Progete5 buyer

Z

ZackN

Member
:
Protege5
Hey guys, Im pretty sure that Im going to buy my friends 2003 Protege 5.
Anything that i should look for specific to this vehicle?

I know the accessory belt squeals, And I already replaced the wheel bearing, pads and rotor from an incident where his ex smashed an embankment.
Ill probably get it up on a lift and check out the control arm to see if its bent or anything.

Are they a good reliable commuter vehicle?

Also it has a salvaged title, anyone know about how those work in CA?
He said that the PO said that it was stolen, and thus the salvaged title.

Thanks for the help! (2thumbs)
 
A Salvage title mean the vehicle was stolen or in accident where the damages to the vehicle would cost more than the value of the car to repair then a salvage title is issued

get a car fax. make sure is true.

if it was in a collision , check for proper repairs. many have damages to the frame and never get repaired. this could be very dangerous.

check for the obvious fluid leaks and maint records
 
Last edited:
coil packs are a common failure on this car but easy to fix, and not too expensive they are $25/each with a lifetime warranty from autozone in my area which is fort worth,tx.
 
Thanks guys.
Those of you commuting, what kind of MPGs do you get out of your vehicles? I read that it runs a little higher RPMs at freeway speeds, but that some people swap in a taller 5th gear for better fuel economy. Is this difficult to do? Read that here.

I read a TSB on this vehicle that said the intake or something involving the intake was a common failure and that parts were about 120 or so. Im sure I can handle it if it does come up.

Ill be selling my 1993 honda civic si, and purchasing this car if everything goes well. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
your gonna get sub par gas mileage for the first month cause your gonna wanna gun it haha, its a fun drive and gets plenty of mpg.
 
Check for rust/rot around the rear fenders, the jack point forward of the rear wheel and the underbody around the rear suspension. It's a common problem on these cars, but hopefully wont be bad on a CA car.
 
On a CA car, if it was near the ocean, look for rust around the antenna and sunroof.

I'd probably steer clear of a salvaged car that's been wrecked again. There are plenty of clean P5's out there.
 
I just picked up a 2003 P5 as my commuter last Friday. Love it so far. $40-$45 for a full tank? Yes please! My advice is to take it in for a used car inspection. If you have a mechanic you trust, ask them to take a look at it. I went to a Sears automotive center and they did the multi-point inspection as a courtesy and charged me a small fee to do a brake evaluation.
 
I get 26+ MPG in mixed hwy/city driving. If you buy this one and it does give you trouble (maybe because it was stolen and wrecked as you said), please give the model another chance and find and buy a clean one if you like the car overall. With your skills, you'll get an additional ten years out of such a car. If you take care of these cars, they are almost as good as 90's Civics from what I've heard.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Well guys i took it out for a spin today.

A negative few things I noticed:
Occasionally belt squeals at start up.
At idle dash/plastic bits of passanger cabin firewall shake -> motor mounts?
AC only works in fan speeds 1 and 4.
Pulls to the left pretty good. Defiantly needs an alignment.
Might need some new front shocks/struts because it has BAD bump steer.

Ill post some pics and good things about it later, need to go work on my honda so that I can SELL IT to buy this car! (nana)
 
ZackN said:
A negative few things I noticed:
Occasionally belt squeals at start up.
At idle dash/plastic bits of passanger cabin firewall shake -> motor mounts?
AC only works in fan speeds 1 and 4.
Pulls to the left pretty good. Defiantly needs an alignment.
Might need some new front shocks/struts because it has BAD bump steer.
Click to expand...

Also need to check the brakes, a lil squeaky, that and the hand brake comes way up, seems like it should be lower.



Now for the good, or at least stuff that does not look stock...
First off it looks lowered, and also feels lowered? Dont know if you can feel that or not as I have never had a lowered car. It also has these rims...

They appear to say Arceo on them. There are 3 of them and 1 that looks just like it, but is different and its an ICW rim (his ex, an embankment, and a new rim later is why 1 different).

Front Struts have a red strut bar on them with a sticker that says Apex Brakes (maybe just a sticker on a cheap strut bar?)

Has a TWM shifter with what im guessing is a short shifter kit on it. Its a pain in the ass to shift, hard to get it in gear, or maybe im not driving it right (RPMS and meshing) ?

Sounds like it has a muffler, the tip out the back says "mazdaspeed" on it.

And then there is this crazy button under the dash that says "RALLY" but it looks like there could be a backwards "E" infront of the R, it glows red around the button, and I didnt press it just in case it was an alarm, because i just had a single metal key with the car. 4 Wires i believe.


Also was doing some snooping and there used to be a sub and maybe amp in the back, but all wires are just clipped. Maybe they stole the car and ripped the sound system out? It has a JVC head unit in it now. not sure what was in it before.

Anyway, I may be able to get the car for around $2700. Look at the negatives, and the 172,000 miles, salvaged title, and the stuff that might be good but I dont know enough about mazdas to know about. What do Protege5 owners think? Good deal?(hear ya)
 
I had to get out pen and paper to write down these points. [emoji2]

- "Hard to shift" and "commuter" might not be a good combination. Dealer-supplied tranny fluid made my second gear commuter shifts hit-and-miss for 30k miles. That was no fun.
- $2700 for a car in the condition you described seems high. I'm in Texas, not Cali, but my one-owner, clean title, clean condition P5 with only 100k miles has a private party price of $3200 on edmunds.com.
- The car has been modded. If you like all the mods, then that's great, but as you know owners usually remove mods before selling their car as many buyers want an unmodded vehicle as mods are a liability.
- You said it pulls to the left. Obviously the wreck could have been the cause, but can that one different wheel be involved too? Maybe someone else can comment... If the rim being different will cause the alignment to be off, then will you ever be able to rotate your tires without getting realigned? Again, I know little about alignment and have never had custom rims, let alone different rims.

The seller is your friend, so I'm not suggesting you try and *** him down on the price, but if you're buying a P5 because you realllly like the car, then you might want to find a better example for a few bucks more.

Hopefully someone on here can comment on the different rims and alignment. I'd like to know myself.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
katapltes thanks for the input!

The different rim is just cosmetic. It has the same size tire on it and looks to be the same offset. Its just no longer a set of 4 rims.

I am not dead set on this car. Only buying it to help my friend out, and it ends up getting me a better more reliable commuter car.

I just checked out other protege5 cars in the area and they are going for considerably more (4-6) range.
I may try and talk him down some but not much.

I will try to take it to a mechanic this week. His friend works at an alignment shop, might end up there too.
Still looking for opinions from other members though, thanks for the help!
 
what area of cali are you in?

when i got mine 2 years ago, i could find one less than $6-7k in good/very good condition, with 120,000miles or more.

had to drive 3.5hr roundtrip in my gf's car (no ac in the summer) to get one for about $5k with 127k miles on it.
 
I sold mine for 4.5k in 2012.
It was clean, but puffed a little smoke upon startup. It had about 70k on it. It was an original owner, all records, never wrecked '02.
 
Last edited:
ZackN said:
Front Struts have a red strut bar on them with a sticker that says Apex Brakes (maybe just a sticker on a cheap strut bar?)

Has a TWM shifter with what im guessing is a short shifter kit on it. Its a pain in the ass to shift, hard to get it in gear, or maybe im not driving it right (RPMS and meshing) ?

Sounds like it has a muffler, the tip out the back says "mazdaspeed" on it.

And then there is this crazy button under the dash that says "RALLY" but it looks like there could be a backwards "E" infront of the R, it glows red around the button, and I didnt press it just in case it was an alarm, because i just had a single metal key with the car. 4 Wires i believe.


Also was doing some snooping and there used to be a sub and maybe amp in the back, but all wires are just clipped. Maybe they stole the car and ripped the sound system out? It has a JVC head unit in it now. not sure what was in it before.
Click to expand...

If the strut bar looks like this:
101_1129.jpg

Then that is the stock bar, as all Protege5's to my knowledge have those.

As far as the shifter, either its your rev matching, or synchros are going or gone, or it may just need a tranny fluid flush and refill.

The muffler seems to be a Mazdaspeed Axle-back from a MSP, to some that is a very collectible piece. Ive heard it vibrates like a mofo at speed though.

And lastly, that appears to me anyway to just be an alarm that was installed. I am not smart on those, but of all the custom alarms ive seen, that seems to fit the description of most. Unless its the rare "Rally Mode" button that has been prophesied but never seen before.
 
IMO I'd walk away from it. There just seems to be a lot of red flags and maintenance that needs to be done. Seems like it will be a headache down the road. The money you'd put into it to fix the negatives can be put towards buying one in better shape. I was searching for a P5 in California for a while and I've seen P5s in better condition than the one you described for not much more. If you're in Northern California here are a few
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/4677482760.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto/4675462946.html
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/4676311237.html
 
Last edited:
DeadTaco thanks for the info! The strut bar looked like that.

Im not looking to buy a P5, or even really want to. Would rather own a newer honda or toyota although i do like the ZoomZoom idea. Mostly just helping a friend out. Selling my car to buy his.
Side note: my '93 honda civic si with 308,000 miles on it still rips. Burn outs are nothin to it, and the vtech is AWESOME. I was totally missing the vtech when i was test driving the P5. But im not looking for a streetracing car, mostly looking for a commuter car that can occasionally haul a bike or surfboard or other adventure gear, and the P5 fits that bill better than the civic I have.

Hoping to get it to an alignment shop (or mechanic) on Tuesday after work and see what they say.

Im guessing the trans thing is just a rev matching issue, will probably flush and refill it though to be sure.

Thanks everyone for the opinions whether its what I want to hear on not!(drinks)
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
2012 Mazda5 Touring with Shifting Problems
Replies
1
Views
693
negusm
N
X
Noise from front of P5
Replies
10
Views
1K
jonathan62019
J
C
How long should I expect a 2012 Mazda2 to last?
Replies
3
Views
8K
LouB
L

Latest posts

Back