Another luxury of the protege is the very large trunk for hauling many objects which is great if moving away to college or taking vacation trips.

About 6 months ago, I purchased a 2000 Mazda ES protege and fell in love with it from the beginning. With anti-lock brakes along with side air bags, I felt very safe in the vehicle at all times. It handles very crisp on icy and wet roads and maneuvers very well around corners. When they say it has the steering capacity of a BMW, I feel it's an understatement. It sometimes runs so quietly, I wonder if it's even on while waiting at stop lights, or sitting in the parked position. This is definitely a smart investment.

Super reliable.
Handling.
Nice interior.
Smooth shifting 5 speed.
Excellent build quality.
Cheap to run.
Resale value still holds up well.

Parts are not cheap.
Rusting on the roof and W/S pillars.
Road noise.
Floor is cold on winter days.
13" tires are too small.
Radio and cup holders are designed poorly.
CV shafts have been replaced twice.
Lots of places to soup a Honda, were can I soup up a Protoge?

What can I say it's a great car.

We bought it with about 100000Km on it(about 60000 miles), and have driven it for almost five years and has given nothing but reliable transportation.

We now have 190000Km (115000 miles or so)on the car, we keep waiting for something to go wrong but nothing does. The car runs as well as the day we bought it, age has not affected performance.

With the exception of the front brakes, muffler, CV shafts,wiper arms, spark plugs, battery and tires that's it for replacements parts for this car.

Compare this with my last car a 1986 Ford Escort which started falling apart at 160000Km even though we babied it, it just went downhill from that point on.

I picked the Protoge after researching cars for a year ,the Hondas and Toyota were too expensive, the Sentra was boring and don't even ask about the domestics.

The Protoge gives us the room we need with two kids yet is still fun to drive. I cannot believe how underrated this car is.

I love how this car is in the corners,the great gas miliage,build quality, the wonderful sound it makes when you hard shift at 4500 RPM, the fact it can cruise all day at 180Kmh.

Driving this car has proven one undeniable fact;AMERICA CANNOT BUILD A DECENT SMALL CAR.

I had every intention of keeping this car forever until I saw the MP3 and Protoge 5.All I have to do now is convince my spouse to hold off going to school for another five years.

The Protoge has the best bang for the buck of any car I've ever owned, I will buy another.

A personal plea to the Ford Motor Company:Please, for the love of god, do not smear the Protoge with your crappy drivetrains and substandard quality.
Stick with the Focus, leave the Protoge alone.

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Honda Civic.
Toyota Corolla.
Volkswagon Golf.

handling price, and hot hatch cap.

stiff ride for people not looking for sport driving car and loose bolt

the mazda protege'5 in japan is a very competent auto.
I enjoyed trading in my jetta 1.8t stick for the auto-box
tranny
not broken in but the pepp will be ok with a after cat exh
soon
on the suspension the handling is on par with the Jetta with
sport springs and shocks and tyres. so this car stock has a sport
suss. front and rear anti sways connect to the struts never seen that and it makes for a taught driver. but very pleasent in the turns
check your bolt on the top bar on the hood lost two
first 100miles
this little hot hatch really looks great seems to be worth the dollar amount and mazda engines in japan are very dependable so the 2.0 will work fine for most of us.
buy it in yellow if you can I did and I am 35 and did not like the blue color (jetta had a very cool blue) but that yellow just stuck to me and
I got one
now i need a stereo upgrade and exhuast.
We give this car all the stars to give for putting a basic concept together.

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civic
crx
infinti G20, VW jetta 18t GLS

smooth, powerful, torquey, rev happy engine, very usable power and torque; incredible handling and steering, too good to be an "economy" car; supportive seats, lots of goodies, practicle hatchback style; pretty good looking; very high build quality; reliablility; very "tossable", excellent steering and cornering ability, nice wheels and tires, WHAT A PACKAGE! surprising price, I expected around or above 20 K, with the sunroof, etc.

That I can't afford to buy one, quite yet! (have my two old cars to sell)

To be fair, I don't own one, but am dreaming about it!!! I drove a new Protoge5, with 5 speed, today, and am IN LOVE!!! That car was incredible! If you are in the market for a fun, fun, fun, quality, quick, fast, fun, excellent handling, fun, practicle, smooth, fun, good looking, fun, just flat awesome (did I mention, fun?)car, just go buy one. Don't even think about it, buy one. Who am I, you say? What are my credentials? I have a degree in automotive technology, at one time was fully ASE certified, sold new BMW's for 4 years, absolute car fanatic and have driven most cars in the Protoge's class. The Focus is good, too, but this car is 100% better. And that's not to say the Focus is bad!

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Focus, Neon, base Protoge, Corolla (boring!!!) Civic (all driven in the last year or so.)

Quality

Drive train on Auto transmission

(1997 Model) - A well made car for the price. The attention to detail in the body parts of this vehicle rivals that of a car worth thousands more. Lots of room for a small car.

Large amount of interior space and headroom (particularly in the front seats). Well layed out instrumentation/dash. Very comfortable seats. Gets very good gas mileage. Excellent cruise control. Exterior styling is very nice (looks similar to more expensive models). Prior models have been relatively free of major mechanical problems.

This model seems to be underpowered compared to earlier models.

(1999 Model) - This is the third Protege my family has owned. I still drive a 1990 LX; we had a 1992 LX that was totalled in an accident and just bought the 1999 LX. Considered the ES version that all the reviews recommend but they are hard to find (even harder to find in manual transmission) and the bigger engine means worse gas mileage. I contiue to be extremely impressed with the car, more so all the time. We looked long and hard at all the similar cars by different manufacturers and could not find the same features and interior room (we are a tall family) for a comperable price. The interior of the car seats four tall adults very well. The dash is easy to see and use. The manual transmission is very smooth (our 1990 and 1992 manuals were sometimes difficult to put into reverse; no trouble with the 1999). The only downside to this car seems to be how underpowered it feels sometimes, especially on hills or slopes. Both our prior cars could go over local mountains in fifth gear on cruise control and not lose any speed; this 1999 has trouble maintaining cruise in fourth gear on steep hills. This may be due to the different size engine in this car and a re-gearing in the transmission on this newer model. Still, I recommend this car to anyone who is looking for a decently priced car for a small family or comfortable commuter car. **Two notes: If you are considering buying the less expensive model DX, remember that for less money you can buy the LX with power, radio, and AC than upgrading the DX. That is why we have always choosen the LX model. Also, the 1999 Proteges have been found to suffer very expensive damage to the front of the car in low speed frontal impacts (I read this and two different salesmen confirmed this). In the 2000 Proteges this is being corrected although the apperance will not be changed. This has to do with the interal structure of the front bummer.**

looks, handling, and the ladies love it

a little underpowered, and needs a short throw shifter

I had this car for about 2 months and i love it. The handling is amazing. I honistly think it handles than the MP3 which my friend just purchaced. I am looking for the short throw shifter from the mp3. if anyone knows where i can get one please email me.

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civic, focus

Looks, tight handling, gas mileage, price, expected durablity, feels solid, decent power, cornering, roomy climate controlled comfort with great sound system.

cup holder location, chincy visors

so far so good...I just want to drive something that doesn't break down or dime me to death with mystery malfunctions. cool comfort, sound system, solid performance, and decent looks.

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Mazda b2200 truck

Handling - might be better if the slight understeer was fixed, but at this price... and the control feedback is complete and accurate.
Construction - The interior and exterior are harmonious and solid, even with the added flash. Almost ignoring the performance bits and the lo-pro tires, this car remains very smooth and unintrusively quiet. Which brings me to my next point.
Stereo - gobs of power that is delivered smoothly and evenly. Anyone can boom and rattle, this thing makes Holst sound better than my home system! Add to that the mp3 technology, and it's a Mark McGwire GSHR! Proof positive that getting real stereo components in the front door works very well. Other small car designers should copy this template.
Rarity - I have very little chance of losing this thing in a parking lot or pulling up next to three others at a stoplight. While that may sound vain... well, yeah, it sorta is. Best part, I get exclusivity (somewhat) for UNDER 20 large!

Trunk space - yep, jamming a 10 inch subwoofer cannon into a compact car cuts mightily into trunk space, but the whole thing is removable if there's an emergency, plus the trunk is plenty big for most things otherwise.
Overall power - I have to agree with reviewers who have said that 30 more horses would be better, but would I want to pay for those horses? The current 140 are plugged into a machine that can squeeze a lot of curve-nibbling performace from them, and I'd rather leave straight-line racing to the big boys.

I am very impressed with this car. While this isn't the most practical car I considered buying, it definitely is long on statement without being lofty in price. Plus, it's based on a solid platform with a great track record. It's Gibraltar solid and the tweaks given by Racing Beat and Racing Hart only amplify the insanely tight driving experience. Speaking of amplify, the stereo is a crusher! I have to agree with most reviewers, however, that the Kenwood system's button layout is cryptic and the display becomes difficult to read in direct sunlight. Still, I get all the "Wow, what's that?" looks that I can count, and my withered ego can bear the attention. To all the other fortunate mp3 owners out there, I salute you!

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My last car was a Saturn SL2, and I could sing it's virtues for paragraphs. The mp3 is larger inside, has 20 more horses, looks more aggressive and distinctive, has the NASA approved stereo, and handles like a dream. While I may not have the coolest, most radical performace car available, I dare say I upgraded.

Reliabliity. Durability. Roomy and very spacious. Fairly large trunk for a little sedan.

Underpowered in certain spots. Too light (for winter at least).

Very reliable and durable car. Never had any problems with it, and does the job in winter as well... and the winter weather here can get pretty rough. A little noisy but the ride is decent and comfortable. Great on gas. Quite a fun car to drive. Design is mediocre since it is the first generation of it's series. It can give me some degree of power at times, but also lack of power at times depending on the situation but overall it never disappointed me. Currently looking into the Progete5.

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None