P5 Problems? Lots?

500 miles on our '03 yellow mp5 we just baught and have drove all over the place. Its our main car since I race with my civic It has to be reliable, this was why we bought it. When My wife and I were married we purchased a brand new 96 protege lx and when it reached 90,000 miles the exhaust manifold snapped in half between the 2nd and 3rd cylinder. When I looked at the manifold more closely I relised this was a design flaw, too much stress in that area. When I said this to the parts guy at Mazda he replied " I don't think so, why I will have to order that part......wait a minute I actually have two on hand, maybe this is a regular issue." Duh, just look at the design, there's no support there. Anyway, shortly after that my head had to be reworked cause the exhaust valves were bad, more than likely do to cold air leaking in through the exhaust manifold that was broken. Super hot to sudden winter air= problems. When they replaced the valves and milled the head, $1,100 later and no kiss first, the mechanic tells me well sorry we replaced the intake valves by accident and I just got the whole intake valve job for free. This made me feel better but at the same time a little scared about their work at the dealership. When I pulled out from the dealership with a complete rebuilt head the car had as much power as when I brought it there to be fixed, put-put. So, I sold it to my then ex-wife who tottaled it two weeks later. The good thing was we got twice what the car was worth from the insurance company since I still had insurance on it not her and split the money and I got a honda civic with the money.
Funny thing is my ex wife and I got remarried this year and we just bought a mp5 last week.
 
My P5 is turboed...no problems here so far. 22k miles. turbo since 12k miles.

only a bit of clutch chatter. manual trans of course
 
You'll find numerous tranny issues on these boards becuase people push thier cars quite hard here. (myself included) For the most part, these cars are quite reliable. First clue would be that there are no recalls, for the entire run of the 3rd gen car. Second, there are no real major engine issues that I know of. Tranny issues are very common with just about every make of car, I think trannies, especially ATX's are very complicated (maybe even more so then engines)
On top of all this the auto mags have consistently placed the proteges on top of the list of small cars, even on top of Civics, Corrolla's and Foci. (mind you not the MSP) The MP3 was god like to many of the mags and Car and Driver even placed it in a comparison with Lotus, Ferrari's, Porsches and other various supercars.
Anyway, ask you're friends/sources where they saw a protege that was a POS, if they can name more the a couple, it'd be a surprise to me.
 
I have an MP3, but alot of parts are similar to other proteges.. and the Clutch Chatter/chudder whatever is a b****. I am stuck with it for almost 2 years now. Yeah you can be lucky and not have it, but mazda did not fucken test their cars correctly and SOME ( a minority ) get stuck with s*** like this. Worse part about it is if you get stuck with it, GOOD luck getting it fixed.

So all you people saying people push their cars too hard, yeah SOME do, but not everyone does and some get stuck with design flaws... the retarded clutch chatter problem was ACKNOWLEGED by Mazda yet almost all retarded dealers have no clue about it. Mazda can kiss my ass...

Sorry pissed tonight.

And whatever magazines compared the MP3 to a Porsche, they can kiss my ass too... i doubt a Porsche sounds like World War 3 when you hit small defects in the road or cross over a speed bump, i doubt a Porsche jumps like some horse in a Rodeo when its too cold outside, i doubt the windshield of a Porsche keeps breaking. When i get the money, i wil own a Porsche. Until then, well i can still multiply the speed limit of a curve by 2.... or 3... and have fun :)
 
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And whatever magazines compared the MP3 to a Porsche, they can kiss my ass too... i doubt a Porsche sounds like World War 3 when you hit small defects in the road or cross over a speed bump, i doubt a Porsche jumps like some horse in a Rodeo when its too cold outside, i doubt the windshield of a Porsche keeps breaking. When i get the money, i wil own a Porsche. Until then, well i can still multiply the speed limit of a curve by 2.... or 3... and have fun

Well as the MP3 is like 3 times cheaper then even the cheapest porsche, you'll have some issues. Gotta admit though, for under 20k mazda did make a good handler that does reasonably well.
 
elias1974 said:
ditto uclap5
11,997k / 02' / stick
no roblems except for plauging rust on rotors (currently battling the local service center in white plains)

Did you tell them about the TSB on this? What did they say? And how well did they fix it (if they did). I have the same problem. Well it's not a really BIG deal, but I was thinking I could get them to rotate my tires while they take off the wheels anyway (just about time to do so) :D

My car is at 23k miles and the only service i've gotten is that a piece of foam inside the door fell off and so the window couldn't open all the way. Easy fix.
 
Let's not forget the gods of boring, reliable, dependable transportation, Consumer Reports, constantly give Protegs their highest marks.
 
Just got my P5 a few months ago, she's manual with just over 5000kms, and no probs whatsoever!! But I have heard that the Auto-P5's do have a few probs here and there!
 
Super-Saiyan3 said:
Just got my P5 a few months ago, she's manual with just over 5000kms, and no probs whatsoever!! But I have heard that the Auto-P5's do have a few probs here and there!

I have read many times that people have "heard" of AT problems, but never any specifics. I have 28,000 very hard driving miles on mine and have had no problems at all. Can you point to a thread or example of these issues?
 
I've got 13 000 km

Problems so far:

Moonroof re-alignment
Rattles (don't know if dealer can fix these)
Alignment (car was pulling)
 
Super-Saiyan3 said:
Just got my P5 a few months ago, she's manual with just over 5000kms, and no probs whatsoever!! But I have heard that the Auto-P5's do have a few probs here and there!

I've also heard clutch clattering problems for manual cars.
 
I've had my protege5 for just over a year.. 10k miles.. auto.. not a single problem.. and like many enthusiasts.. I drive it hard from time to time :)

I think you need to recognize the difference between the actual volume of problems vs the percieved volume when considering a car... you WILL hear about it when something goes wrong.. and when nothing goes wrong, there is nothing to tell..

Something important to consider.. is there have been no recalls on the car (atleast as far as I'm aware.. hehe) .. some optional TSBs that dealerships will take care of IF the problem arises (very few compared to many cars on the market).. but no serious unniversal problems..
 
I know this thread has been dead since 11-02 - but I just had a couple questions..

I have a Auto P5 -- and I guess its been babied living in FL cause now that I'm in OK, and the weathers colder, it kinda hesitates a little when trying to start it. Sometimes I actually have to try twice to get it to turn over. Does this happen to any of you who live in colder weather? If it does, what can ya do to fix it? It also seems like it takes an awful long time to warm up..engine-wise. Longer than any other car I've had.

Thanks.... :D
 
had my p5 for 4 months got 10785 on it now and had a new moter put in around 7000. only outher problem ive had is the the trans gettin stuck in 3rd when i blew the radio fuse. by the way its an auto. but outher than that love it.
 
Nothing major

1) COLD RATTLE

http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/tsb/
3rd Generation
01-004/03 2001-2003 Protege, 2002-2003 Protege5 - RATTLING NOISE AT 1000-3000 RPM COLD ENGINE

FIXED by DEALER


2) AIR CONDITIONING

http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/tsb/
3rd Generation
MT000003895 A/C SWITCH LIGHT GOES OUT AND/OR FLASHES, WARM AIR

WAITING UNTIL WARM DAY TO SHOW DEALER

3) RUSTING RIMS
rust-1.jpg


rust-2.jpg


Don't know what to do for 32 months?
 
2003.5 PR5, Bought 01/31/2003, SportAuto, ~14k miles, gearbox clunked one time first 3 months I owned it while driving down road and dealer couldn't replicate it but neither have I since then?
Seems to have a slight clunk in the front right suspension when I go over bumps or turn the steering wheel slightly back and forth (Dealer says they all do this?)... Other than this the car has been perfect. I would buy another one and debating at this time plannin a trip to Texas to pick up a MazdaSpeed. All I own right now are Mazda's and I am pretty picky about cars so that should say something? All car manufacturers have issues with cars, its how your dealership decides to handle them that makes you like/dislike the car... Next time your buddies are all sitting around bashing Protege's, ask them for references? Remember, this is kind of a biased opionion from us here since the majority of people that posts here are proponents of Mazda's.
 
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