ProtegeMaster

By now many of you have noted my dissatisfaction with the Protege. Up to this point it's been because of awful noise levels, incessant rattles (which I infuriatingly hate), high engine RPM 's at boring (i.e. slow) highway speeds, cheap glass (the front windshield for which I've already had to replace; out of pocket), and other miscellaneous issues that, while minor, are irritating nonetheless (bad lock placement, no useable center armrest, etc.).

Now I just returned from the dealership service department. For some time I've noted poor stopping characteristics of my Pro-- As in, it doesn't stop cleanly, it jerks slightly. So it turns out the factory original rotors are warped, and it prematurely wore my front brake pads. So with 13k miles on this vehicle two major components have already required replacement. The brakes are a warranty covered item, but the bottom line is I shouldn't have to be dealing with it in the first place. This car is only slightly over a year old and I've taken immaculate care of it. This constitutes poor quality, you'll all have to admit.

In my personal experience, this has been a very dissappointing car. I had much higher expectations. Perhaps it's that I got a lemon, which admittedly does happen in a batch of cars from time to time, but I consider this a personal violation on the part of Mazda and I'm most angry about it.

No one need be concerned about my status as a Protege owner, as others have complained about in other threads. I honestly wish it was different, but as soon as practically possible I indeed am selling this disappointing car.

My goal is to, with great luck, find a late model used VW Passat. That is an excellent car. It's roomy, quiet, performs well, is of high quality, is reliable, and is a top rated mid-size vehicle. It's superior to Protege in almost every way. It will unfortunately have to be at least a year before I can move on that process, however.

Sorry that I must seem negative most of the time about this car-- I quite respect this is an enthusiast forum. My experience has been a negative one, however, and I must be honest about it. I hope others' experiences differ...

SirTidus

A new Passat is much more expensive than a P-5...
A used one is not a new car... so go figure

ZoomZoomH

sell that lemon of a Protege already and stop bitching!!!!

and if you never come back to Mazda as a whole, well, sad to say you'll be missing out on all the new and fun cars that are coming out soon...

ZackyFarms16

hey whats up, sorry about your expirience man but honestly, speak for youself. I love my p5 and i havent had problems. My winshield cracked too but tahts cuz i was goin 80mph on the freeway following a big truck(rock flew up, I ACTUALLY SAY IT ALL THE WAY IT SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA ME !!! hahaha). NO but honestly man your complaints seem a little shady but if thats how you feel then more power to you. I dont like the little lock placement on the car either but geez, not so much to where i need to sell my car. Tolerance. its a very very small thing, put your elbow somewhere else. The braking in the car is amazing. I changed the rotors to cross drilled rotors after a year and even before that the breaking was amazing. And when i frist got the car, ifelt the litlte jerk too, but, it was ME, not the car or the brakes. I found i was breaking too hard cuz the P5s breaks were sensitive. Chances are if your breaking so hard that you jerk, then you are infact breaking too late and thats why your breaks are gone. haha, learn to drive? sorry man dont mean to like flame you or anything just sounds a little ridiculous but like i said if thats how you feel then coo, do what you gotta do. Hope you have a better expirience next time

ProtegeMaster

I've actually never been a hard driver-- I respect and appreciate those who like speed, but never was really aggressive, myself. To that effect, I've never hard braked with this car, either. The jerkiness of the stops are in fact most noticeable when you're making a modest, easy stop. With that, these problems have nothing to do with driving habits; it's just defective, poor quality parts, plain and simple.

Anyway, I've always been a really demanding fellow. I expect a lot, even in the small car class. Based thereon, it's easy for me to notice flaws/issues that might otherwise go unnoticed by others. I can respect, also, that such comments might aggravate a few of you guys! But all in all, if the things I complain about didn't ever exist in the Pro, none of you would be complaining about it, either. It would be good if the Pro was quieter. It would be good if the locks were recessed like they used to be in the 2nd gen (why the hell they changed it I'll never understand). It would be good if the ride was more comfortable while still providing the excellent handling characteristics that we're all in agreement the Protege excels at. I'm just complaining about things that well and true would be cool if they were different, that's all. Please understand it's not to deliberately **** anyone off. This is a cool forum, and it maintains a most civilized tone, also (contrary to what I've heard about a lot of Honda forums).

If most of the rest of you aren't having the problems I've experienced, I say that's totally cool, and I'm glad no one else is having to deal with this crap! It might be that, perhaps, I've gotten to a point in my car ownership experience that I want more in a car-- I'm still a fairly young guy, but have been used to refinement and total quality, and that's what I really insist on in a car. Kind of puts you between a rock and a hard place when you really want such refinement but work in academia and can't subsequently afford vehicles that deliver such characteristics. Doh.

Anyway, in my opinion the Pro looks so cool it really is tough to realize that many of it's characteristics otherwise drive me nuts. I've wanted things to be different and that gets frustrating! Maybe I can work on sound proofing the car over the next year and we'll see if that calms me down a bit. 'Cause the thing is, it'll be at least a year before I can consider another alternative car, anyway, so regardless of my satisfaction level I'll have to keep the Pro until that time.

Anyway, I'll dispense with ranting, now!

stocker

What I find funny is two of my friends at work own volkswagons. They have many of the same complaints you do about Mazda. Both swear up and down they will never own another VW every again. Parts are crazy expensive, labour same deal and it isn't good labour. The most recent issue for one was the car sputtering, one dealership told her to replace the cat, O2 sensor, CPU, and air filter in that order. When she found out a new catalitic for her passat was 1500 canadian she almost had kittens.

Moral is, doesn't matter what car you drive, you are always going to find something wrong with it, or someone who had a bad experience.
Stocker.

mesoh

boo hoo no sympathy from me. Have i ever had a car i have been happy overall with.....no will i.........no. you can't make everyone happy when you are mass producing a product. deal with it

VagaBond-X

I'll be totally happy if i had any 3rd generation rx-7....TOTALLY Happy...hehe...no complaints form me... hehe

but seriously...don't expect some luxury car from a car that is so inexpensive....cars that go for this low of a price are not going to be perfect.... you have to deal with it....or buy a more expensive car...which will probably also have some thing you don't like in it.....

ZoomZoomH

...until you realize the previous owner has incorrectly messed with the turbo and your motor blows up

carguycw

You obviously have never owned a 93 RX-7, or been friends with anyone who has. These cars are HORRENDOUSLY unreliable in stock form. We're not talking squeaks, rattles and warped rotors; we're talking serious problems with major mechanical systems of the car. These cars will suck your wallet dry and make you curse their mere existence. Do some research on the Internet before making this statement.

Also, mandatory disclaimer: whenever I've made this comment, someone has always jumped in and defended these cars. Here's my response:
1) Yes, most of the problems were fixed on the 95 model. Too bad they sold thousands and thousands of 93's and only a couple hundred 95's.
2) Yes, many of the problems can be fixed by replacing all of the suspect parts. When someone says that their 93 is reliable, make sure you get the WHOLE story. ("Yeah, the car has worked great since I replaced the radiator, the tranny (twice), the suspension bushings, both turbos, the engine, and had all 200 of the intake hoses reglued. Since then, the car has been rock solid! Except the time I turned the boost up and blew the engine again. Other than that, it's been great!!")

That's all I'm saying about this.

ZoomZoomH

very true carguycw, but when they ARE fixed and running solid, it sure is a fun ride!

carguycw

This backs up many of the comments I've heard about late-model VW's. These cars *feel* like they're carved from a solid steel billet when they're new, but it's all downhill from there. They are prone to electrical problems and lots of little niggling annoyances. And if you ever need anything fixed, get ready to $pay$.

You are better off looking at a Toyota, Nissan, or Honda IMHO. But get those lug nuts checked first. I recommend finding another dealer.

KpaBap

The VW Passat is more reliable than the Pro? Since when?

Tell that to my friend who's had major detonation problems with his 1.8T Passat. And no, he did not mess with the turbo, it started pinging at about 1200 miles.

Or how about the time when something got majorly fucked in his engine and the firing order was completely fucked up. Instead of firing order 1-3-4-2 it was 1-2-3-4 (shaking all over the place). Explain how that is acceptable, please.

That same friend used to own a 1996 Jetta which at the end of its life had about 45000 miles on it and sounded like the engine is about to fall apart.

VW's are great cars but I wouldn't say very reliable.

My mom, on the other hand has a 2000 Mazda Protege ES in which I've personally done over 10 neutral drops (in 1 night), very dumb of me I know, but now, 25000 miles later, the car still has ZERO problems. Oh wait, we got a flat tire, and one of the wiper blades got ripped. Major problems!

My own Pro has drove me about 10000 miles in the last 3 months and I've had NO problems. Rattles are minimal, the door lock is a non-issue, and the center arm-rest is completely usable to me.

We can all sit around and bitch and whine, but the fact is EVERY car is different than every other car, and just because YOU got a dud doesn't mean that overall the quality of these cars is crappy.

PuPPet

ok while we are on the subject here at about 2k miles my breaks where shuddering not to bad but enough to **** me off

at about 5k they were full fledge wiggin out
at 7k the car felt like it was going to shake apart when i was stopping

now i have almost 8k on the car and the break lights come on anytime i use em

can anyone give me any idea?

bombero69

Well let me begin by saying thanks to all the posts I installed my Kenwood 7019 MP3 and I louvvvv it, it was a cinch to install. That is why i love this car and why I bought, when i started shopping around for a car the biggest thing thing the drew me to this car is how easilly it would be to work on it. I read about the the lack of power so i knew what to expect. i didn't buy it for racing, i bought for looks , convinience and the fact that it wasn't that expensiveplus i coul install several aftermarket parts. to squeeze some more horepower. I owned a 2000 VW Beetle and let me tell you, the pro is a dream compared to the NB I had several problems within the first 10000 mls, and alot other people had theirs bought from VW because they were lemons. I was surprised because the reason I bought a VW was to keep a long time since they were supposed to be reliable. Another major reason I was dissapointed with the VW, it was a paon in the *** to work on.