Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  excellent car - 2002 Mazda Protege
  By joel - April 2 - 8:06 am

  I love this car. Got it used but have had no problems with it. It has dual overhead cams which means a more powerful than average engine. Car handles very well and has enough power even with a full load of passengers and a full trunk. Get about 23 mpg in the city and about 29 mpg highway which isnt bad for a 2 liter engine.

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  A sport car in sheep clothing - 2003 Mazda Protege
  By MoreZoom - February 26 - 2:00 am

  Ive test-driven Toyota Matrix base, 2002 Honda Civic LX and Mazda LX (all auto as gf wanted) before my final purchase of this Protege LX. Base Matrix was $16,000 plus, Civic LX was $15,000 plus, Mazda LX was $14,880 b/f tax to me with alloy wheels. Man, price was the prime deciding factor at first. Then, after test drives, I found that the Matrixs 130 horses was not enough to move the 2800-plus lbs of the auto, Honda - Na! No torgue! Protege won with 135 torgue and 130 hp for its 2700 lbs for the auto. Man, the road-holding is great! Fun-to-drive little car!

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  Great ride until you open the windows - 2002 Mazda Protege
  By Joe Cool - February 21 - 2:00 am

  The Protege rides smooth and has plenty of low-end power so you dont have to downshift for every little hill. But there is a horrible problem when you open the rear windows. The window makes a fluttered whistling sound, and if both rear windows are opened there is a very loud thumping wind noise that nearly hurts your ears.

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  Buy One! - 2002 Mazda Protege
  By HowieinVA - February 15 - 10:00 am

  This car is the steal of the century. I bought mine new in 03 as it was one of the few 02s left at the dealership and got a great discount on it. For an econonomy car price you get one of the most fun and well built cars on the road. If I had $25k to spend on a car, I think Id still would have bought my 5spd Protege ES. This car has so much poise and is so easy to drive at any speed. It handles like a miata, looks great, is comfy and man does it love to play! This is my 3rd Protege and definitely the best so far. I highly recommend this car.

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  Love it - 1999 Mazda Protege
  By TX - February 10 - 10:00 am

  Replaced O2 sensor 2 years ago (under warranty). Got new tires at 34000 miles. Oil changes every 3000 miles and that is it. Not bad at all for 63000 miles so far.

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  Great Car - 2003 Mazda Protege
  By Bryan Lipson - January 25 - 1:56 am

  Had my protege almost 1 year now and have enjoyed all the driving. Racked up 16000 miles on road trips and driving to work and has been clear sailing thus far. Milage is still improving on all types of driving averaging about 28mpg and I dont get too uncomfortable even after 6 hours of straight driving. Babied this car the whole way and it is built to last. Cant beat the deal they offered late in the model year. Moonroof, 6-disc, abs all great options on a bargain car. Solid driving on sunny days and very controllable on snowy streets.

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  Nice Ride - 2000 Mazda Protege
  By Dude - January 8 - 4:10 am

  I have had this car for 5 years and put on 98,000 miles. Over all it has been a nice little car; it is fun to drive and has been fairly reliable. There have been some problems with it - the starter coil has burned out twice and the catalytic converter went on me. All of these problems were covered by the original warranty. Additionally, two of the automatic door locks have broken which is a real pain. I have had 3 or 4 sets of tires and the poor weather handling has always been a problem. If I didnt have a 5-speed to slow the car on snow, I dont think it would ever stop sliding.

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  good car - 2001 Mazda Protege
  By jeauxe - January 5 - 8:53 am

  good car

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  Great Car - 2003 Mazda Protege
  By Brian2001 - January 3 - 10:00 am

  Bought the ES for my wife in August 2001. She still loves the car. Kudos to Mazda for making the car inexpensive, but not cheap. The fit/finish are first rate. It only has 20,000 Km (she doesnt drive much). Only one problem so far - a blown main fuse that disabled the stereo and key fob. Other than that, this is a very easy car to live with. I love the 50 series rubber - this thing corners. The power is good, but not great - another 20 hp would be great. I find the pedals hard to heel/toe. To sum up, it is rommy, fun to drive, cheap to run small car.

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  Great driving car - 2003 Mazda Protege
  By owned2ofthem - January 3 - 10:00 am

  This is the second Protege Ive owned and they keep getting better. The reliability of this car is excellent, the handling is outstanding for a car in this class and the looks are sharp and stylish.