Olestra

100k and it's probably around 500 bucks.

Warranty is nice to have if you don't know a whole lot about cars and also if you're not sure what shape this car is in.

Shasta

Well the deal went bust. Firstly they only were going to give me $500 on trade for my Honda Civic SI so that was a no good plus the car wasn't perfect in my eyes. It looked fantastic till I got close and noticed numerous dents on the hood, side and rust bubbles on the right rear quarter were the bumper mates up against it. I have a few questions now that I've driven one. Are the motors so noisy when cold, it was -10 out. Do these cars have certian areas for rust? A few I have seen have rust inside the engine compartment on the passenger side where inner fender and the shock structure are fused together? Any water leak problems?

It's going to be difficult to find one thats not rusty here, I think.

Rusty

The engine is noisy until it warms to above 140F. Thats because of the butterfly plates in the intake to richen up the mixture. Once they open back up, that buzzing noise will go away, but these are still normally pretty noisy engines.

Luzer

Actually, my Honda Prelude is much louder when cold. I think my P5 is quiet compared to my lude.

Shasta

Thanks for everyones help, you were really helpful. Although I love the look of the Protege 5 it wasn't what I was expecting as far as driveability. I've since rethought what I really wanted and put an offer on a low km 2003 Mini Cooper S so just waiting to hear back.

Luzer

Sorry to hear that you decided against the p5. The mini is a good car though.

DaleK

Enjoy your mini. That's a nice alternative It sounds like the P5s you have seen are not in great shape for the mileage.

Shasta

Well the saga continues. The Mini I had put an offer in had a pending sale on it and I missed out. So after that episode and being so far out of town I went for a drive tonight and decided to go by my local dealer before heading home and they had a really nice electric blue P5, std shift, full load, even has leather seats. It has not been detailed but the body is in awesome condition and it actually has chrome factory wheels, never seen that before either so I'm heading there tomorrow morning early to get a price and try out a stick shift, maybe it will be better in a standard.

It's worth another try.

KrayzieFox

When you go for the test drive, keep in mind that it's pretty cold and the engine will be louder and not as responsive as usual. The car performs good in the winter, but it doesn't operate at 100% when it's too cold (in the sense that it's not as fun and 'zoomy' as it is in the summer). So cut it some slack and trust me when I say it will be worth it when the warm weather gets here. You'll have plenty of chances to take it to the twisty roads without worrying about slipping off due to ice and stuff .. and I'm sure you'll love it.

Luzer

Naw, mine runs as well in cold weather as it does in warm weather. Only takes about 30 seconds to warm up. Takes less than 5 minutes driving before the heater is blasting warm air. You will love it.

Rusty

Yeah but Shasta's in Ontario. I bet it's cold as a witch's tit there.

Shasta

Well here are todays results. That electric blue P5 was amazing. I don't know if it was the 5 speed that made the difference but it felt like a completely different car compared to the last auto I tried. It was not noisy and its been sitting out in below zero weather for days. One owner, non lease that was owned by a mature couple with no kids and traded it in on a new Mazda 3 Hatch.

Although it is dirty it is in really awesome condition. No rust like the other and not even a door mark with only one little fine scratch on the left front fender. The factory chrome wheels are not pitted and not even a curb scuff. The leather seats were perfect condtion and the factory pedals looked perfect, non smokers. The engine compartment didn't even have that road salt damage to the aluminum surfaces. Like I say its dirty from the winter but its nice. So I purchased the car and while the finance go through I have to decide on getting the extra warranty coverage. Right now the car sits at 67,083 km and is has the Mazda warranty through April /08. If I want I can purchase a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty that covers everything but these items. Tires, brake pads, oil changes and services, clutch disk wear, headlight bulbs but the warranty will cover all electrical items, major components, ball joints, ABS, calipers, basically everything that is not a normal wearing item. It will add approx. $30 extra per month to my payment but I'm not sure if the P5 has any areas that tend to go wrong after the 100K factory warranty, like ABS sensors, calipers, power windows motors etc...

But as it stands this car is completey fully loaded, even has that nice little rear bumper cover that is on top of the bumper plus the little hood and sunroof deflectors and they will put on a Magna flow stainess muffler and tip (bling ,bling) from the rear axle back. It was more money than the first one I looked at, the first at 12K and this one at 16K but I got them down to 12K and my trade in (90 Civic SI with 317K km's).

Shasta

Well I'm officially a P5 owner, got word a few hours ago.

Again thanks for everyones help and suggestions, I'm sure I will have lots of questions in the future.

KrayzieFox

Glad to have you here .. good luck with everything. As far as the warranty goes, I don't think it's gonna be necessary if you maintain the car properly. In the past 2 1/2 years I've owned my P5 the only thing I had to spend money on was oil changes, tranny flushing (automatic .. you won't need to worry with 5speed), brake pads, and just recently a couple blower fan resistors. Overall, I don't think I spent more than $300 on maintenance in 2 1/2 years, so as long as you take care of it properly you shouldn't have any problems at all. These cars are very reliable!

Shasta

Yeah you are right. I use to be a tech @ Honda for over 10 years and left that field so I'm more than capable of maintaining the car so I think I will opt out of the extended warranty.