Why I am driving a Mazda Tribute for a week
 

Well, my protege5 has 20,000 miles on it, 7 months on the clock, and runs like a dream.

Well, no.

Today my clutch blew apart. I am no longer able to move the car, and it sucks ass. I had the car towed to the dealership, and they are going to work on it tomorrow. My senses tell me they will attempt to get me to pay for the work, even though I'm under warranty. I shall see how it goes. I never drove the shit out of my car so there SHOULDN'T be a problem.

Anyways, I have a 2002 Tribute v6 as a loaner, it's a nice suv, comfy and fast.

I'll post followups as they happen

Better than the POS focus I got for a rental.

My boss has an '02 Tribute ES. Very nice, very quick.

Not a bad loaner. I got stuck with a 4cylinder base model Ranger.

okay, i need help. I have a feeling the dealership is going to tell me this is not under warranty and that it's my fault the clutch blew up... but I don't drive my car hard that often really.

Every now and then I will powershift but not to the point that I would blow my clutch, unless it's the shittest clutch that was ever made and thrown into a car.

What can I do/say if they try to charge me, I can't really afford a dealer installed clutch right now.

It doesn't necessarily take a lot of "hard" driving to rape a clutch. A lot of people slip the clutch at stops on hills to stay still rather than holding the brake, it's things like this that are really ahrd on the clutch.
My clutch (P5 too) was getting all whack at like 7000 miles, so i took it to the dealership and they told me that the pressure plate and the throwout bearing were like blowing up so they replaced it for free under warranty, but i dont know if they would do it for you with 20k miles...

I started complaining about my transmission at 7k, that 3rd gear popped out and it felt odd, but they couldn't duplicate the issue so they let it go.

I still haven't heard back from them.

good luck with the clutch.

the warranty on the clutch disks is only good for 12k miles.
it is listed as a wear and tear item.

If they say you need a new clutch and its not under warranty
the you should look into the price diff of the ACT and the
one they want todo.

ewww, you better nag them and refuse to pay for it ... If it is under waranty then it is covered. That is the reason you pay car payments ...
I sware are all car dealers theives