soc522

sorry, i wasn't getting an attitude..... i know that you can get cars for under msrp but not under dealer invoice... were you just lucky that you got it at that price... how did you do it?

jcilforever

It is all about your negotiating skills. Let them know that you will go somewhere else, and be prepared to. I actually did all of my negotiation over the phone. 2001 ES I called atleast 20 dealers in a tri-state area, got the best price then worked with the dealers in my area to lower it even more. For the 2002 Pro 5 I had the dealer we bought the first car from said" you know I am serious, give me you best price", then I used the mazda website to bounce that price off of the other dealers (I bought it from someone else who wanted to sell a car even more than them) I did all of this over the phone, not stepping foot into the dealer until I had the numbers I could live with. Be firm tell them you do not have the time to travel around and try edmunds.com to get the dealer invoice price.
Also before you go buy the car, if you are not planning on selling your car yourself, take it by Carmax, they tend to give the most for dealers. Once you get a quote from them you will have ammunition for the dealer you are going to buy the car from. If the ask you if you have a trade tell them no (because otherwise when they negotiate with you they will be thinking we are going to get this for his car and....) Once you get the final price you can always say "you know I have changed my mind I do want to trade in my car. Let them give you aprice on your honda then if it is worse than the one from Carmax whip the quote out and say I want you to beat this! Make them work for you, they are hurting for sales right now so they should work with you.

znole

The best thing is get your *** out there and test drive the cars in mind. Don't be too picky, just get the one that's within your means. Personally, I picked 'Protege' because it was a little better than other cars (Civic, Sentra, Corolla, etc.) and excellent financing rates (0%). Other than that, keep on Zooming!

00-pro-lx, touring pkg., black, 5-speed, tints, fogs, clear lights, lowered, meshes, alum. int., & more, spicy looking.

misbehave

I couldn't help laughing my *** out after reading you guys' comment.

I 've just bought my MP5 recently too.
I and my wife always fighting for it to drive to work everyday.
The MP5 is our 2nd car. Our first was a 1994 Corolla.

If you want to consider Corolla, only the 93-97 model (AE100, AE102) worth buying.


______________________
The driver who became a Corolla owner.
The Corolla owner who become a proud Protege5 owner.
The proud Protege5 owner who defied all the Honda's.

THEGOLDPRO

now i love my protege, but the corolla is not a bad car. my parents have a 2000 corolla, and it has *****. 1.8 vvti engine. i would not down the corolla. just because you are all die hard protege fans, dont try and make the kids mind up for him. the majority of you made the corolla out to be a death trap piece of crap. when infact it is a GOOD car. just my .02 cents.

misbehave

Well, I don't know about others, but I have nothing really against Corolla.
Infact I love my 94 Corolla.
My modded 94 Corolla can jump from complete stop to running faster than my Protege5.

When I bought my new car (P5) recently, I have also been considering about the 2003 Corolla.
However, after comparing them both, and after the test drive, I really feel the P5 worth my money more.

MP5s Make Ready

I have owned both cars, I have a mp5, but I used to own a new corolla. Let me tell you, the only thing the corolla has going for it is that it is fairly inexpensive, compared to my p5 that is.....

However the protege sedan is just as cheap, maybe even cheaper. Toyota thinks if they throw on some crappy looking body kit on the S they can charge more money. The engine is ok for it's size, it has the vvt-i, however the protege's engine is just as good. The interior of the protege and the corolla are pretty much the same......boring. But you have to keep in mind all the time that you aren't buying a porsche or corvette. This is an econo-compact car.

It all boils down to what you like the most. Don't listen to consumer reports. They don't know what they're talking about most of the time. You should see the reviews they have given some of the cars that I have owned......My most favorite cars that I have loved the most have been given bad reviews by the lousy editors of that magazine. I think they get paid by the car manufacturers to give cars good reviews. Any car can be reliable, to a certain extent, if you take care of it.

How can consumer reports rate a cars reliability when they only have the car a couple of months, at most, and drive it when it is brand new?

However remember that the corolla.....in certain colors....is considered a girls car.

Good luck on your decision.

pollax

Corolla = rigid rear axle

Pick up this months Car and Driver. They have a review of 10 economy cars.

Corolla = 3rd
Elantra = 2nd
Protege = 1st

If you don't want to buy it then you can read it online at

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...mallsedans.xml

eltonr

I was looking at buying either a brand new corolla or a new protege....I pretty much decided on the corolla after ruling out the protege because i didn't like the attenta and i thought the corolla drove alot smoother (and i still feel it had more kick then the protege)....anywho the reason why i ended up buying the protege was because the offered a better financing rate and they had some other incentives that toyota was not offering and also they were willing to budge a little on price. All in all i think that the corlla is probably a better car if you get the fully loaded one with leather but when you compare say the ES with the GT then i think that the protege is comparible. I find that the protege is a sharper looking car that handles pretty well... and when you consider the financing that mazda offers you can't go wrong. I don't regret buying my protege over the corolla....If Toyota offered more incentives i probably would have ended up with one.

Tom Slick

i am a toyota fan, i test drove a corrola S, and bought a pro. i didn't care for the car, it just felt like a cheap japanese car. the pro "feels" good when you drive it. it feels solid and not cheap at all.

for whomever cares the Toyota/GM plant is NUMMI
http://www.nummi.com/

ProtegeMaster

Consumer Reports has always been the absolute best source of information regarding vehicle testing. They test cars more thoroughly than ANY other entity, and they do so unbridled by advertising of ANY sort.

Judgements based on a comfortable ride and reliability are, contrary to your comments, a GOOD thing. Most people can appreciate a comfortable ride. If you don't like such a configuration, go ahead and lower your car 10 inches and clamp down the suspention springs so they render no dampening whatsoever. That's your prerogative. And the reliability requirement? Only an idiot would complain about an organization that requires a car to be reliable in order for them to recommend it. That is an honorable requirement that helps consumers AVOID being ripped off-- Like one would be if they bought a laughable Ford Focus, for instance.

And finally, you may wish to correctly note that, despite your rants, the Protege IS *STILL* RECOMMENDED by the magazine. It just isn't a top rated model anymore because of it's uncomfortable ride and an irritating, noisy interior. These are credible marks against the Protege-- It indeed HAS been surpassed by better designed cars. Such shouldn't be terribly surprising: The current Protege is an older design than the newest models that top Comsumer Reports ratings, such as the Corolla. And beyond that, Mazda clearly doesn't really care about noise control in their cars, anyway. The new Mazda6 is noted as STILL being too strident compared to what people otherwise tend to expect in a mid-size car.

Ill conceived comments notwithstanding, the new Toyota Corolla is a very good car. It will demonstrate typical Toyota reliability, and it's built very well. It's FASTER than the Protege, stock, and it delivers vastly superior fuel efficiency. 40+mpg on the highway makes it a better car than the Protege, whether people want to admit it or not. And noise? It's considerably quieter than the Pro-- Such isn't difficult to accomplish: The Protege is easily the noisiest car in the small car class amongst major Japanese auto makers. Hell, even the Hyundai Elantra is quieter than the Pro. Quiet is GOOD and there is no thoughtful basis in argument against that.

No rear disc brakes in the Corolla, though, in ANY trim line. That sucks.

Now, in terms of appearance, such things are always subjective: Some will think a particular model looks fine while someone else won't. It is my opinion however, and I believe most people with decent taste would have to agree, that the Protege is the class leader in looks. The Civic is ugly, and the Corolla, although improved, still looks boring. And the Corolla S looks like Toyota is really, really trying to make it look cool. Those cutesy designer guys are just trying SO hard. Didn't work. It still looks lame.

But you can't overall realistically dis Corolla, because it's a good car-- BETTER than Protege in more ways than most proud owners will admit.

And one more thing about Consumer Reports. They clearly DO appreciate cars that handle well: ALL of their testing runs each car through an accident avoidance maneuver test. In fact, one car, a BMW 5 series, was noted as the best car Consumer Reports has EVER tested. Ever. And they based this judgement on the fact that this car has a *comfortable*, quiet ride, AND IT HANDLES EXTREMELY WELL, to boot. A car doesn't necessarily have to ride like a horse driven 19th Century wagon in order to handle well.

MP5s Make Ready

Having owned a corolla before I can say that it was just as noisy inside....if not more....than my protege....especially the engine...it would scream if you stepped on the gas....worse than the pro.

ProtegeMaster

Everyone please note that comparisons regarding the Corolla being a quieter car than the Protege are drawn from the current model Toyota. The old Corolla, which 'MP5s Make Ready' seems to have been referring to, could well be louder than the current Protege. That was an older design, hence it might be expected to not be as good as the Protege. This too was reflected in Consumer Reports data: Before the latest Corolla and Civic came out the Protege indeed WAS CR's top pick in a small car.

But no longer.

The current generation Protege is a good car, but it's been left behind by newer models in more and more areas, particularly areas of refinement in noise and ride.

To our credit, the Protege has *always* maintained an awesome reliability record, however. No joke, Protege is as reliable as any Toyota or Honda out there. That's most excellent, and, as I've said before, my most important demand in a car. It's either proven reliable or I'll not even waste my time thinking about a car.

fossil boy

well, i realize it's apples to oranges here, but...
my '85 GT-S has everything the '02 Pro has (except FWD, and CD). The Corolla is still quicker and more responsive than the Pro, handles quite well (narrower turning radius), and is 100% Japanese quality! Plus the mpg was better than the Pro (mpg has dropped slightly over the years). Better yet, the car consumes NO oil between changes and that is with 193K miles...
Yes, the GT-S is noisy - so what! Even the rear-end has always been loud (but, .411 LSD!). But the moral is: I still have the Beast; in Dec. it will be 18 years!!!
My only regret is that it's not new anymore.

dynamho

My brother bought a Corolla S (2003 model). His wife likes this car.

I have a Protege ES (2002 model). My brother likes this car.