bman

just curious what the worst feature on our 3rd generation protege's that absolutely just pisses you off the most?
not all of them just the worst and explanation why.
i know we dont drive a $100,000 car,but come on i just cannot believe how poorly designed our windshield wipers are.
the couple stages that we have are lousy to say the least and could pose a real safety issue imo.
i think they almost cost me my life twice this past weekend on my routine trip to tennessee, on the highest setting even at a safe distance and speed.
am i the only one this disturbed about our wiper's, sorry for venting. i really am overall pleased with my mazda,just feel like we got dooped with the lack of settings and speed of our wipers.
but curious what bugs everybody else on our cars?

KpaBap

The door locks' location.

The wipers are fine IMO. Much better than my 1998 Nissan Maxima wipers. Those things are slower than slow.

I gotta commend Mazda on the seat design. I just got back from a 450+ mile trip and my back doesn't feel like it's been run over by a raging bull.

hihoslva

Just FYI - you can do something about the door locks.

I took off the door panels, unscrewed the lock button, and used a dremel with a cutoff wheel to take off about 1/2" of the threads on the lock button post.

Now, when my doors are locked, the button sits flush with the door panel and doesn't poke me in the elbow.

I'll never be able to get at it with a coathanger if I ever needed to, but oh well - neither can a potential thief. I modded all four doors.

~HH

sjdmp5

You mean other than the lack of horespower? Seriously, I agree about the wiper setting, intermittant wipers would be really nice.

hihoslva

Your complaints about the wipers have been addressed, and you can solve it for $75 (new parts), or maybe less (used parts).

Here ya' go:
http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=18335

~HH

arl240

Heated mirrors - my roomate's sentra's got them, and in a crappy northern climate, 10$ worth of resistor wire isn't much to ask.

Some way to disable the acc beep-beep - I want to work on my car with the doors open and the music going, but the bloody acc setting beeps when the key is turned to it and the doors are open.

Properly adjusted fogs - I know they did this on purpose, but some of us don't abuse our fog lights, so we would like them to be aimed farther up the road then 10 feet.

Intermittent wipers is a good one too. All of my beefs, I think would be quite inexpensive to fix, so they shouldn't be unreasonable.

PhotoPro5

I'm not one to bitch, but better seats would be nice. By better I'm referring to lateral bolstering (thighs, waist, sides).

kenchan

AC compressor coming on at the foot (floor) venting mode.
bad bad design.

huh, i should try that door lock mod. i did poke myself
once on that thing and it hurt pretty bad.

pr5zoom

I really only have two complaints

1) the mirrors cannot be set out far enough to enable me to cover MY blind spot. Solution- $2 curved mirror on passenger mirror.

2) Coke falls out of cup holder under 'spirited driving". Solution, No drinkie .

Mickey

hihoslva

There's a quick fix for this one, too. A little work, but it can be done.

If you look at the stock foglamp, it is not that it is AIMED poorly or downward - there is a HOOD over the top half of the bulb.

If you can take that hood and bend it upward or take it off completely, the fogs will shine much further.

I haven't done this, as I don't really care and feel the stock headlights are more than adequate and these fogs are just for looks. But it CAN be done, and doesn't cost a penny.

And see the above post for info about the intermittent wiper mod.

~HH

kenchan

interesting (fog light issue). when im ready to pop some piaa's
in there, ill see if i can break that thing loose.

90210brandon

Heated mirrors and the intermittent wipers would be beautiful. They are really needed here on the coast. I am going to try to come up with something to fix the mirror problem. I know the wipers is any easy fix. Thanks to whomever figured that out!

redrims

The "so called" cupholders

nightowl

adequate!!!....i have my day time running lights on at night and i still get flashed LOL

bmorton

The fog lamps ARE actually aimed downwards from the factory -- this becomes apparent when you re-aim them, which is what I did. After moving them up as high as they'll go, the reach of the beam is improved, both ahead and at the sides, and by leaving that hood over the bulb alone you maintain the sharp cutoff that fog lights should have. I wish Pontiacs had a hood like that to keep their "fog" lights from burning into my brain when I meet one coming the other way.

As far as what bugs me the most goes, I'd have to agree with pr5zoom that the door mirrors don't adjust far enough outwards. This annoys me on a daily basis. I don't really care about variable intermittent wipers, but it does bug me that Mazda has the part in its parts bin to provide that functionality but chose not to use it in the Protege out of pure cheapness.