Hey everyone, new to the boards

[MyZmZm]

welcome midrange and jr88, you'll have fun on here. there are many canucks on here (i'm one of them, in edmonton), and there's actually quite a large contingent from ontario and quebec. check out www.toprotege.com for more local info if you haven't already.

as for the decision not to mod (rlaugh) you will, trust me. if you've done it before, there's no way you can not do a little something to the car. like so many others, i bought mine with no intent to mod her, but it didn't stay that way for long.

basic mods that will give you improvement without breaking the bank are the usual suspects: intake, exhaust (magnaflow or racing beat are hands down the best), header, underdrive pulley, short-shifter as far as performance goes. though it's not necessary - stock, the car is amazing for the price - a lot of people upgrade the suspension, anywhere from spring/strut combos to all-out coilovers, etc. best place to go for any and all OEM or aftermarket needs is Protege Garage (one of the main vendors on this site, run by Captain KRM P5); great prices and service, and VERY knowledgeable. NSN Motorsports (Turfburn), HorsepowerFreaks, and Corksport are a few other really good vendors.

one thing i would recommend if you want a little improved handling and a tighter ass-end in the car (mind OUT of gutter, lol) is to upgrade to the racing beat rear sway bar, the one that's found on the mazdaspeed protege stock. direct fit, and it improves things a LOT for such a minor upgrade.

the stock sound system isn't bad, but i know many people have upgraded that too - just depends on what's a priority for you. any time you have a question though, just search/ask; chances are someone's already had the same one. good luck and have fun! you'll love the car.

 

[midrange]

Thanks for the all the welcomes.. I really love this site and all you guys and gals are great!.. so far, non of the non-sence like on 95% of all the other forums.. Glad i bought this car!

Well.. I have drove it 3 days now.. No complaints, no problems.. handles smooth.. I can feel every bump in the road though.. But i don't mind that.
And MyZmZm, i dunno.. I'm loving the fact I have a stock car. LOVE IT! My last car was modded right up, and i drove it hard and well, this car... i have never respected a car as I do this one.. But as I have mentioned, maybe, JUST MAYBE i might do minor mods like lights. Still wondering about the HID's. I said this earlier because i like bright, but i can't really complain about the stock lights on the car.. They are pretty bright!

 

[ctt 1982]

I agree on the snows, the thinner the tire the better. A 205/50 is a 1.67% difference and a 205/45 is a 1.74% difference. The 205/55 is a 4.83% difference but IIRC there is a member here running that size without issues?

i ran 205/55/16 all winter with no issues. i've now been lowered on coilovers and they still fit good, no rubbing.

 

[altspace]

205/50/16 here. I love it!

 

[Newbie]

Hey Midrange,
Congrats on the P5 and welcome to the forum! I notice you're from peterborough, that's awesome, i'm from London Ontario and my fiance is from up near you in Cobourg (not sure on that spelling) and so we go up to Peterborough quite a bit to see her folks and friends and whatnot. So, if you see a Silver P5 with a "Mary Kay" sticker on the back (not my choice) give a honk and a wave.

(canada) (drive)

 

[midrange]

Hey Newbie.. I will look out for ya. Mines Yellow, and bone stock.. Only 2 of I know in Peterborough that are yellow... so we shall see.. I'm always around.

Well folks, sad day for me and my car.. Not so much sad.. but i'm some what pissed. Rear through my thread here, and somewhere it talks abotu how i complained about alignment and what not. Well today, i still wasnt happy. Still kinda pulled to the right... So instead of going back to where i bought it, whom supposively did an alignment twice and found nothing.. i took it to another garage and they did an alignment.. Sure enough, they found it was way out of wack... HMMM.. guess they don't know how to do alignments where i bought it...

OK keep that thought..

Now, I also told them before this car came up that the car i get, has to be clean.. No accidents, no respray.. (SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING YET)
Well they told me this car had a clean title, and the car fax report was clean. SO I didn't investigate much further into it.

WELL, the garage that did the alignment for me, pointed out to me that it was very obvious the car has been resprayed due to over spray they found, and this is why the car was out of wack.. So i look, and OMG, I AM SO PISSED because my right rear QP is all BONDO!!!!!!! Oh crap.. I hate it.. I am so mad..

SO what do you suggest.. I am going to take the car back to them, tell them they have to reimburse my alignment i had to pay for cause they coudln't do it, and I dunno about the body work.. AARRRGGG! SO mad.. I am so mad, i want to give the car back and take my money.. would they do that???? i don't know.. not happy!