Planning to buy a used 2002 Protege 5. Need advice !!

[2002protege5ny]

Hi Guys,
I am planning to buy a used 2002 Protege 5 which has 84000 miles on it. I want to know if the parts for this car are easily available. Secondly, since there seems to many owners on this forum, I would also like to know if it is a good choice buying this car. I stay in Upstate NY so owners from this area please let me know your experience.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[mp5la]

We've had ours for about two years. It's been a great little car, but I've had to put a lot of maintenance into it to get it there. A lot of that was the fact that it was high mileage when we got it (about double the one you're looking at). Parts are fairly easily available through rock auto or any number of mazda dealers. In terms of performing repairs yourself, they're generally not too bad. I will say though, the protege is one of the more difficult cars to work on that we have (compared to my Subarus which are like Legos). However, even a novice mechanic can do 90% of the things that these need.

Being in upstate NY, be sure to watch for rust. These cars are not protected very well from the factory and are very prone to rusting out in the rear and quarters. Make sure you inspect underneath the car very throughly. If everything checks out and you end up buying it, be sure to rustproof it every season if you plan much winter driving.

Otherwise, my only complaint about the car is that it's a little slow. Getting more power out of the motor isn't as easy or cheap as it is with other vehicles.

 

[2002protege5ny]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, rust is the major concern to me but I am planning on inspecting the car thoroughly by a mechanic before buying. I am a student hence I don't think I will repairing the car myself . But hopefully this inspection will ensure that I don't have many problems later.