Thinking about buying an '02 P5, need advice! :)

[qsito]

Hi all,

We're considering purchasing a 2002 P5 for use as a first car for a college student (he likes to tinker with cars), but we're new to buying used and I thought I'd come here to get some opinions. First, the vehicle we're looking at has some pretty high miles--200k on the chassis, with 120k on the engine that was just installed. Normally I'd say no to a vehicle this used, but I've heard these cars are pretty darn reliable. Thoughts?

Secondly, the vehicle looks pretty good from what I could see in a quick inspection and test drive, everything's working, and the car runs well. Maintenance logs say she's been taken good care of over the last 11 years. What should I be concerned about that I can't see? Risks to joining the 200k+ club? I've heard rust is an issue, but this car has spent all of its life in sunny southern california.

Lastly, 4500 sounds like an awful lot for a car with this many miles on it--sound to me like this car isn't worth any more than 3800, but I figured I'd ask the experts. Whaddya think?

Looking forward to hearing from y'all, thanks in advance!

 

[azuelke]

My only concern would be if the "new" engine was taken care of or not. These engines can last a long time, if taken care of. Also, at 120k on it, the timing belt should have been changed, along with a few other things for good measure. Price sounds extremely high for the mileage, especially since kbb value for mine is right around there and I only have 145k miles.

 

[Brains]

Our car has around 170,000 on it so it's getting up there-
-it's been very reliable so far, it's needed some repairs but we've never been stranded with it and the repairs have always been minor/something we could do ourselves. I'd say our car is driven pretty hard, but it still holds up nicely.
Of course, our car was pretty cheap... and a rust bucket. Mostly cheap- normally i don't care about miles if it's cheap, but that p5's not really cheap and that's a lot of miles. See if you can gouge them on the price a bit, or a lot.
Also, see if the AC works on every fan speed- sometimes the AC will only work on speeds 1 and 4, or just speed 1- speeds 2 and 3 cause the compressor to turn on/off a lot and the AC light to flicker. Common problem we have

 

[qsito]

@azuelke I'm waiting on the engine paperwork to confirm, but the belt's been changed recently.

@Brains, thanks for the A/C tip, will be sure to check that.

I'm feeling a little more confident diving into this negotiation thanks to you guys. Looking forward to joining the P5 club!

 

[Mookhaasa]

yeah what happened to the other motor that it needed to be replaced? Does it look like a hack job or like someone took car in the install? Don't buy a car you haven't driven and felt out or that you haven't tried all the features of. I go out to alot of potential buys with new fluids in case it could use it. Windshield nozzles are a big thing a lot of people don't try when buying a used car. So know what you are buying, I also do compression tests on potential buys, and it scares the crap out of the seller sometimes.

 

[Nyshadow]

My Protege 5 has 275K on the original drive train, so if car was taken car of you can get some good mileage out of it.

 

[Tressly]

I'm a college student who purchased an '03 P5 around 3 months ago. I bought mine at 145k miles for $3500. The dealer I bought it from was actually asking $4500 which was ridiculous to me. It's been a great car to me so far (knock on wood).

 

[NemosMP5]

So far I've had my car for close to a year and these forums have helped me with the maintenance of my vehicle such as fixing the a/c problem. I wouldn't spend over 3500 for it and the "new motor" would kind of make me ask if they would drop the price unless it was put in by mazda themselves. Mine had around 125k miles and were asking for 3800 but I got them to drop the price to 3k but I showed up with money and pointed out the defects like the a/c and cracked headlight. So for a student I'd say its a perfect first car-reliable (if you keep up with regular maintenance, easy to maintain, fun but not to fast to get into trouble, and cheap parts. Over all I'd say a good first car so good luck with your decision

 

[qsito]

Hi all,

Proud owner of a 2002 P5! Thanks to all of you for your help so far (and in the future, I'm sure)! These forums have indeed been incredibly helpful, looking forward to becoming part of this community!

-qsito

 

[Mookhaasa]

looks good, what's next for it? Nice shot.

 

[qsito]

In the immediate future, a couple small things... I've got a headlight out and a cracked fog lens I need to fix, along with the A/C-fan speed problem that seems to be prevalent. I think I also have a faulty door sensor as the light stays on all the time. All in all though, she drives great--I'm very happy so far! No big plans (yet)...