After nearly 16 years of ownership, it is finally time to say goodbye to my Protege5.
I bought her in September of 2003 with 40 miles on the clock and she went to a new home last month with 187K on her.
Last day of ownership:
Over the years, she changed a lot from stock to modded and back to mostly stock.
I started modding her early on. I won some Sprint springs at a Spool meet and picked up a Kartboy shifter. Got an MSP blue grille, put on the AWR 21.5mm rear sway bar, Wagner shorty header, swapped to coilovers, put in an MP3 head unit and got a MSP axleback.
The MP3 HU was stolen at a car event, so I put in a carputer for a while before removing it for racing:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?92240-My-Latest-Mod
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123805828-Free-Just-Pay-Shipping-3rd-Gen-Protege-Carputer-Setup
Then she was unmodded and raced:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=213303&d=1456163652
Developed an obsession with 15 wheels:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123656896-15-quot-Rims-that-fit-the-MSP
Took her on some great road trips:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123840788-Very-Eventful-Week
Over the years, there were a few issues, but never anything terrible and most were self-inflicted. However, she was starting to show her age but felt like that comfortable old shoe you cant bear to throw away. Last spring, I started test-driving cars, put together a spreadsheet to compare them, but nothing was really appealing to me. Winter came around and nothing was grabbing me, so we installed seat heaters in the car and I was on cloud nine for the first winter in a long time.
And then the rumors started, that Mazda was going to be releasing a 30th Anniversary Miata and it was going to be a bright color. For those who are not familiar, weve owned 7 Miatas, raced 6 over the years on both dirt and asphalt and love brightly colored cars. Since the ND Miata was announced and I got to autox one 4 years ago, Ive loved everything about them but the boring colors. So, come February when Mazda made the 30AE announcement, I got in my pre-order.
Say hello to 0070:
Not nearly as practical as the P5, and way too assertive when it comes to all the technology that was not present in my 16 year old car, but its so fun!!
I cant say what the Blue Book value is on a minisplit, but I think it was a good trade for the P5:
I am happy that she will enjoy her 2nd life with her new owner, Voodoofury:
I bought her in September of 2003 with 40 miles on the clock and she went to a new home last month with 187K on her.
Last day of ownership:
Over the years, she changed a lot from stock to modded and back to mostly stock.
I started modding her early on. I won some Sprint springs at a Spool meet and picked up a Kartboy shifter. Got an MSP blue grille, put on the AWR 21.5mm rear sway bar, Wagner shorty header, swapped to coilovers, put in an MP3 head unit and got a MSP axleback.
The MP3 HU was stolen at a car event, so I put in a carputer for a while before removing it for racing:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?92240-My-Latest-Mod
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123805828-Free-Just-Pay-Shipping-3rd-Gen-Protege-Carputer-Setup
Then she was unmodded and raced:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=213303&d=1456163652
Developed an obsession with 15 wheels:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123656896-15-quot-Rims-that-fit-the-MSP
Took her on some great road trips:
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123840788-Very-Eventful-Week
Over the years, there were a few issues, but never anything terrible and most were self-inflicted. However, she was starting to show her age but felt like that comfortable old shoe you cant bear to throw away. Last spring, I started test-driving cars, put together a spreadsheet to compare them, but nothing was really appealing to me. Winter came around and nothing was grabbing me, so we installed seat heaters in the car and I was on cloud nine for the first winter in a long time.
And then the rumors started, that Mazda was going to be releasing a 30th Anniversary Miata and it was going to be a bright color. For those who are not familiar, weve owned 7 Miatas, raced 6 over the years on both dirt and asphalt and love brightly colored cars. Since the ND Miata was announced and I got to autox one 4 years ago, Ive loved everything about them but the boring colors. So, come February when Mazda made the 30AE announcement, I got in my pre-order.
Say hello to 0070:
Not nearly as practical as the P5, and way too assertive when it comes to all the technology that was not present in my 16 year old car, but its so fun!!
I cant say what the Blue Book value is on a minisplit, but I think it was a good trade for the P5:
I am happy that she will enjoy her 2nd life with her new owner, Voodoofury: