Looking to join the mazda crowd

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wipedawg

Member
Currently I own a Jeep Cherokee and in no way have i been disappointed with the vehicle. I offroad on a regular basis and am happy with the way its performed and its reliability has been great. Times are changing though and need to downsize to a smaller better gas mileage vehicle, since the cherokee gets around 12mpg average.
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I've owned in the past a 94 Celica, 98 Prelude, and a 98 Integra GSR. I went to the jeep after the integra. Reason being is that the gsr blew its head gasket at 50k miles, and i had to rebuild the head... which made me anti-jap car for a while, but now i've felt the need to return..

Basically i've narrowed it down to a couple vehicles, one being the Protege 5. To all you guys, what are some things i should look for and things i should avoid in this car? I'm looking for a 5-spd... anything else doesn't matter a whole lot. Just basically wondering what if any problem areas this car has. Thanks for any info.
 
I really havent heard of too many common problems for the car. The overal agreement seems to be that its quite reliable.
 
closing 40k miles and no problems. just this annoying thing in my hatch that rattles. probably a loose bolt from the license plate holder. im going to go and check that out soon. you only hear it when you move the hatch up and down and its not there all the time. but im sure only i have that problem. also i hate my license plate holder since the plate only bolts on from the top so when you close the hatch it makes that annoying license plate rattle noise. maybe double sided tape would fix that....
 
are you looking for big horsepower numbers? because if you are.. you'd better stay away... far far away.. unless you're planning to turbo the thing. Other than that.. P5s handle like sex, and they're pretty reliable. I have heard about problems getting into reverse being common in the car.. nothing major though.

why don't you tell us what your plans are for the car.. daily driver? are you going to mod it?
 
*off topic*ChuEy826, where did you get your JDM tails? and how much? your car looks clean. i like it.
ChuEy826 said:
are you looking for big horsepower numbers? because if you are.. you'd better stay away... far far away.. unless you're planning to turbo the thing. Other than that.. P5s handle like sex, and they're pretty reliable. I have heard about problems getting into reverse being common in the car.. nothing major though.

why don't you tell us what your plans are for the car.. daily driver? are you going to mod it?
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DE31 said:
*off topic*ChuEy826, where did you get your JDM tails? and how much? your car looks clean. i like it.
Click to expand...

I got them off a private seller for $150.. hell of a deal. They're a great buy for the P5. Thanks for the complement!
 
What year P5 are you looking for?

The earlier ones had some teething problems such as the clutch chatter & the weird A/C switch.

There were some interior and equipment differences depending on the model year.
 
probably looking to buy the last year made just so i have the newest one possible. I will be modding it a little... just because i'm physically unable to drive a bone stock car for more than a week. I'm not looking for somethin super-fast so this will most likely suit my needs.
 
damn, that is a big (no offense) honky-truck. a huge difference from a p5. welcome and enjoy (2thumbs)
 
I had a 92 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 right before I sold it to buy my mazda. I haven't looked back since and I dont mis the bad gas milage either.
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edit for photo.
 
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regular 'xj' cherokees were the best vehicles jeep ever built - easily the most durable and reliable engines and transmissions of the lineup. grand cherokees and libertys don't even come close by comparison.
 
Only slight problem I have had is stupid mazda parts people and with my manual tranny, trying to get into reverse can become a skill.
I have heard problems with "clutch" chatter in the winter, but I haven't owned my P5 during winter. We'll see.
 
protejay5 said:
damn, that is a big (no offense) honky-truck. a huge difference from a p5. welcome and enjoy (2thumbs)
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haha.. yeah i know the size difference... i'm aware every time i borrow my mom's wrx wagon.

Just since i'm bored and am somewhat of a picture *****.. here are 3 pics of my old cars... prelude was by far my favorite

94 celica
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98 prelude
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98 GSR
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There are two "versions' of the last model year. There's the standard 2003 that came with the roof rack standard. Then there's the 2003.5 that came with a spare tire subwoofer as a no charge option, and the roof rack was removed (still allowed as an accessory).

Either one will work fine. Note that to have the subwoofer, you do lose some space, though I don't like rewiring stuff like crazy, so I'm happy with it :)
 
don't do it. you will enter into the inescapable "Mazda cycle" a vicious cycle in which you break something, upgrade, drive harder, break something else, upgrade, drive harder, break something else, upgrade, drive harder until you are broke and cant do it anymore and you drive your protege 5 around with broken strut mounts and your 1990 sits at your dads with a blown engine and you cant afford to fix either of them and then you make a long post and then your head esplode
 
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