Rep Power: 340

1. the dirt that collects under the seat belt holder, near the door panel. Now that just bugs me. Yeah, yeah I know I can clean it.

2. when I go over minor bumps, i hear the smallest rattling sound near my driver door, and in the back near my right side 2nd door. It never rattles over the big bumps,cant figure out why or how it does that. WTF

Alex

 
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You should be glad that's the ONLY problem you have with your car.

 
Rep Power: 340

why whats up with yours?[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
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So much stuff that he traded his in and got a Protege 5.

 
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haha traded for a pro5?

i almost went that route...

instead i bought another 7th gen..[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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What made you decide against the Pro5, and go for the 7th gen?

 
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You you know that the Protege 5 is based on a Focus platform, Mazda/Ford same company pretty much.

 
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2 things that bug me about my car is rattles and more rattles

 
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I repeat...the only part on the P5 that came from Ford is a clip on the seat belt. The P5 is assembled in Japan whereas the Focus is made in Mexico/US. The chassis is different, suspension setup is not the same, and the engine is a Mazda engine (FS-DE series, which dates back to early 90s). The Focus has a ZETEC engine which is a newer design. Don't say they're the same when they're both 2L and makes 130hp.

Now back to answer the original question. Here we go again... (u newbies just want me to rub this in lol!)

-My engine stalls all the time for no reason. Sensors replacement and ECU reset didn't fix it.

-My shocks are leaking fluid time after time. I was on my third set of shocks when I traded her in. My car is not lowered....totally stock except new tires.

-My steering rack is defective. My car can't keep an accurate alignment as there's too much freeplay in the rack and pinion mechanism. The car drifts around on the highway which makes it very difficult (and dangerous) to drive. If I hit a small bump or dip on the highway my car will pull to either left of right all of a sudden. Honda doesn't warranty it because they said my rack is not leaking and the power steering works so they have no reason to replace it.

That's pretty much the big ones. Now add that with all the rattles, loose driver seats, bouncy rear suspension and you'll know why I just gave up on that car.

 
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Well, for every bad experience about our cars, there are several other good stories too. But I guess that goes for just about any car model. Sorry that you were unlucky with yours firefly.

Here's a good story: we just moved across the country, from Montreal to San Diego. Total of 5811 km (or 3630 miles). Took a total of 5 driving days (not consecutive), averaging 12 hours of driving per day. My car was so packed with my stuff, the rear looked like I had lowered it with aftermarket shocks (which I didn't). And all this weight was on the car for the entire duration of the trip, which was 2 whole weeks.

This was back in late July, early August, so I had the AC on the entire time too. There were some tough stretches for my Civic too, especially when we climbed the Rockies and drove through the Arizona deserts in blistering heat... up to 90+ degrees on some days. Throughout all this, my temparature needle did not budge one bit from it's normal position of 1/3 up from the bottom. And the AC kept us comfortable the entire trip.

But anyways, the car performed flawlessly... not a single issue or problem. Even with the car packed to the gills with the AC blasting, I still ended up getting 38.3 MPG (US gallons), for the entire trip. I know this is one area the Protege can't match the Civic.

I did all the driving since my gf can't do 5-speed, but I was never fatigued and my back never hurt, even after those 12-hour days. Say what you will about the 7th gen seats, but I love them.

I couldn't have asked for more from my car on this trip. My car's got 33,000 km's (or 21,000 miles) on it now, and she's still good as new, and she's loving these smooth, fast and beautiful Southern California freeways . I once had a very minor problem with engine hesitation at stop lights, but it seems to have disappeared completely ever since I arrived here in San Diego.

BTW, my car is an 18-month old 2001 Civic EX (Si) coupe

 
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I agree Ronin, I have drove my car 4 times from Tampa to Miami, 2 times to Jackssonville, once to Atlanta, twice to the Panhandle area, all trips were in the middle of the summer with some 90+° temps with the A/C on the whole time with not one problem.

As far as the Focus/Protege5 goes, go to any Ford dealership and ask a tech how many parts are interchangable, you'll be surprised. My neighbor works in the parts dept at Walker Ford, and we were watching football when a Mazda commercail came on and thats what he told me. He doesn't have a problem with Ford or Mazda he just mentioned it.

 
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I'm surprise that the only interchangable parts from Ford are the one I mentioned...the seat belt clip. The tranny is also interchangable as the G15M-R tranny was used on Escort and Probe but that's a Mazda part, not Ford's.

So the engine, tranny, chassis and suspension are covered. What else can you think of that might be sourced from Ford?

 
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Well lets put it this way, I don't think my neighbor is the sharpest knife in the drawer, he may have just said that to sound cool or something. I don't know why he would lie or make that up because we very rarely talk about cars, but I'll ask him tonight.

 
Rep Power: 302

the pro5 costs a bit more and the mazda sales guy was a biatch to talk to...
i said f'uckit and went across the street to the honda dealer...=)

my friend's protege 99 model sucks...it's the same generation protege but everything rattles when he turns his music up even a tiny bit...if mazda can't get that right, then i wonder what else they can't get right...i guess the engine is reliable though...he had 115K on it already and no engine probs...he doesn't do regular maintenance either...he treats the car pretty badly...

besides, i liked my 7th gen LX...

 
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the protege is a great car imo, took a 93 protege from LA to Chicago (yeah, even made it (barely) over the Rockies!!) without any major problems. and compared to my 2002 civic coupe ex, it had waaaay fewer rattles (at the same point in time of course) and it was a lot more fun to drive. the suspension and steering feel are so mushy in the civic.. can swing the steering wheel back and forth (+/- 30 degrees or so) on the freeway but the civic tells me f*** you! and keeps going straight as an arrow. too bad the protege doesn't look better (and the sentra se-r for that matter...) or i might've gotten one of those instead.

 
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my civic ex manual coupe is almost 19 months old, has 48,000 miles on it, at least. I drive it everyday Hard as hell. oil changes every 6,000 to 9,000 miles (full synthetic) which reminds me I need an oil change soon. trips include MD to NY a 5 times, MD to Boston, and basically 500 miles a weekend. I am about to put it in for a tuneup though. My exhuast is stinking more then usual.

But it sounds better then the day I bought it. Still get the same gass milage and rattles less.

 
Rep Power: 340

hey the protege is a good car. I had 96 protege. If the guy didnt total my car in the accident I had, I would have never bought my civic, I was very pleased with that ride, it was perfect.

 
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I've had mine for 19 months, with abour 55,000 kms (about 35,000 miles) and I've had it run into in parking lots 4 times, had a faulty bushing in the transmission that caused it to be overhauled about a year ago, including the total replacement of 2nd and 5th gears, and leaking shocks. The tires also went bald after about 14 months (reviews I've read on those stock tires, can't even remember what model, said they were garbage anyway).

So aside from the car having sat at the dealer waiting for parts from Japan or various places for a total of about 2 months over the last 19 months, its been a pretty good car.