of drivers was once again right as the guy that was driving an Integra with altezza lights went to show off in front of me. I didn't want to let him slip away, so I followed him a fair distance apart through this twisty road. He was getting mad that he wasn't putting any distance between us, and I was pretty much outhandling his car through the corners, so he started using both lanes (going either way) to go quicker. After that didn't work, he passed a couple of cars going over the double lines to try and prove something


As for Mustang drivers, I associate white trash with them, but I have lots of friends that drive Mustangs, so I know that it's not true.

Oh by the way, Mazda made the Protege, not Ford.

 

PS. I know three families that got brand new Sunfires at the time ('96, '98 and '01)........ all three have had MANY major problems with them.

My friend's Z24 is in the shop for the weekend, and he wouldn't tell me why hehehe

 

I agree entirely with kc5zom. You really need to take a deeper look at Consumer Reports. Proof is within their own pages. Compare two products that are made by the same company but sold under different names. A good expample is the Ford Ranger and Mazda B series trucks. Same truck but different reliability statistics. I wouldn't hold their opinion with much weight.

 

Well, I have never been a Mustang fan - having driven several (both the latest gen. and the previous gen.), I don't like the seating position. You sit "on" the car, not "in" it - doesn't feel sporty at all. But they are powerful cars - and who can say that they don't love the SOUND of the Mustang's rumbly V8?

I owned a '79 Camaro, and while in all generations they are kind of ambiguous as to what they want to be (too big and heavy, and don't handle well enough to be a "sports" car, too small to be a midsize, too big of a motor to be an economy car), they can be fun to drive. The market for the Camaro and Firebird just aren't there anymore, but GM will definitely continue to make brutish V8 cars - it's what they like to do.

And just another note - Out of my '79, my buddy's '94 Camaro, and my pop's 2000 Vette, not one of them has ever been in the shop for major repair. While they may not have the fantastic reliability of some of the Japanese cars, they are not "always in the shop". So what if maybe they need a tune-up once in a while.

And BTW - My dad's Y2K Vette easily makes 25 MPG - probably more. Last time I checked, I was getting about 27 MPG from my P5 (with extra weight). 10 MPG? Maybe the older cars that weren't engineered like the newer ones. But we need to compare apples and apples. The neweset Gen Vette is a world-class sports car. GM needed to cut a few corners in the interior and such to keep the price right - but for $40 - $50K, you can have a monster of a car, with HUGE potential for upgrades. Every magazine ever to review the Vette praises it to no end. It is a fantastic car, and finding anything in that price range that gives the same all around performance is difficult at best.


Where are you getting your reliability and MPG info from?

 

I have had my Protege for a year and a half, and have had no problems with it worth mentioning. But my family has owned a 1986 Corvette since it was brand new, and that car is one of, if not the best piece of machinery I have driven. It is a beautiful car, and no mechanical problems to this day. It isn't a daily driver, but 16 years on a car definitely puts some wear and tear into it. I say it definitely is the driver that ruins the car, because these people that are bringing in their camaros and mustangs probably abuse the snot out of those cars. That is what doesn't show up in the Consumer Reports, so that is why I am biased toward those reports. So don't go knocking the car, knock the driver.

 

Just my 2 cents to put in, as everyone else has....

I have owned 3 Mustangs... All were great cars to drive. There is no comparison to driving a big *** V8. But, Ford needs to get their **** together.

For example, I bought an '01 Mustang GT last fall.... owned it for 1.5 months and dished it for a P5. That car was built like ****!

My p5 is built like a freakin BMW compared to that damn Ford. I love Mustangs and loved the two I owned before, but dammit, the latest one was a POS!
So, I basically lost $10k, considering Mustangs have as much resale value as a f*cking Yugo! I have a P5 now and have enjoyed it...sure it needs more power, but it is a well built car.

The said thing is what's going to happen when the Protege is built by Ford on the platform as the Focus... Mazda will go to ****!

I'll stop my bithin'

 

It is true that a professor can manipulate data to get his point across. Everyone does. But actually they just presented how "Consumer Reports" was gathering their data, presented some flukes (like mentioned with the Ranger and B Series), asked our opinions, and then proceeded to tell us how a company can really make statisticians look bad. I looked last night and saw several sites talking about the same problem. Anyway if you can not insure random sampling of your data then any comparison between it and other data is nothing more than a wild guess. Makes "Consumer Reports" kind of a joke.

Anyway, I have owned several Fords. Destroyed one, drove one to the ground, and still own another. Haven't had serious problems with them yet. But I have had friends that own GM or Ford products have big problems with those cars.

 

I drove around a 66 Mustang that my Brother and I rebuilt from the ground up... It was absolute bliss, the most fun car I've ever been in... It was fairly reliable, but considering I knew the car inside and out, it was never broken down on the road longer than 15 minutes before I put the toolbox back in the trunk and away I went.

My brother took the 66 to college, so my Dad picked up an '87 GT Convertible... it was an absolute POS. We had to replace the Converters twice before we had them cut off and replaced by straight pipes (thanks to no auto inspection in AL). I think the only fun I had in that car was the day we drove it around with no exhaust past the headers... flame shootin' out of the bottom. But we had to stop every 15 miles or so 'cause the floorboards were too hot.

That damn car was stolen four times before we got any money out of. Ford engineers are really smart. It had power locks, and they had to make it so they would work without the key so you couldn't lock yourself in. It's not very difficult to stick a coat hanger between the 1/2 gap where the convertible top folds, hit the power unlock, and open the door.

Not to mention the car wasn't 5 years old the paint was wearing off the ground effects.

 

I agree with you on that. We spend a lot of time checking in on our manufacturing department making sure that they are doing things right. Half the time they find some stupid way to put something together that no engineer would ever come up with. Even better is when they ignore build instructions (they plug a lot of cables in backwards, these are industry spec cables so we cannot change them) or install parts that have not been built to current specifications. I just hope that I'm the one absorbing most of these pieces of junk and that they are not going out to clients.

But truth be told the only fault the manager usually has is not paying attention in those matters. He does not monitor or enforce the build quality.

 

Ok, im not going to even bother reading all these posts. I am an import guy, always have been, always will be. I wanted to buy a 97-00 Civic Si, because i would like you to name a car in that class that have more upgradability and potential. I went with the 2002 Protege ES/GT because the new Civics look like crap and i wanted a warranty to back me up for a bit.

Now that i have put that out there....YOU ARE THE STUPIDEST PERSON FOR POSTING THIS! Its like saying "STUPID COP! I got a ticket" Whos fault is that? You saw this 'Stang acting like it was(by the way, it wasnt the car that was doing it, it was the driver. Put him in a Protege and he will drive the same)and you still managed to put yourself into a position where you could be damaged by him, if YOU rearended him YOU were too close and YOU weren't paying enough attention.

I used to bash domestics left and right, any UNEDUCATED Import lover would. I went to a raceway yesterday for the first time for the street legals. I will never bash domestics again. I am jealous of their power. Personally their styling is not for me. My friend has a 2000 Mustang GT Convertible with just intake and cat back done.....he runs 14.2! STOCK 14.2! It takes 4 times the work to do out an import to be a 12-14 second car. And no people, 10 second cars are not as easy as fast and the furious makes it out to be.

It is prefrence that lets you decide between Import and Domestic. Sure some Imports with AWD will handle better, but as for the diference between a Mustang and a Protege there is negligible difference. I used to say, domestics are fast....in a straight line. Imports can take the corners better, but im sure because the Domestics have to brake longer when the enter them!

I cant stand people that look at a Civic and assume they have NOS and that they street race. I also cant stand people that look at a Mustang and think they are Mr. All American pushy driver gas guzzling hick!

YOU bought your car because you like it, THEY bought thiers because THEY like it. In the end speed wise, guess what fellow Import lovers....DOMESTICS WIN! Cavaliers and Sunfires aside. You know what i am talking about.

Just shut up, let people drive what they want, dont blame others for your stupidity and do what YOU WANT. Other's opinions should not be the basis for your own.

 

Ok, so you say that you stereotype drivers because of how they drive. YOU ******* IDIOT! YOU ADMITTED TO DRIVING JUST AS FAST TO KEEP UP! YOU WERE JUST LIKE HIM! He got a little more crazy, but the fact is you are the biggest hippocrite that i have read on here so far. You said you followed a fair distance apart? Then how did he know you were trying to keep up? IDIOT! And you said he used both lanes swerving all around and then you said it didnt work? So you did the same following him and were still with him thats why it didnt work? MORON!

A side note, what are you driving? A P5? You weight about 2800, Integra? 2600. Powerwise? You have 130Hp and 135 Tourqe. Integra? Well seeing as you wouldnt be bragging about outhandling a car that is 5 years old im assuming it was a new one so MINIMUM 140HP 125 Tourqe. Of course it has the 170/166 Turbo engine option and the 195/130(HP/Tourqe) option as well.

So this car, that is lighter, faster, and better engineered than yours (Sorry, i love my Protege, but it is a fact) couldnt get away from you? Either he sucks at driving, was playing with you....or you are lying. Either was you should shut up.

 

Whooooaaaaa! Simmer down now.

By the way... Mark Martin is a race car driver. In NASCAR. For Ford. I cannot believe how many people asked that. I'm surprised one of the other guys didn't post some smartass comment about that.

Just one more thing. You guys whining about "Mazda" building your car is about like a SAAB owner whining about how "GM" didn't build his car.

 

Ok I have picks how do I put them here?

 

mazdaspeedracer, you definately do need to chill out. anyway, justin... if you have them hosted somewhere... just use the IMG button in the reply window, and paste the URL to the picture in the box. if you can't figure it out or don't have a hosting place ... just send them to protetype@msn.com and i'll post them up.