What to buy next? -Life after the P5

tweety2300 said:
K20 a3 sucks. And the 6 speed trans in rsx always has issues
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The K20A3 is no powerhouse, but I will respectfully disagree that it sucks. :)

Also, while it is not surprising to see gear grinding issues with the 6MT in the RSX-S (esp 3rd gear syncro), I wouldn't say it always has issues.
 
I'm considering what to replace mine with, but the options are limited as far as wagons go. Due to how horribly made the Protege 5's are, there isn't any way I'll ever buy another Mazda.

And I don't even understand how the Germans manage to sell cars. They're over priced, unreliable, and expensive to fix. Audi Allroads are really cool, but you'd have to be a nut or rich to buy one. I mean, if you have a 1 mile commute to work you could probably afford the trouble of a German car.

That leaves you with the Outback, Impreza/92-x, Vibe/Matrix, or Focus for wagons. If price were the same amongst them all, I'd go for the 92-x.
 
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Honestly, one that I would love, if we had to go with wagons, and one I'm looking for is a Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart 04-06. I had the four door....most reliable car I had and packed a punch for a NA motor. It would have been awesome to turbo that. It's hard to find but it's a SOHC 2.4L engine but it's really fun to drive. Only comes in auto unless you do a transmission swap. Just another idea, but like the guy said above the 92-x is really nice option too.
 
Won't buy another mazda but will buy a focus? You realize that ford made the fsde in the early 90's and mazda put it in the protgs right? My mazda 3 has a big fomoco stamp on the engine

You want less quality than a protege? Buy a lancer. Guy I know slid off the road in the rain at 25 and hit the gaurd rail and totaled it. Interior plastics seem like the same s*** dollar tree toys are made of. I think his was an 08 or do though

When did 170 hp at 3200lbs pack a punch?
 
Traum said:
The K20A3 is no powerhouse, but I will respectfully disagree that it sucks. :)

Also, while it is not surprising to see gear grinding issues with the 6MT in the RSX-S (esp 3rd gear syncro), I wouldn't say it always has issues.
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When a stock auto mazda 3 outruns a moded civic si, it's not worth having.

It's not so much as the trans but people slamming gears like its a linkage and not cable. But they're also bending shift forks
 
I'm not dissing it. It makes 30 hp over the protege 5 of the same year with same size motor. But simply put its not very fast, last time I saw one at the track he struggled to get into 9s in the 1/8

I'll post the time slip of I can but the civic I had with a 1.5 vtec motor that smoked like a diesel ran 10.2. That was with the long geared dx trans and street tires. I'll buy another civic. Just because it's so much fun to beat on them everyday all day and they won't die
 
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tweety2300 said:
Won't buy another mazda but will buy a focus? You realize that ford made the fsde in the early 90's and mazda put it in the protgs right? My mazda 3 has a big fomoco stamp on the engine

You want less quality than a protege? Buy a lancer. Guy I know slid off the road in the rain at 25 and hit the gaurd rail and totaled it. Interior plastics seem like the same s*** dollar tree toys are made of. I think his was an 08 or do though

When did 170 hp at 3200lbs pack a punch?
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In the price range that I am looking, yes, I absolutely would buy a Focus over a Mazda.

The Focus and the Protege do not have the same engine nor do they share many parts. And it was not until the second generation Focus that it shared a platform with a Mazda. Yes, Ford and Mazda share many parts and platforms in general so you have to be careful where you lay the blame. But the Protege 5 was built by Mazda, and they are to blame for its problems. If for nothing more than principle, I will never drive around with a Mazda symbol on my car after this one.
 
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I enjoyed my protege 5 so much that my next car is a protege 5.

If you bought this car to go fast in a straight line, then you made a poor decision.

And for those who says this car is horribly designed probably got a lemon, don't take care of it or are comparing it to something none existent. All cars have their problems, and all cars have something that could have been designed better.
 
I certainly didn't buy this car to go fast in a straight line. I bought it to be an efficient, good looking, daily driver wagon that was to be comparable in performance and reliability to other 4 cylinder cars I've owned and maintained just as well.

I see again you just want to blame this car's issues on maintenance. Whatever. Maintenance can not explain the issues this car has.

I really enjoy driving this car when it's running/driving well. It should have more power, but I've gotten over that. It handles great, the brakes are powerful, the interior looks and feels great (honestly, the interior is perfect), and from the outside the car looks really good (if you only glance at it from 30 feet away so you don't see all the rust). But it just has far too many problems to be given a positive score.
 
My Protege5 went almost 12 trouble-free years before I traded it in for a new 4runner. I miss that little shaggin' wagon. They're still (IMO) one of the best looking wagons on the road and with a little suspension work, they'll raise the eyebrows of people in much more expensive cars.
No, they're not powerful and if you try to boost them they go zoom zoom boom, but still such a fun, reliable, good looking little car to have.

If you live somewhere where they salt the roads or if it hasn't been regularly waxed, it's hard to blame the 12 year old car on some rust. Buy that Focus, and I guarantee you're gonna suddenly remember all the good points from the Mazda.
 
Haha, wax? Wax doesn't prevent rust. Cars rust from the inside out. But I always have wax on it and every other car I own(ed).

Yes, I live in a place where the roads are salted. But this thing rusts at a greater rate than every other car of the same vintage. It's 12 years old now, but what about when I bought at 7 years old? It already had one wheel well patched, the common hole underneath by the jack, rust on/under hood, and around the shock tower area of the engine bay (yeah, should have looked at it closer, but who would think a 7 year old car could have much rust?). Then the rust that started popping up as the months and years ticked by was just astounding. I have rust spreading in the middle of flipping summer. WTF? I had a co-worker with one of these that had the wheel well rust at 4 years old!!!! There is no - absolutely no - defending the rust on these cars.
 
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Well I still have a P5 now, and bought it at 8 years old. No visible rust on the outside to this day, and I don't remember seeing any spots last time I checked the underbody, much less any part or panel that was rusted through. I live in the Midwest so yes, we get winters here and salt on the roads, but a little maintenance goes a long way. My car is not even garaged. Of course, anyone who lives on the coast will get a lot more exposure to salt throughout the year.

I love my P5. No it's not fast but how fast are you really gonna go on your daily commute? With a little suspension work and a curvy road, you'll find out what makes this car great. Those who bought it for drag racing should've done more research.
 
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Maroon said:
Haha, wax? Wax doesn't prevent rust. Cars rust from the inside out. But I always have wax on it and every other car I own(ed).

Yes, I live in a place where the roads are salted.
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Coming from someone who's detailed cars professionally for years, I'm gonna have to disagree. Wax prevents rust, and salted roads are cancerous for cars. Period.
I live 1 block from the pounding surf and drive a Mazda from 1993. It's not rusty and neither is my other Mazda from 2003. This is because I wax my cars. Regularly. If there's no beads when it's wet, your paint is suffering. You bought a 7 year old car, live where the roads are salted and think it's the car's manufacturer to blame. Step back and think about that.
 
I don't wax my car anymore because the paint is already gone. It's been painted a few times on just certain panels so the paint is mismatched and faded. Clear coat peeling on the top where the last guy sprayed gloss clear coat without first preparing the old surface. But that doesn't mean you can't prevent rust. I don't live near the ocean so the only thing I have to worry about are winters. That's a quick power wash of the underside, wheels, and wheel wells after every snowfall, when the snow melts. For about $5 a year at your local car wash, my car is still rust free.
 
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Maroon said:
Haha, wax? Wax doesn't prevent rust. Cars rust from the inside out. But I always have wax on it and every other car I own(ed).
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Not sure what you mean by "inside out" but the way I read it, that's wrong. Metal doesn't rust from the center out towards the surface. Rust starts from the surface being exposed to oxygen and moisture (salt only accelerates rust), so yes, protecting the surface is going to slow down rust.
 
Natey said:
Coming from someone who's detailed cars professionally for years, I'm gonna have to disagree. Wax prevents rust, and salted roads are cancerous for cars. Period.
I live 1 block from the pounding surf and drive a Mazda from 1993. It's not rusty and neither is my other Mazda from 2003. This is because I wax my cars. Regularly. If there's no beads when it's wet, your paint is suffering. You bought a 7 year old car, live where the roads are salted and think it's the car's manufacturer to blame. Step back and think about that.
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Living somewhere that snows during the winter and living over on Pleasure Point in SC are two different things. Unless you're parking your car on the beach daily, it's not going to show much, if any rust. I barely, if ever, wax my cars, except for when the moths are really bad or it's windy and the redwood tree droppings are getting on my cars. Even without the water restrictions in this area the cars exterior take less of a beating and don't require as much upkeep (detailing). Heck, unless you have a brand new Tesla or messy kids, there's no real reason to even have a vehicle detailed unless you're selling it.
 
He may have meant "inside out" in the sense that the internal components rust through (and are not noticeable or coatable) so by the time you start noticing rust on the exterior the car is already done.

So.. on the topic of a next car - any other suggestions? I'm thinking of trading up my P5 in about 6 months so I feel like now's a good time to start looking at what's available. I'm thinking somewhere in the 8-10 range (optimistically assuming I can get 3.5k for my current rattlestrap). I'm really loving the manual+wagon (or small crossover) formfactor, but pickings are pretty slim. What's pretty crazy is that a 9 year old vehicle with nearly 100k miles still goes for $13k..
 
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Umm mazda didn't produce the engine. Ford made it and discontinued it for a reason. Mazda slapped coil packs on it and said good enough

And rust doesn't just happen. It's from never washing/ waxing. We get a lot of salt on our roads and mine wasn't rusty at all because it was washed once a week and waxed in spring, middle of summer, and end of fall every year.

Some things are mazdas fault like the rear sway bar design. Others are owners fault. Mine threw a rod due to not having oil in it and spinning a rod bearing then still driving it for 3 weeks. I won't deny that. But the fsde is still a worthless excuse for a good engine design
 
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