Considering buying Protege5

[RatLabGuy]

I'm basically Winston-Salem.
Auto trader thus far is finding 90% automatics and the manuals are all higher mileage.

Now for a "social couthe" question - why did this post get moved to the "Lounge" section? I've seen other "buying info" posts in the main forum?

 

[stdntDrvr]

no idea. i've just traded my p5 in...so if you're interested, i'll sell it to you ...i work at a dealership.

 

[altspace]

Simple answer....Buy It, you'll love it!

 

[Katya4me]

oh, another random question.
I'd really like to get an extended warranty, esp since teh newest ones are now 3 years old and a min of about 30k miles. And how long is the original, just so i know?

'03 and possibly the '02.5 had 4 yr./48K mile warranties, the '02 was 3 yr./36K. Mine expired due to miles 2 weeks ago.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Another question for you guys.
What do the gauges look like at night? Surely somebody has pics?
I know they are white face w/ black letters. How do they light up - doess the background just illuminate so yer reading black numbers against white again... or do the #s light up or osmething?
My vision is kinda funky and i have glare issues reading things at night, hence my interest. I like the big #s, but not real fond of the number being incremented by 20s instead of something usefull like 10s.

 

[LilPixieMama75]

Another question for you guys.
What do the gauges look like at night? Surely somebody has pics?
I know they are white face w/ black letters. How do they light up - does the background just illuminate so yer reading black numbers against white again... or do the #s light up or osmething?
My vision is kinda funky and i have glare issues reading things at night, hence my interest. I like the big #s, but not real fond of the number being incremented by 20s instead of something usefull like 10s.

They light up a reddish-orange color and, if I'm not mistaken, just the numbers light up.

 

[jadonP5]

Noticed the mention of not being able to put the car seat in the middle seat. Why not? Is there no middle seat belt??? Or just no "latch system" nifty straps there? I don't think either of our car seats even havet he Latch do-jobs, none of our current cars have it so we didn't really care at the time.

i don't know why that was said, you can certainly put a seat in the middle if you want too, it's just harder to access there. there is a seat belt, and latch points and a top tether latch. once you turn your seat forward-facing, the top tether for the middle seat is a pain because it is right near the hatch's latch, so the strap angles down and covers your cargo access, meaning you can't get a stoller in there without taking off the strap first.

also someone asked how well the travel system graco stollers fit- the answer is they do fit, but that's all that's going in the hatch with the cargo cover on. it's actually almost the exact dimensions of the cargo area.


tony

 

[Kansei]

Another question for you guys.
What do the gauges look like at night? Surely somebody has pics?
I know they are white face w/ black letters. How do they light up - doess the background just illuminate so yer reading black numbers against white again... or do the #s light up or osmething?
My vision is kinda funky and i have glare issues reading things at night, hence my interest. I like the big #s, but not real fond of the number being incremented by 20s instead of something usefull like 10s.

like LilPixieMama said, they light up a red/amber at night. Very easy on the eyes. I remember reading somewhere that red affects your night vision the least, so I like that Mazda used that color for the instrument cluster lighting

 

[CTt3P5]

The red instrument lighting is very nice on the eyes IMO. I drive alot during the dark morning hours and enjoy it very much. And you can pack quite a bit in the hatch area (with the cover removed). Can't comment on strollers as my kids are out of that stage but today I had 4 sports chairs (kind that fold up and you store in a bag), a blanket and over $200 worth of groceries with the cover on.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Excellent.
Well, it looks like I've run out of thinsg to be worried about and knock thsi car on.
So, now the hard part - finding one w/ the specs I want (5 spd+sunroof) that I can still extand the warranty on.

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'm selling mine, white over black 5 speed, 2002 with 57k, excellent shape. $11k OBO. Look for a proper ad per the rules after I get some pics this weekend.

 

[Kansei]

oooo white?? and that's like nearly 20k less miles than mine