ProtegeMaster

I've posted these gripes in a previous post, but wanted to reiterate them:

No question about it-- The 2 litre engine is loud as hell when you start it up from a cold state. Sounds like a friggin' Diesel engine, and that sucks. The engine in general, in fact, is noisy; just most so when it's cold.

The center armrest shouldn't even be called that. It's NO armrest, that's for sure. Why Mazda designed it like that in the first place, just like the door lock placement, will always be a mystery to me. It should be a no brainer that they'd figure out, "Hey! The center armrest doesn't work for **** and was designed by a moron! Whoa! The door lock pokes you in the arm when you're resting your arm on the door with the window rolled down! Let's fix it, nice and simple!". I guess some things are just too obvious to notice for some engineers.

Anyway, aside from those things (and the high RPM issue that is a whole other subject for me to whine about ), the Pro is a great car.

To be personally honest, I don't think you could go wrong with a Toyota; it's just the styling that doesn't cut it compared to the Protege. Our cars are FAR better looking.

P5er

-My P5 on a "cold" starts in Florida (Ha Ha Ha) is very noisy and rough sounding. That's it, that's the way it is. Once it warms up it is more civilized. You can use good quality synthetic engine oil and it will sound quiter and more rythmic when cold, or wait for new Duratec engine in next gen. Protege/Mazda3 it will be a very different ball game.
-Door arm rest is OK with me, but getting hand out of the door when driving is not very comfortable (door lock sticking out), a little design flaw.
-Cruise not worknig should be fixed or you should learn how to turn it on/off.
-Roof Rack will sound noisy but you can add on to it the windshield from your dealer ($40) and it will improve, why Mazda did not included it in the sunroof package I don't know.
P5 is not a perfect car but it still does very well when compared to other cars in it's class, one thing for sure it is very consistently and well assembled.

SpaR/Ticus

LOL, you guys think you're 2 litre 4 banger is loud, you should hear mine in the morning. The whole block can hear it ;-)

gwadford

I "had" a rattling problem, which is now fixed, when I started my p5 in the morning.

When I drove it with out letting it warm up it would almost feel as if the transmission was slipping. I brought it to Mazda and they reprogrammed the computer. It has been a week now and the problem seems to be fixed.

You might want to try that!

dustobub

ok here is what mine does. when the engine is cold; that doesn't mean -30 degrees but the engine is cold and say around 30 degree weather. when I rev at about 2700 there is a small slight tinny rattle. it sounds like a little piece of metal rattling. i changed to synthetic and it definetly smoothed the engine out but the rattle is still there. I say i have noticed it for the past 1 1/2 months and i have had the car for about 5 months. thats the best i can explain it, ask questions if that didnt make sense. thanks

Dustin

don668

cold starts @ -30c. I sometimes here a rattle but rarely. (Somewhere I read it could be the heatshield over the exhaust manifold.) Havent heard it enough to bother me, as for the cruse control I've never had a problem.

davey1964

I did notice once that my engine rattled loudly a couple of times when starting cold - and it's in my garage. It smoothed out quickly though. I was shocked when I heard it the first time. It hasn't gotten any worse. I'm going to keep an eye one it. I won't get rid of my ride just for that. It's my first new car and it's been the best 8 months of owning car ever. It got me out of Manhattan 9/11 quickly.

p5monkey

The "engine rattle" is a problem according to mazda. They are working on a fix for it. Don't hold your breath. As it does no damage, they don't seem to be rushing. From what i've been told it has to do with timing.

tboggs

The "engine rattle" you are all talking about is common to 4 cylinder engines when the electronic choke is wide open. When you rev it to 2700 RPMs (in the case of the P5), it reaches the harmonic frequency of some component of the automobile, usually something flat, like the hood or the plastic splash guard under the engine. As long as it doesn't stay that way for long, it won't do any damage. One way some companies, like VW, do away with this is to use liquid filled engine mounts. Another way to get rid of it is to program the ECM to ease off the choke near the harmonic resonance point. It sounds like that is what gwadford's dealer did.

The Old Guy

1. No rattles that I could notice.
2. Cruise works great.
3. Wind noise. Removed the roof rack same day I got the car so I never experienced any excessive wind noise except when driving at 120mph
4. No problems with door arm rest or center console, Specially when driving at 120mph.... both hands on steering wheel.

mazdaman

Mine had the rattle also. It was the heat shield on the exhaust pipe. It sounds like it is the engine. I have owned 5 Mazdas and all the heat shields had to be removed because of the crappy design.


Scott Davis
2002 Mazda P5
Yellow Mica
17' Prime wheels(906C)
TV. DVD, MP3, Cd, Tape, Boomin
Black Tint All the way around

blackmp5

I have the same raspy sounding rattle at about 2700 rpm on cold starts and it goes away after a few minutes. I agree with the previous posts that it is probably a heat shield on the exhaust. I had a '90 miata that had the same problem and it was the heat shield near the exhaust manifold. I wish Mazda would fix this as it is kind of annoying but I don't think it is anything serious.(although the one on my Miata eventually completely fell off at about 85000 miles - that and the top getting worn were the ONLY problems I ever encountered on that car, period, in over a 100,000 miles of driving in all weather conditions). The build quality of the PRO5 reminds me of the Miata and that's why I bought it. If the heat shield is my only complaint in 100K miles, I will be one happy customer.

KeiraP5

I haven't experienced a rattle when starting the car or driving it, but occasionally it has taken a few seconds in the morning to start and the car is in the garage and we have not experienced extremely cold weather. It hasn't been a big problem and I'm not extremely concerned. As for the arm rest I have to agree that it wasn't designed very well. Its good for some storage, but too small and a little far back for me while driving(I guess I'm too short) Besides that I love my car and don't have any other complaints.

mazdaman

I live in Arizona where the weather is hot, and every morning I start my car to hear that terrible noise. Also when the window is down I hear the noise at about 2700 rpm. It is a problem I can live with, because I love everything about my car except that crappy cup holder. I installed some flat red LEDS in the cup holder yo find it in the dark. The cup holder sucks for holding anything smaller than a Big Gulp.

Sil_Pro5

you think the cup holders in the Pro5 are bad....check out the 99'-00'Si. now those are a joke!!

as for all the people who cant operate the cruise cont......the "ON" button is behind the three button set on the steering wheel. the three im referring to are labelled(i think):"Accel", "Set Accel","Cancel", or something similar.