azumn5

First off let me start by saying (writing) that this board is awesome. It has answered alot of my questions but I still have a few.

First, my wife really likes the look of the car with a moonroof deflector. The P5 we are looking at doesn't have this option installed. Is this something that could easily be put on aftermarket?

Another question, my wife can't drive a stick so I am going to go with the sport auto thing that way I get at least a little more involvement with the car (when the wife lets me drive it). Has this type of transmission been around awhile? I just don't want to buy some gimmicky transmission that is going to go to crap in 5 years.

My last question, is spending the extra $$$ for ABS worth it?

FYI...the P5 we are looking at is:
2002.5 Silver
Loaded minus polished wheels and deflector (how odd, load the car out and leave off a $40 option...go figure??)

lost_concept

Wassup Dude and welcome to the boards !
First off, you shouldnt have a problem having the moonroof deflector installed, and if your dealer is nice to you they could do it for free . As for the Transmissions, from all the research i have done, all Auto and Manual Transmissions on the Protege 5 have been working well for the most of us. And there havent been to many complaints about the P5 Transmission yet. LOL
As for ABS, that depends on you because you might not never need it, but then again there might be a moment when you will need it. ABS has saved me twice from when i was speeding like a idiot, and someones large dog or pet was in the middle of the street, it kept my car in control long enough to move out the way. If i didnt have ABS my wheels would of locked up and i could of lost control and sent the dog to heaven
Welcome to the boards !

Sledgehammer

I agree, get the dealer to include it in the deal. If he won't, it is pretty simple to install yourself with basic handtools. As for the sport shift tranny, there so many out there now that I'm sure Mazda's great engineers looked at them all and designed a good one. I wouldn't worry about it.

Brubeck

I'm confused about your ABS question though... On my car the moonroof, ABS, and side-curtain airbags were part of the same option. If they've changed the packages since then, I would definately pay the extra for ABS. You may not drive like an idiot, but you never know when someone else does. Also, so many cars have ABS these days that it's kind of dangerous not to have... if the person in front of you has it, he can stop a lot faster than you can

VaporTrails

I don't agree with that last remark. I did quite a bit of research on ABS before I bought my car, and one of the common misnomers is that they stop the car in less distance than without ABS. They don't. The distance to stop is just the same, and in fact, can be even higher. The benefit, is that you can slam the brake to the floor, and still retain control of your car, without having to additionally think about pumping the brake. So, if the guy in front of you brakes and you don't notice it until you're right on top of him, you can hit the brakes and still steer around him.

I know with the first generation ABS, some types of accidents actually increased, such as stopping at an intersection or at the end of a driveway, and having the car slide out into the intersection/road because the ABS kicked in when it didn't really need to.

sunbyrne

Yep, the dealer didn't have one on the lot with the deflector for me and just did it afterwards, though I think it cost me $90 rather than $40 total, not a big deal. It really does cut down on the noise.


Various forms of AutoStick or Tiptronic or whatever have been around for several years from a variety of manufacturers. This kind of tranny is only going to get more popular in the coming years.


Depends. Some people actually dislike ABS, so they'd say no. Here in Houston--completely flat and snow-free--I don't think I'd have spent the extra money, except that the only way to get side airbags was to get the bundle with ABS, and I was definitely going to get side airbags. If I were in Illinois I would certainly get the ABS/side airbags package.

skyhawk174

I just installed my moonroof deflector myself. It took about an hour but I was being careful not to scratch the paint. The regular price for the deflector in Canada is $79 CDN but I paid less with a discount. Installation is easy with a phillips screwdriver and a combination wrench, 10mm I think and two clips hold it to the front edge of the moonroof opening. The dealer might or might not throw in the installation. It would probably depend on what else he is doing for you. I think you can install yourself. Also, I heard someone say that their friend got one installed and they drilled holes inthe roof which I think is crap since you don't need to do that with the clips. Mazda even gives you pieces of tape to protect the front edge of the roof opening so that the paint does not get scratched.

Interesting that ABS is an option on the vehicles in the US while it is a standard feature on the vehicles sold in Canada. However, we do not even have the option of side air bags available to us .

Sweedenhouse

Another good thing about ABS is it lowers your insurance. Well at least here in Oregon is does.

njaremka

another ting about mazda's abs is that it utilizes electronic brake-force distribution. more or less, it is a fancy way of saying it will direct more force to the front wheels if they have more traction, or more force to the rear wheels if they have more traction.

Brubeck

We will have to agree to disagree then...

Let's do a hypothetical:
You have car A which does not have ABS. You are on a long abandoned street, and your test is to bring the car up to 60 MPH, and then start braking when you cross a certain line in the road.

Run 1: As soon as you hit the line, you hit the brakes as hard as possible, as would be the tendancy in an emergency situation. You break traction and go into a skid, but you keep it in a straight line. Measure the distance.

Run 2: This time, after crossing the line, you apply as much pressure to the break as you possibly can without breaking traction. Measure the distance.

Now any experienced driver knows that Run 2 has a shorter stopping distance. If you've been in a situation where you or someone is braking, and the car looses traction and goes into a skid, then you know the feeling of when the car lets go... suddenly, there isn't so much force pushing your body forward because the car is not stopping as fast.

I will agree with you to the point that if you were an absolutely perfect driver even in the most dire situations you could imagine, then you could probably stop as quickly without ABS. I'd say it's not impossible, but it's highly improbable. And I just don't think there are many drivers out there like that.

And given the fact that you *do* get an insurance cut, it's worth it. I added up the drop in premium, and it's significant enough to pay for the ABS over time.

VaporTrails

Not so in Wisconsin (which sucks for me). According to my agent, it hasn't proven to reduce their claims at all, the way air bags have.