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Buying a first gen, i've got questions, do you have answers?
Well this Saturday I'm going to be test driving 3 1st gen proteges and I wanted to get your opinions on them. Ideally my goal for buying a new car is to acquire a vehicle for the winter as my Focus is too low for Minnesota winters now. Provided things go well, the first winter I own it, I'll be driving it in the snow, then in the summer it will turn into my AutoX car. Then I'll buy another car which will be my beater next summer.
So far here are the cars I'm looking at... 1992 Mazda Protege LX http://justin.phpcoders.org/protege/white_protege.jpg Price: $1,600 Engine: 1.8L DOHC 16V Transmission: manual Mileage: 142,000 Features: Air Conditioning, Child Proof Door Lock(s), Compact Disc, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Steering, Power Windows, Rear Defrost, Tilt Wheel Owner notes: Reliable car with clean interior. No smoking. Well maintained with new brakes. CD player with newer speakers. 5-speed. My angle, pros: manual, non smoker, clean interior My angle, cons: small visible rust spot behind driver side door 1990 Mazda Protege 4wd http://justin.phpcoders.org/protege/red_protege.jpg Price: $1,295 Engine: 1.8L SOHC 16V Transmission: automatic Mileage: 139,000 Features: Cruise Control My angle, pros: 4wd, price My angle, cons: lack of features, car has been sitting at dealer for 3 months, automatic, lack of horsepower, gtx conversion = major PITA 1993 Mazda Protege LX no picture Price: $2,700 Engine: 1.8L DOHC 16V Transmission: manual Mileage: 88,363 Features: none listed Owner notes: Great reliable car. Used only to go around town and to get to work. It has been well maintained (have all the records)and just received a $250 tune-up. It also has been garaged all the time I've owned it. The front wheel drive is great in the winter and the sun roof is a big plus in good weather. Must sell because of a move. My angle, pros: newer, low mileage, all the features i would want, desired color My angle, cons: price Originally I wanted to spend somewhere along the lines of $1500 so $2700 would definitely by above my expectations. I'm curious what the thoughts are of 1st gen owners. If you were in my position, what would you do and why? |
Well, as nice as the AWD would be for winter, it will be slower than slow balls. My LX ('90) is pretty damn good in the winter, we had quite a bit of snow this year, and it took it in stride.
How long are you planning on keeping the car? Just a year? If so, I'd probably just go with the first one. Save yourself $1000 and get the white one. Patch the rust, whatever you have to do to keep it from falling apart. I paid $800 for my '90 with 151k on it when I bought it. It ran awesome, just had highish miles. See if you can talk them down a bit. The gray one sounds really nice, but almost $3k is pretty steep. If you could get him down nearer to $2k it may be well worth it... But not necessarily if you're only going to keep it for a year or so. Welcome to the protege community, though! :D Have any pics of your focus? |
I would take the 1st one,
Reason why is that even though it has high miles .. BP's (1.8Dohc) engines are easily found in junkyards.. so parts or a rebuild is not impossible. however the sign of rust does make one weary , but then again ... Protege's 1st gen are easily located in Junkyards.. You could remedy that problem.. #1 is your best bet... Bruce |
Originally posted by funkdaddysmack Well, as nice as the AWD would be for winter, it will be slower than slow balls. My LX ('90) is pretty damn good in the winter, we had quite a bit of snow this year, and it took it in stride. How long are you planning on keeping the car? Just a year? If so, I'd probably just go with the first one. Save yourself $1000 and get the white one. Patch the rust, whatever you have to do to keep it from falling apart. I paid $800 for my '90 with 151k on it when I bought it. It ran awesome, just had highish miles. See if you can talk them down a bit. The gray one sounds really nice, but almost $3k is pretty steep. If you could get him down nearer to $2k it may be well worth it... But not necessarily if you're only going to keep it for a year or so. Welcome to the protege community, though! :D Have any pics of your focus? I do plan on keeping the protege longer than a year, if all goes well, I wont even drive it next winter. As for the Focus, I just the posted pictures in this thread: http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=29238 Thanks for all the comments guys, I look forward to owning my first mazda! :D |
a great winter car with the posibility of being a great car for auto-crossing, i'd take car #1! likewise, parts are a fuckin joke, slap some tires with new tread at least on the front wheels and you'll be in GREAT runnings. my car handled like a dream in the snow, had a little bit of spinning, but the gas pedal trimmed that out in no time. steering was great and i wouldn't go as far to say as it out performs other cars, but my guess is the lower gears on my transmission make this car EASY to handle in 8 to 12 inches of snow. after that, any fwd car is hopeless.
peace |
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