Hi there! New owner, first P5, lovin' it!

So, my name is Jeni and I live in Colorado. I just joined yesterday and wanted to introduce myself and my car. This is the first Mazda I've owned and I absolutely love it! It's a 2002 has about 72,000 miles. Has a few scratches but looks/runs great, does do some knocking around the wheelbase when I veer right, not on turning, but just veering right on highway or street, gotta investigate that, but solid otherwise. I'm excited to be here, hoping to learn a few things. Thanks. Here's some pics for you guys, enjoy.

theyre great cars like the red accents but seeing as it looks "racy" i would change the fluids and get the thump looked at. looks like it was kept up though. be wary of the coil packs, they fail on these cars, cheap and easy to replace but may catch you off guard. look into doing the timing belt soon if it has not been done already as the car is 12 years old and that belt is probably very dried if it is factory. do the water pump while doing that belt as it is easier to do then and can save hassles down the road. but these are reliable cars mine has been in the family since 2004 and has 153,000 miles on it and not once had any issue bigger than a bad coil pack, other than clutch recently which was expensive, but normal wear replacement item anyway and at 148,000 miles not bad life for a clutch.

Thanks! I hope it lasts for at least the next 10 years. I just replaced my 98 Nissan Sentra with this one, had 169,000 miles on it. Everything's going out on it (sentra), clutch, starter, cv's among a list of other things. Hoping to do some mods on this one, getting lots of good ideas from this site.

Thanks for the info kms1990, I did check the belt and it looks like it has been replaced pretty recent. I peeked at the coils and they seem alright, but I plan to do some stuff this weekend to it so I'll take a closer look. I also plan to jack it up and see if I can figure out the knocking, definitely something new I've never heard on any car other then when the cv's go out, but I don't think that's it as it doesn't do it on turns, just slight right's.
Honestly, I'm not digging the red on the gas cap and fin, I'll be removing that also. I put it on the fin because the paint is fading and I want to keep it from getting worse, I'll be putting black on it this weekend instead.
I've only had the car a week now so I'm excited to do some stuff to it.

Chlskt said:

Thanks! I hope it lasts for at least the next 10 years. I just replaced my 98 Nissan Sentra with this one, had 169,000 miles on it. Everything's going out on it (sentra), clutch, starter, cv's among a list of other things. Hoping to do some mods on this one, getting lots of good ideas from this site.

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i had a 96 sentra go to 330,000 miles for me, and neighbor who bought it drove it to over 500,000 and sold it again and still was running, nissan and mazda make the most reliable cars on the road in my opinion, and from my ownership experience of both and other brands

To be honest, I absolutely love my Nissan and I have no doubt it'll go longer but I've had it for 10 years now and it needs about $2000+ worth of work, which I'm not opposed to, but I really wanted another car (my kid was embarrassed to be in it, it's that bad). The nissan's gone to **it, rust on the hood and top, rear ended awhile back, trunk SOMETIMES opens with the key lol, have to bang on the gas cap to open it, frozen caliper and many other things, but the engine is super solid, no issues ever, just minor (IMO) outside issues.
Picked up the MP5 for $4800 and with the mileage, I think I got a pretty good deal and I deserved something better.

Chlskt said:

To be honest, I absolutely love my Nissan and I have no doubt it'll go longer but I've had it for 10 years now and it needs about $2000+ worth of work, which I'm not opposed to, but I really wanted another car (my kid was embarrassed to be in it, it's that bad). The nissan's gone to **it, rust on the hood and top, rear ended awhile back, trunk SOMETIMES opens with the key lol, have to bang on the gas cap to open it, frozen caliper and many other things, but the engine is super solid, no issues ever, just minor (IMO) outside issues.
Picked up the MP5 for $4800 and with the mileage, I think I got a pretty good deal and I deserved something better.

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ya not bad, that body style of sentra got hood rust bad, i see many with it around. mine had been repainted by previous owner before i got it so no rust ever showed on mine, even underneath it was not rusty. the gas lid was problematic on mine but mechanically it was solid and never gave me an issue other than a minor oil leak