Refined, inside and out. High-quality dash, plenty of power, nice looking. It looks like a compact luxury car. Nicely laid out dashboard...nice looking too!

None

Great car. Very refined, nice looking inside and out. Very comparable to the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla in terms of reliability and quality.

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Dodge Neon

Mostly everything, especially things like Ecceleration!

i guess the only weakness is if some people prefer 2 door and I dont think they offer one.

Ok, this car RULES. I mean for the same price you would pay for a mid-model Honda Civic, you can get the TOP Portege!!! and let me tell you the protege is better than my friends 2001 Civic. New for 2001 they have a 2.0 130 horse power engine!!! this thing is fast!

I almost bought a honda civic but everyone in the world has one. And let me tell you I am sooo glad i didnt buy a honda civic. If you go to the Mazda website check out all the features the Protege has, its amazing!!!Oh and one more thing, when i bought this car, Mazda was offering 4 YEARS NO INTEREST!!!

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I drove a toyota corolla. this car is a huge difference!

I love to car ALOT..... I owned a 99 Ford Escort and it was a hunk of junk.. At 7,000 miles it needed a new motor. Anyway after that it was not the same so I HAD to trade it. It became a very undependiable car. So I traded for a Mazda Protege the best thing I could have ever done. I got really really burt on the Escort, but I think it was worth getting rid of it. I have decided I will never buy american again.

NONE.....

I would recommend this car to anyone who likes a small great dependable car.

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Escort......SUCKS

Reliable, good warranty, great value for the price.

Lack of power/acceleration, creaks when turning

Purchased new with 13 miles in Feb 97. Currently have 63000 miles & still running strong! You really can't beat the price for the amount of car you get. Interior & exterior cosmetics & build quality are top notch. My only complaints are a "creaking" up in the front (replaced strut towers & bushings but continued to creak after a few weeks) which the dealer accounted to "body flexing" & even with a manual transmission there's not much power in reserve. I would purchase another Protege in a heartbeat & currently am considering just that!

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Gas milage is great, Long lasting engine, AC works, Good blind spot view,
quite during city driving, fun to drive. Raced a 91 civic four times and left it in the dust even though its an automatic. Almost as tough as the Toyota maybe better?

Changed both CV boots, small crack in radiator, and wind noise during highway driving. Poor acceleration for city driving and the transmission is not built for stop and go traffic.

I bought this car in excellent condition for $2000 dollars and with 70,000 miles on it from a very nice aunt. This is my first car and I get about 50 miles a day on it going to school, work, and friends houses. After you get used to it it's not so bad you just have to get used to the brakes and steering a bit. Now I have 84,100 and the only problem was a tiny crack in the radiator from the little hose on top-that's easy to repair and it takes about 3 hours to repair the CV boots but you have to take the inner joint apart instead of taking it out of the transmission and you don't have to pay a mechanic 350 dollars for a do it yourself job. An excellent Japanes car for the money!

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Acura Integra, Civic, and Toyota Corrolla.

Good refinement for the price, outstanding handling, excellent stereo, fun to drive, roomy for this class of car. Overall very pleasant vehicle.

Outrageous maintenance and repair costs, lacks power (even ES with
5-speed), mediocre gas mileage, cheap interior.

After nearly 15 years of driving Mazdas and over 10 years of driving Proteges, I am giving up on the brand due to maintenance and repair costs that are way out of line for this class of car.
In less than two years the maintenance and repair costs of my 1997 Protege ES have totaled over $2,000. It is just not worth it.
A brake problem which was supposed to be covered under warranty, has ended up costing me over $400. A Massachusetts dealer charged me $800 for the 60,000 mile service, and now a year later it has costs me another approximately $800 to get it to pass Pennsylvania inspection (at another dealer).
Advice: if you're thinking of buying a Mazda Protege, don't! The Ford Focus is a similar car, with (I presume) lower dealer maintenance costs. I know from my wife's experience with Nissan, that a Sentra would have lower maintenance costs.
If you insist on buying a Protege, find a trustworthy mechanic, don't take it to the dealers for service.

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1996 Nissan Altima GXE (wife's car) has never had a mechanical repair
and dealer maintenance costs are about one-third of Mazda Protege's.

Engine is eager and willing to pull hard.
Styling is a breath of fresh air in the market.
4-wheel disc brakes...positive brake feel...hondaesque.
16" Alloy wheels. Never thought I would see these kind of wheels on a compact. Tight ride that is well damped and very crisp handling.
Priced well. Though, the ES should come standard with a sunroof!

Doesn't have the fame of the Hondas or the Toyotas. A great car hindered by a bad marketing scheme. Be great if the car came with a higher performance engine. Scratch the 2.0liter and go with a high-revving 1.8 liter.

This is a great little car. It truly does offer the "BMW Verve for almost half the cost." It has great handling and respectible power. The styling really sets it apart from the others and those 16" wheels are gorgeous! It seems as though there might be a new benchmark in the industry, but Mazda will have to fight hard to oust Honda. Trust me, even with the new 2001 Civic out, there is stil yet another, meaner Civic on its way. Just look upstream. The all new, soon to be released Acura RSX with its 200HP 4-cyl, will certainly let the Civic wear its hand-me-downs.

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Honda Civic. Well, both cars are great, but Honda dominates the market with its great marketing strategy and its proven reliability record.

Roominess, reliabilty, quality of options

feels like it works too hard to accelarate

Would strongly recommend. Very reliable car. Great gas mileage. As a review once put..."cavernous". Got my 96 in 97, an lx loaded for $10K. The best car I've owned to date. The best $10K I ever spent...

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various similar sized vehicles-escort, mystique, integra, civic, accord.

manual transmission, better gas mileage, comfort

low seat, low body too close to ground, not good enough gas mileage, small gas tank

A lot of time is spent re-filling the gas tank as it only holds 14.5 gallons. I'm glad I got the manual as tired of replacing transmissions!

I am short (5' 3) and wish the seats raised up higher. I bought a cushion to sit on so I can see out.

The car is way too low to the ground and scrapes easily. You have to be extremely careful or your bumpers can get ripped off.

With struts, you can't raise it up.

It handles well and seats are comfortable for a compact sedan.

Seats are luxurious fabric and design of entire vehicle is great.

Manual gear shift casing (rubber) won't stay put.

Radio keeps getting bumped to different stations by drinks placed in drink holders (poorly designed)

Rear speakers don't always work.

Vibrates a little when idling with a/c on.

No guts in accelerating on hills or passing at higher speeds.

Bumpers are plastic and cheap and not fixed tightly to body of car.

Paint coat could be thicker.

Bumpers paint easily knicked by bugs, rocks.

All in all, it is a comfortable ride for a small car.

The gas mileage is not as good as I'd hoped for.

No problems so far in 3 months.

Feels sporty.

I've driven numerous vehicles as used to work autobody repair.

This is no Mercedes Benz but it does handle very well.

Cars I've owned: 69 Mercury Montego, 1987 Subaru Station Wagon 4wd, Dodge Colt, 1983 Nissan Stanza Hatchback, Chryslers, Ford Van, Chevy Impala (former police car), and others.

I must admit, the former police car was surely the funnest and cheapest vehicle to drive and maintain. It had 300,000 miles when I got it and I made it last another 200,000 miles. The rear doors could only be opened from the outside.

I loved the reliability of the subaru wagon but always had troubles with cv joints. the 4wd feature was great in arizona mountains in winter.

hope my mazda protege holds up in flooded streets of louisiana this summer being so low to the ground!

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subaru wagon, nissan stanza

Strong 16 valve 1.8L engine. Easy to maintain. Decent leg room for a compact. Looks and runs great when modified.

Noisy, small trunk space, and it is very difficult to find performance parts for it. Boring when not modified.

My protege became fun to drive once I beefed up the tires to 16 inches and when I swapped out the old exhaust system. The car can out run any other compact in its class. Also it has great gas mileage and makes a great commuter car as well as a street-racer.

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