P5er

Need advice.
We already own 2002 P5, and we love it.
Now my wife will need a car.
I'm thinking about buying a 99 Pro ES, with 62K miles ,auto , new tires
no ABS or Sunroof.
Front bumper and turn signal will have to be replaced other than that car looks to be in OK condition.
I did short test drive it felt allright.
Seller want $5995.
I can pay cash.
How are 1999 ES Pro's?
What should I look for?
Where were those build?

Help apreciated.

VagaBond-X

well that seems about right for the mileage...
my '99 pro LX touring edition(LX in canada is equal to ES in US)
has about 65,000KM...

so the one your considering has quite a bit more

but overall i love the car....the engine is abit smaller than your P5s engine, as this one is only 1.8L, which will give your P5 about 10hp more

but overall its a nice car...can't hope for more

P5er

thanks for reply.

Where are 99 ES build?
US or Japan?

We have a alternative of getting Kia Rio 2001 with 30K miles of bumper to bumper warranty for about the same or less.
What would you get?
I know that Rio is no where near Pro in terms of handling and overall Pro is a much better car.
I also know how important warranty can be.

What would you do?

carguycw

If you're planning on selling the car within the next 8-10 years, I would get the Pro. Kia has the second worst resale value on the market (only Daewoo is worse) and the Rio is their cheapest car. This is not a good sign. Put it this way... in 5 years, the Pro will probably be worth $2800-3300. The Kia will be worth $800-1000. Pros are very solid, reliable cars, and the chances of having to do $2000 worth of unscheduled repairs to the Protege during the next 30k miles are very, very low.

BTW I agree with Edwin, that amount of money should buy a 1999 ES with *no* body damage. General rule of car buying: Never buy a damaged car unless the price is REALLY good (like 40% of blue book) and/or you have a repair estimate from a body shop you really trust. Repairs that look easy to fix to the untrained observer can be *very* expensive.

[Added note: We are talking US dollars, right?]

P5er

thanks carguycw.

Would you buy it for $5K? I forgot to tell you it has new tires on it (195 /55 15") Kuhmos which are pretty good tires.
It has; keyless entry, pw, pl, auto, ac ,cd, and one owner who's happens to work with me for the same company.
I can see the car on the parking lot every day, car has 62K of city milles (mostly heavy traffic with A/C on most of the time)
I know it can mean as much as 100K of highway miles.
I'm still not quite shure what to do, we'll need a car in about 6-8 weeks, so we still have some time to make the decision.

If it's a great buy we can buy it now, if not I'll have 6-8 weeks to find something else.


thanks for all help and opinions.

bougha

LOL, here in Finland the price would be around 16.000$. Lucky you.

carguycw

That totally depends on the extent of the damage. If it's minor cosmetic scratches or dents, I probably would, although it would largely depend on the value and availability of a comparable car in my area WITHOUT any damage. If it was a major collision- i.e. bumper all bent out of shape and possible structural damage- I wouldn't. It's a hard question to answer without pictures.

P5er

it does not look like a mojor extensive damage, but ; left side of the bumper has a tear in it (hole about 2" wide)and bumper does not look dislocated or shifted out of place, also orange turn signal is cracked with 3" hole in it (but is still working) and headlight next to it is fine with just a slight scratch (nothing cracked) plus there are a few minor scratches on the rest of the bumper( paint scratched-off)
Bumper is plastic so I guess it would have to be replaced.
Is turn signal separated from the headlight, should I replace the whole headlight assembly?
I think if there is a hole in it it's no longer a cosmetic damage.
I will have to find out how much would that replacement cost.

$16K in Finland for the car with 100 000 km on it ,and all that snow and salt .... wow!!!

P5er

are 1999/2000/2001 front bumpers the same?

gujustud

The 1999 ES (err LX) is good. I've got it, and have 83,000km on it, no probs (cept for coils, warrenty, and cat, warrenty).

premdrumusr

I have a 99 Protege ES... excatly the way u described the one you can buy. Although I had only 36,000 miles on mine before my mom bought it from me. I paid $11,100 for it back in March with 29,800 miles. The way ur describing and prices I've seen... The way to go it to talk the person down to $4500 and then buy some clear corners (cheapest way to go) for about $49. Not too bad.. dealers charge about that for the one. Then the bumer you could buy from an OEM dealer (mazdastuff.com) might have it. Then have the bumper painted by someone. That's the cheapest way to go.. When i got rear ended and needed a new paint job in the back I skipped over the dealer. I'm glad too because I not only paid less but i ended up with a perfect paint match.

bmassche

All Protege's are built in Japan, ie 99.9% japenese parts. My car is a 2000 and it was built in Hiroshima. The 99 has the 1.8 which is just as quick as a 2001 Protege, because the 2001 has thicker sheetmetal and more sound deadening material on it.

bougha

Countries in middle Europe maybe but damn here in North, that salt is everywhere and some 3 years old cars are rusty and still those cars are much too expensive.

Protege1.8L

i definitely love my 99 protege es 1.8l. it may not be fast compared to a lot of cars, but it is great. it's my baby. i dont know if all the protege es were made in the same place in 99 but mine is from japan!
-james

P5er

thanks to all, I'll try to buy it for $4500 - $5000.
I'll let you know.