New P5 owner

[Kansei]

Hooray! As of yesterday, I am now the owner of a Protege5! I traveled 3 hours to go look at a 2002 black with black/blue leather and tinted windows, and they had sold it the day before... In despair, I just went to the nearest Mazda Dealership (Cape Cod Lincoln Mercury Mazda in Hyannis, MA). I didn't see any on the lot, but I went inside a fenced in area and there she was. Silver, manual tranny, sunroof (i.e. the perfect car for me). She was surrounded by cars with plates on them so I got worried. I went inside and asked, and of course, they had just sold it yesterday. Seeing my obvious despair, the salesman went and asked the manager how solid of a deal it was. As it turns out a high school senior like me just went up there the day before and bought it, but he had to have his dad cosign on the financing and he didn't think his dad would. Since I had the check in hand to pay for the whole thing, they gladly let me buy it.

Now here is where I am confused. Is it possible that it is a 2002 if it has the 2003 wheels and the 2003 sidemarkers and the 2003 cupholders? Is there anything else I should look for to see if it's actually 2003? The reason I ask is that it has all the 2003 things I can see, but they said it's a 2002.

I'll post pictures when I brave the cold to go outside to my truck and grab the digital camera. I'll be picking up the car thursday morning.

Now here is my question. I'm sure this part is a repost like 99999999x, but anyways... I have about 400 dollars to spend on mods at this point. Right away I'm gonna do a couple cosmetic things: headlight bulbs and clear side markers. Which side markers work best, and which headlights have you guys found to be the brightest/nicest looking. With the 300 dollars left after that, should I get an intake (which brand) or a short shifter first, or maybe a short shifter and tint (depends on price of short shifter)?

[chuyler1]

It is probably a 2002.5.

[Kansei]

It is probably a 2002.5.

well on cardomain I just registered it as a 2003 because it's just like them lol.

[chuyler1]

I could be wrong but the only differences are some of the extra options. For example, if it were Laser blue or had leather it would have to be a 2003. There may be some other differences that I am unaware of but who cares, its a great car and you made a great choice.

How many miles does it have on it? How much did it cost you?

[JOS3]

it is a 2002, but its what the dealer would call a 'midyear refresh' (ie; side markers, cupholders, different rims, etc..). we just refer to it as a 2002.5. great choice, and consider yourself lucky for finding a manual with a moonroof. i believe a few other people were trying to find those options but had a hard time.

[Matthew]

what is the VIN number? you can tell a cars year by VIN number.

for your first 400 bucks i would get:

ebay SRI - $45 shipped - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38634&item=2459156390

Tein S.Tech springs - $175 shipped - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33582&item=2459121925

Black can spray paint (Paint your headlights black) - <$5 - http://www.msprotege.com/vbb300/showthread.php?t=28954

TWM short shifter - ~$140ish shipped - http://www.msprotege.com/vbb300/showthread.php?t=49417&page=3&pp=40&highlight=twm+short+shifter

Kartboy shift bushings - $28 shipped - http://www.allwheelengineering.com/basket/catalog.cgi?query_net_id=kartboy&query_class=KB-M001

TOTAL: $393.00

[WRCprotege]

the first and best mod per dollar (springs!!!) you get good looks and great handling.. if you arent set up to go fast, your not!! lol

[stdntDrvr]

listen to matthew...he's all-knowing when it comes to the p5.
besides...look at all that cool shit you can get for $400!!!

[Lord_Zath]

I'd get some sort of paint sealant to add an extra protective layer to the paint. Everyone knows how cheap the paint is and how easily it chips off. I think mine cost 100 bucks.

LZ

[Captain KRM P5]

congrats on your new car and welcome to the forum!

[eting_pro5]

Toyota Celica Clears work excellent (i bought mine here: http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/20celclearbu.html) They're an APC part and require very minor fabrication (Just a lil' filing) You'll need to buy some washers and nuts, but that's it. If you want to do it right, make yourself a grommet. Read about it here: http://www.protege5.com/vbb230/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20239

[hawaiiannights]

I'm gonna do a couple cosmetic things: headlight bulbs and clear side markers?

I use Nokya 100w "purple" bulbs myself look at the pic at night and day. In looks nice in the day too with the lights off because it shows a tint of purple. I chaged out the front amber signal lights to nokya's as well so you don't see the yellow but then again it is illegal since they flash white now.so be careful.

http://www.msprotege.com/vbb230/_handler.php/hawaiiannights/purplenokya.jpg
http://www.msprotege.com/vbb230/_handler.php/hawaiiannights/front.jpg

[Togan]

hurray, have fun with ur car take good care of it, and welcome to the club (2thumbs)

[hawaiiannights]

Oh and "l8r" on the forums is selling his Tein springs you should PM him.

[Kansei]

Oh and "l8r" on the forums is selling his Tein springs you should PM him.

Ok here's an update. Before any of you replied to this, I already went out and spend 69.70 on the eBay CAI (I know I'll have to get a new filter but I gotta see the diameter first). I also bought Osram Silverstars (the euro-spec ones).

Then I went to sounddomain and crutchfield and bought the adaptor plate and wiring harness to swap out the OEM head unit for my Alpine, and the tool to get the oem one out. total price for this stuff aout 50.

Does the protege use a flasher or is it computer controlled? The reason I ask is that with my old truck I got LED rear turn signals and had to buy a new flasher for them to work. I'd like to get them for the P5 also so that way you don't see any orange with the lights off.

With the remaining 250, should I get a short shifter with bushings and a shift knob (probably Kartboy) or should I get springs first, or maybe just an Infiniti Basslink (I'd go with a nicer sub but I gotta be able to store my mountain bike in there when i'm in college.

Thanks for all the replies so far, this seems like a nice community.

EDIT: So is the general consensus that the Tein S-Tech springs are the way to go? Without getting new shocks will it be all bouncy? I've never done this lowering stuff before as my other car is a 4x4 truck http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/11/web/263000-263999/263851_129_full.jpg

[Matthew]

no it will not be too bouncy. the reason everyone recommends teins are
1) they are one of the lesser expensive spring sets
2) they are a cross between performance and appearance, so the ride wont be AS rough
3) they are a very reputable company.

[Kansei]

no it will not be too bouncy. the reason everyone recommends teins are
1) they are one of the lesser expensive spring sets
2) they are a cross between performance and appearance, so the ride wont be AS rough
3) they are a very reputable company.

I think that i'll wait on them until it gets warm enough to install them (i don't have a garage).

Oh and stupid me, I didn't read the thing about the Osram Silverstars that says they are the same color as normal halogens :(

I think i'm gonna return them, pay the 50% restocking fee, and then get them for fog lights and something with a nicer color for low beams. I'm gonna go look around the forums to see what others have and like.

[MP5 Tuner]

(drinks)

Welcome to the board.

Have you looked into the PIAA bulbs?

[rednecks_r_us]

I went with Eibach springs and love the ride and handling. I'm still running factory shocks/struts.

For cheap mods a can of quality spraypaint does wonders. Check out my cardomain page for pictures.

Congrats on the new car. It does sound like you have an 02.5 model.

[Kansei]

For cheap mods a can of quality spraypaint does wonders. Check out my cardomain page for pictures.

Congrats on the new car. It does sound like you have an 02.5 model.

To paint the calipers, did you remove them or just tape them off and cover the surrounding area? I always wanted to do this mod on my truck but it had rear drum brakes so it would be embarassing.. same goes for drilled/slotted rotors. i'm in heaven finally having a car that i can lower and do stuff with without being made fun of!

[stdntDrvr]

i think there's a thread on this is the "How-To" section...there's a TON of cheap/free mods in that section you can do as well...check it out!

[Kansei]

(drinks)

Welcome to the board.

Have you looked into the PIAA bulbs?

I did until I realized that the ones that are nice and reeeally white (just a tiny bit on the blue side, not too much) weren't available, only the "super white" or something like that, so instead I saved some money and bought Sylvania Silverstars AND Osram Silverstars... why PIAA so expensive, are they really more than twice as nice as the Osrams?

[Matthew]

To paint the calipers, did you remove them or just tape them off and cover the surrounding area? I always wanted to do this mod on my truck but it had rear drum brakes so it would be embarassing.. same goes for drilled/slotted rotors. i'm in heaven finally having a car that i can lower and do stuff with without being made fun of!
what topher said...but to answer your question, just tape them off.

[hawaiiannights]

To paint the calipers, did you remove them or just tape them off and cover the surrounding area? I always wanted to do this mod on my truck but it had rear drum brakes so it would be embarassing.. same goes for drilled/slotted rotors. i'm in heaven finally having a car that i can lower and do stuff with without being made fun of!
Hey check this out! Did it with a paintbrush and just masking taped a little around the edges! Cheap and easy!

http://www.msprotege.com/members/hawaiiannights/frontwheel2.jpg

[Kansei]

Hey check this out! Did it with a paintbrush and just masking taped a little around the edges! Cheap and easy!

holds up to the heat?

[hawaiiannights]

SO far so good. Used high temp paint and scraped as much particals off as I could with a wire brush and brake cleaner before painting. Gave it a good 5 coats or so. Took about 2 hours for all 4.

[Kansei]

SO far so good. Used high temp paint and scraped as much particals off as I could with a wire brush and brake cleaner before painting. Gave it a good 5 coats or so. Took about 2 hours for all 4.
argh I hate winter.. all these things I want to do to the car that I don't even have yet but it's so cold. I might be able to access someone else's garage for a day and if I can, I'll definitely get this done.

[MadBiker]

Edit - my post went to a completely unrelated thread for some reason

[Kansei]

PICTURES! I found my digital camera so here they are.. they aren't great pictures because this was when we in the process of purchasing it so I couldn't move it to a better location. The dealership is Cape Cod Ford Lincoln Mercury Mazda.

They're all on this page:
http://members.cardomain.com/p5zverg

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_7_full.jpg
http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_9_full.jpg
http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_8_full.jpg

[chuyler1]

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_2.jpg
Get rid of that dealership sticker on the bumper or whatever it is!!! You bought the car from them, that doesn't give them the right to make your car a moving advertisement.

[cbcbd]

Hey, welcome to the forum!! (hi)

Where are you in Litchfield county?

Make sure to check out the NEPOC section of the forum (new england protege owners club). There you can find any meets that we might be planning around the area. There'll be one in MA this weekend and when the weather gets warmer I'm sure we'll have another one in Kent, CT.

Yeah, the weather's cold, but paint your calipers asap, the worse part is cleaning them, so it'll be nice to not have to do that. For painting them you could just leave them on, but I'd recommend taking the caliper and the mounting bracket off (easy job), tape them off in places and paint. It annoys me now to see all the incomplete spots in my calipers because I chose to leave them on.

I'd get some sort of paint sealant to add an extra protective layer to the paint. Everyone knows how cheap the paint is and how easily it chips off. I think mine cost 100 bucks.
Good advice, especially on a light colored car, soon you'll start to count new chips on the hood every time you wash it.

Another thing-if you ever plan on painting your valve cover also do it asap. It's a bitch to clean off after some time.

Feel free to hit me up on IM (cbcbd99)

[Kansei]

http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_2.jpg
Get rid of that dealership sticker on the bumper or whatever it is!!! You bought the car from them, that doesn't give them the right to make your car a moving advertisement. I know, but the car is still 4 hours away. The first thing I noticed about the car was "god that's a huge ugly dealer sticker". I go there tomorrow, should be there by noon, and i'm gonna bring my adhesive remover so I can remove the sticker... or maybe I should make them remove it, It is just like a sticker, not a vinyl decal, I'm afraid it'll rip the paint off.

[chuyler1]

Make them remove it...unless they want to negotiate the price of the car with the moving billboard on the back.

[hawaiiannights]

Nice choice of color! Congrats and welcome!!

I got some spacers for sale on ebay...(hint hint)....hehe

[Noxide]

congrats and welcome

[Kansei]

Nice choice of color! Congrats and welcome!!

I got some spacers for sale on ebay...(hint hint)....hehe I guess I'm one step ahead of ya.. I'm the current high bidder.

EDIT: checked eBay, and I'm still the high bidder :)

[BlueMP5Dave]

Welcome! Let me know if I can help you with any of your aftermarket needs. We are currently offering a suspension special here. http://www.msprotege.com/vbb300/showthread.php?t=51435

[Kansei]

YESS!!!!!! I HAVE THE CAR!!!! holy crap it's so much fun to drive... i've been driving it for the past 6 hours... driving a manual tranny is sooo much easier when it's your own car and you don't have to be nervous about wrecking someone else's car..

i got one silverstar in (the u.s. silverstars) and it looks pretty nice compared to the OEM bulb. It's definitely brighter and whiter, I don't know how they do it without increasing the wattage (i'm no physicist but it doesn't make sense that this could happen). The passenger side one looked like it was really hard to get to so I wasn't about to do it where i was (4 hours away from home with no tools... and in the dark). Well I'm gonna go out and practice starting on hills because there is a big steep hill on the exit to my school and cars always get backed up there and i don't want to be embarrassed hehe.

I LOVE PROTEGES!

[lonster]

I hate those stickers. Use a heat gun or hair dryer. It'll peel right off.
That's what I did.

[Captain KRM P5]

YESS!!!!!! I HAVE THE CAR!!!! holy crap it's so much fun to drive... i've been driving it for the past 6 hours... driving a manual tranny is sooo much easier when it's your own car and you don't have to be nervous about wrecking someone else's car..

i got one silverstar in (the u.s. silverstars) and it looks pretty nice compared to the OEM bulb. It's definitely brighter and whiter, I don't know how they do it without increasing the wattage (i'm no physicist but it doesn't make sense that this could happen). The passenger side one looked like it was really hard to get to so I wasn't about to do it where i was (4 hours away from home with no tools... and in the dark). Well I'm gonna go out and practice starting on hills because there is a big steep hill on the exit to my school and cars always get backed up there and i don't want to be embarrassed hehe.

I LOVE PROTEGES!
passenger side isn't too much harder to get at, just wiggle some small fingers in there in front of the windshield washer resevior and you should be okay.

[Kansei]

passenger side isn't too much harder to get at, just wiggle some small fingers in there in front of the windshield washer resevior and you should be okay.
I found that it was easier if i unplugged the dust cover and white connector from the black one.. mounted the bulb on the black thing, locked it into the housing, then reattached the white connector and dust cover and it works!

[Kansei]

I hate those stickers. Use a heat gun or hair dryer. It'll peel right off.
That's what I did.
oh the dealer sticker? I called them when I was about 30 minutes away and made them remove it. The guy told me that it's not a strong adhesive at all, wouldn't have hurt the paint, but that sticker was obnoxious and I think he just told me that so that I'd leave it there forever. I told him I don't mind advertising for them because I had a great experience at the dealership (Cape Cod Lincoln Mercury Mazda) and asked for a license plate frame that I now have mounted in the front.

[Kansei]

omg old pictures of my car! wow! Just over two years and I'm more in love with the car every day!

[Crazee D]

Wow, holy back-from-the-dead!
Those fuckers at CC Mazda kicked me out when I went there car shopping!!
All I wanted to know was how much payments might be on a new Mazda3!!
They looked at me like I was from another PLANET!
AND...I had my wife and kids with me in our SUV, but I wanted to estimate a trade-in for my shit box that was at home. They refused to use an estimate or use the KBB value just for the purpose of the scenario!
At this point, the "salesman" and I went into the managers office. They were ridiculously confrontation and stubborn. I was escorted out from the managers office!!!
(nuts)
I call MNAO and they were like, "sorry all dealerships are independently owned and operated". So I was like, "but you guys gave them these "awards" for Customer Service and whatnot, so you must be collecting info somehow or else all those awards and certificates are BOGUS". They took a complaint from me and sent me to "Friends of Mazda" who sent me to fucking Norwood (MAZDA GALLERY) or some shit like 80 miles (literally) from here. Shit was not much better there either. I called ahead to ask about what they had. Salesguy said they had a few P5s there. LIE!

When I get there he sez "I'll go out back and bring it around"
Me and the wife and kids wait for over 20 minutes for him to show up. (seriously)
AND he drives around in a brand new 3. I was like "thats great, but I can't afford that, what happened to the one you told me you were getting?"
He sez, (no lie) "Oh, u don't want that one", I almost fell over!
(bang)
I test drive it anyway cuz I'm like WTF, it's here and I luv it. We get back and then he keeps trying to find ways to trim off $$ to get me to bite on the new car but I keep telling him it's not an option that he's not in the right price range. Then we get in to a stare down where I tell him look, I dragged my family out here under false pretenses cuz he told me he had used P5s and he now won't show them 2 me! Manager joins us blah blah I walk out.

0 for 2 (deadhorse

Found a listing for a white P5 at Saturn of Raynham in the Autotrader or somethin'. I call up and they're like, "We just sold/traded it to a wholesaler. Sorry". Later that day, they call back and say, if u want to come see it, we put our deal with the wholesaler on hold. Geez!
So, I Haul everybody all the way back out there again.
What a difference at the Saturn dealer! Much nicer, playroom for the kids, etc..
But they would not budge on the price. Then I had to come back again bcuz it takes like a whole fucking day for them to title or register it or somesuch.

BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!! I luv my P5! (first)

ALSO:
My sister went into that Cape Cod Lincoln/Merc/Mazda dealer for some repair there and they messed that up, broke some other shit and tried to charge her for it. She refused and a fight almost broke out (fight)when her boyfriend stepped in.

[2003newlyack]

haha i wish i had a standard

[altspace]

Ohhhh...Zverg needs some more love.

[Kansei]

haha i wish i had a standard

Welcome to the forums! As you can see this is a thread from over two years ago when I first bought my P5 :)

enjoy the P5!

[emi]

hehehe wow we were seniors in high school!!! things certainly have changed since then...i.e. you live 6 hours away and i have a protege too :)

[Protege52003]

he is coming on 5 pages now.........

[slug420]

http://www.msprotege.com/members/slug420/cunit.jpg

[Kansei]

^^ (ughdance) (sad1)

[bazooka joe]

http://www.msprotege.com/members/slug420/cunit.jpg


(rlaugh) c-unit ftw!!

[iLisa]

so.. *bump old thread*
I'll bet you don't like it anymore do you? :D

[Kansei]

Worst purchase EVAR

[bazooka joe]

Worst purchase EVAR

:bs:

[iLisa]

Worst purchase EVAR
you could always trade it in for like a Matrix or something..

[Kansei]

^^ omg EWWW

[iLisa]

so you'd rather have like a Si or something?

[KronixKid22]

Yo.

[Kansei]

I need to change my subscription to this thread.. I only get daily notification.

.laksjailkshcvwelksjdvcwinzx I'm so tired