just purchased

ianfromma

Member
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2003 Mazdaspeed Protege
Kind of coming over from the domestic world. I drove a trans am when I was a teen...i used to be into cars a lot. College came and I was hit with the practicality stick and went from a taurus to an infiniti g20.

Just about out of school now and decided to take on payments. Spent a day driving around to a bunch of dealerships and the last one I went to had a mazdaspeed protege chillin by the road. Kind of fell in love with it. It was either that or an 05 civic with similar miles. Easy choice...

Decided to go with a 2 year drivetrain warranty just in case anything goes wrong.

I noticed the idle surges a lot in neutral. Even when the tach stabilizes it feels a little jerky. Is this normal for these cars?

Anywho...took it out for a "test drive" and its a little fun. Nothing down low but pulls alright through first and second once it gets the revs. VERY fun in the corners...I haven't been in a car that can turn in a long time. Should serve its purpose well. Might do some modding once the warranty is up...we'll see.
 
congrats

i just recently purchased mine too , good thing you went with the mazda , where i live everybody and their mom has civics , barely any MSP's around so yea i stand out , plus my car is yellow
 
Kind of coming over from the domestic world. I drove a trans am when I was a teen...i used to be into cars a lot. College came and I was hit with the practicality stick and went from a taurus to an infiniti g20.

Just about out of school now and decided to take on payments. Spent a day driving around to a bunch of dealerships and the last one I went to had a mazdaspeed protege chillin by the road. Kind of fell in love with it. It was either that or an 05 civic with similar miles. Easy choice...

Decided to go with a 2 year drivetrain warranty just in case anything goes wrong.

I noticed the idle surges a lot in neutral. Even when the tach stabilizes it feels a little jerky. Is this normal for these cars?

Anywho...took it out for a "test drive" and its a little fun. Nothing down low but pulls alright through first and second once it gets the revs. VERY fun in the corners...I haven't been in a car that can turn in a long time. Should serve its purpose well. Might do some modding once the warranty is up...we'll see.


it is "normal" and needs some modding to fix it. :( i just recently got mine also, and i am working out the kinks with the jerking around now. Added hardpiping for the intercooler and most of its gone

Tonight im going to be doing "seafoaming" to see if it helps. Also need to change the plugs/wires.... there is still slight lag/hesitation on mine. well see how it goes (flame)
 
i also noticed when if i sit down hard it makes a loud squeak from the back. i assume this is the struts...is this something that should have been replaced when i bought the car?
 
Welcome to the forum!!

The dipping idle could be a vac leak try spraying some carb cleaner around the piping and in take mani and listen for a brief raise in idle. The sqeaking is from the rear sway bar bushings. Search "sway bar clunk fix"
 
Anywho...took it out for a "test drive" and its a little fun. Nothing down low but pulls alright through first and second once it gets the revs.

I'm not sure how to interpret that because I don't know what you consider to be decent low-end torque. When I test drove my MSP, I remember being pretty impressed with the low-end torque and thinking the car had balls for a 4-cylinder.

Of course, you're coming from Trans Ams, so your perspective might be a bit different.

Anyway, congrats and welcome to the club! To fix your idle issue, search "EGR fix" and that is likely your problem/solution.
 
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