Lemon count..
 

With the large community we have here.. where most of the people probably drive their cars a little harder then the traditional wagon owning soccer mom.... the number of reported mechanical failures (due to the car, not the owner/driver :) ) seems to be exceptionally low..

I haven't heard of any official lemons.. so I'm curious.. has anyone had their protege replaced by mazda because the thing was just a POS? Or had any serious warrenty problems? (parts falling off, things lighting on fire, etc :) )

no mechanical failures here. just a minor clutch chatter problem. dealer resolved it under warranty no questions asked.

i doubt that mazda would replace the whole car because the customer thought it was a POS.

It's not because the customer thinks its a POS its because it IS a POS.. once in a while a car rolls off the assembly line that just isn't meant to live.. a friend of mine had a ford explorer that was horrible.. there were so many *serious* problems with it, that eventually.. after it spent most of the first 2 months he owned it at the dealership in repair.. they just gave him a new one...

I keep seeing this in other threads. What exactly is clutch chatter? I dont think I have it, but maybe its something I think is normal. (this is my first manual car).

Please PM me or reply and explain. Thanks :D

Nothing.
After 9 months and 12k miles, it's flawless. I'm not crazy about the paint or the interior wear, but it runs better today than the day I bought it.

I know there are "lemon laws" to deal with the cars that are just plain wrong from day one, but I for on ewon't be needing them.

some 1999 1.8L engines had a recall notice - don't know about any other recalls though.

cluless here too.. :S
 

Could someone tell me as well what exactly clutch chatter is, im not much of a car person, so im not sure what exactly this means.

thanx.

Clutch chatter is .. welll

It deals with the clutch... and you feel a terrible terrible chatter.

It feels like if you kept letting the car do its own thing, your entire tranny would fall out the bottom.

Some people may initially mistake it for too little gas or too agressive of a clutch release. It feels like a pre-stall buffet except magnified a lot worse. If you have it, you'll know it.

I'm under the impression that most if not all Protege's and Miata's should have that problem in one form or another. I believe it has to do with their cheap/thin clutch which heats up sporadically.

I'm not technician when it comes to cars, just what I've read up on the web.

When does it happen? What gear? Cold or hot? Old or new? More info please :D

The only issue with my 1.6 DX is that sometimes the air conditioner doesn't cool like it should be. Sometimes it takes five or six minutes of driving before cool air starts to come out. After that, it works fine.

Oh! And yesterday I tried to replace a burnt stop light and discovered the Pro lamps have a wedgie base. So I'll have to buy a few to have 'em around... :rant:

The paint sucks. I have had my P5 for about 3 months and the paint is chipped. A guy I work with has had his P5 for about a month and a half and is taking his in today to complain about the quality (or lack there of) of the paint.
And I do not draft gravel trucks or live on a dirt road. My wife's 98 Pro has less chips than my car.

Paint...
 

I guess the only thing I can really complain about is, like other, the paint...and even that's a minor thing. Granted, i've had my 2003 P5 only about 5 months, there are nicks and miniscule chips in the paint all over. I'm sure 99% of those are due to the horrific(ly annoying) winter we had up here in Boston.

That and the ding some $&^#%er gave my passenger side door one day at the supermarket. Again, guess that's not a "lemon complaint," unless my "ding-proof doors" aren't up to spec ;)

- tim

(speaking of dings, has anyone had a tiny little ding taken out of a body panel? i'm curious about price and feasibility...I took it to an autobody shop, and they kind of chuckled because it is so small...but the Mazda dealership said they could look at it, but i haven't had time to bring it all the way over there...anyone have experience with this?)

I've had a ding removed (maybe penny size) by a paintless dent removal service. It was $50 and took them 45 minutes. Its not perfect, but you wouldnt be able to see it if I didnt point it out.

Ya, tpl1212, I too, had a paintless dent repair done, like ^CL4RK^, and it cost me $60CAD in Calgary, Alberta, when I lived there. I went to an auto body shop and they said that they could do it at $375. Ya right! I was told by the paintless guy, that if the job can be done by 'paintless' means, the auto-body shop would contract out the paintless dent guy and he would get paid $40-$50. That means that the auto-body shop would pocket $325. Nice eh? R-I-P-O-F-F!

fraay, as for anything wrong. Nodda, *knock on wood*. Love the car hands down. Maybe though, a little more sound insulation. I don't like being able to hear the stereo outside with the windows rolled up and only at half volume.

some guy in my area had his MP3 lemon lawed. he had replaced engine, tranny and suspension. had a problem with blue smoke comming out of the tail pipe when he rev'd it while idleing.