thinking of buying a mp3!!

loki1877

Member
:
2001 Protege MP3
Hello first things first names loki, i'm really looking at a 2001 Mazda Protege MP3 with 110,000 miles, its really clean. It looks really nice inside and out and runs great from the test drive. My question for people here would be what is the life expectancy of this vehicle and are there any things i need to pay special attention too (you guys know more about these than me). All in all seems like a good deal just thought i would throw some questions out there and see what people here thought. Well hopefully ill get know some people on here if i do get the car and learn alot of new things.

Thanks
LoKi
 
welcome! One thing i would check would be to make sure it was never in a wreck and if it was make sure the frame isn't screwed up. Because that can cause problems down the road.

My MP3 has 117,000 miles on it and is running great!
 
:d

well i went ahead and got it! Man i love this car thought id post some pics and see what you guys thought

protege1.jpg


protege2.jpg


protege4.jpg



LoKi
 
Tinted yellow, yum!
Just get rid of the 3 decals and you'll be bawling :)

As for trouble points? EGR, wheel bearings, rear swaybar bushings, endlinks, wheel well rust...
 
only thing ive noticed is the car was a repo, and the stereo face isnt there, so ima have to replace that, i also hear alot about some stock sub?? or something like that i didnt see one or am i just misunderstanding didnt figure it came with a complete system maybe the acryonyms are confusing me..lol of course i dont understand alot of s*** on this website yet im sure i will!!
 
if your trunk is empty, then yes your car is missing its stock sub...and change the head unit, it's not very reliable...despite it being rather expensive when it was first came with the car
 
Congrats on the purcahse!! And welcome to your new addiction!
 
yea i know man, ive already been looking at stuff to upgrade... What are some of the cheaper upgrades that can be done performance wise for these?
 
Going turbo. Everyone will tell you that the gains you'll see with NA will be marginal. If you want power, you must go to the dark side.
 
the dark side has cookies.

car looks good for being 8 years old. enjoy, she'll treat ya well
 
Welcome and congrats..

I would not recommend turbo due to the higher millage on the engine. Staying NA will save you alot of problems with reliablity issues. MP3's (and proteges in general) seem to have quite reliable engines. There are a good amount of people that are over 150,000 miles and even some with 200,000. I am right around the same mileage as you and have had no major problems with the car. The only thing that needed to be replaced were the spark plugs and coils. If you ever get a check engine light with a misfire issue then it is very likely it is the coils going bad, many proteges over 100k seem to have this problem but luckily it is a pretty cheap peice. And in case something major breaks on the engine it is fairly cheap to source a used one and is not too difficult to install.

As far as performance there there are alot of things to choose from, but the best mod for the $$ are ones that increase driving feel and response. Unless you turbo the car you need to accept that this car is not made for drag racing. It is a drivers car, which means it is very responsive and crisp in how it handles. The thing I would recommend as a first mod would be a short shifter and bushings for the shifter assembly.
 
What he said.

This car will not be a 1/4 mile monster. It's built to corner

I agree with short shifter and bushings as a first mod

I'd say suspension, but, the MP3 already has Racing Beat suspensions under it, so, unless you want to lower it, you're already good to go

You SHOULD also have the MP3 ECU, which is a HIGHLY sought after mod for us Protege and Protege5 guys with 2.0's

Performance wise, an intake, header, midpipe, and exhaust are the essential bolt ons and you will gain 10 or so HP from that
 
Located in Oklahoma, but ill be moving to Dallas soon to go to the art institute. I got this not for the 1/4 but for the way it drove and looked when i test drove it, i havent even had it for 24 hrs and ive had a smile on my face since i got it. Its the nicest car ive ever owned, hard to have a car payment married with a kid, so finally hes 9 and was able to get something that we all could enjoy. Mods wise im just looking with some things that were already said small things to make the car smoother and i already was thinking intake and things like that. I'll have to read these forums to learn more about them, im used to working on humvees and 5 tons nothing like this..lol

LoKi
 
OH i forgot one thing, like when on the highway if either of the 2 front windows get rolled down i hear a tone almost, its such a perfect one i think it would be hard for it to be the wind.
 
Get HID's from Xenon expert. I have the slimline DDM kit that I bought for 130 a while back with a lifetime warranty on all of the parts. I think the price went down since then.
 
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