Tell me about the Protege5, please

A co-worker just had her ~01 Protege5 wrecked and she asked me (the token "car guy" in my office) to help her find another one. Can anyone clue me in on what problem spots to look for on one? She's working with about a $6k budget.

Rust! That's the main problem with mine. It also leaks water into the driverside floor whenever it rains. The rear calipers tend to seize often. My rear wiper also siezed.

We're in Tennessee...rust shouldn't be a huge problem. I hope.

motor mounts. they suck

also, general rattles.

make sure the timing belts been changed. they suck to do, and are expensive when they break.

i loved my P5. if i didnt need a bigger car, id have another in a skinny second.

Rust + 1

Rattles +1

Motor Mounts + eleventy billion ...

The rust you will see over the rear wheel arches and will let you get a lower price, the busted rubber in the motor mount will make it drive horrible and if you don't know why it will drive you nuts.

(for the record, mine has all that plus blows head light bulbs every other week ... 150K on the stock clutch and no real issues other than minor stuff)

I see P5s with a headlight out quite often! Does anybody know why they do that?

I have a 2001 Protege ES sedan (functionally the same vehicle). Yes, it rattles. But less than the Civic I had prior. Sway bar end-links don't last very long, they seem to be good for 15K to 20K miles. AWR makes an adjustable that supposedly fixes this, I've not made the upgrade yet. Mine has 142K miles, and I flog it daily. No leaking fluids, original clutch with plenty of meat left, still runs as strong as ever.

I never had headlight issues up until two months ago. I've gone through three bulbs in that time period. If it happens again, I'll try a different brand of bulbs before I tackle the electrical system. The sedan has a different lighting system than the P5 though.

I just saw a rust bubble on the fender on mine, and it has rust on the bottom of the front doors. Metal is still solid, so I'm going to do some preventative work there as soon as we get out of the nasty August humidity.

Ditto on the seized calipers. I do clean and lube the slides every time I rotate tires, and that seemed to help, haven't had a caliper issue in over two years (and I was replacing one every ~9 months before that).

Some (most, it seems) cars have issues with the EGR valve clogging up, and causing drivability problems. One can supposedly clean it out instead of replacing. I've not yet had this issue.

The car is frustrating to me, because I'd like something a little bigger and a little quicker. But anything I drive that I can afford, I don't like nearly as much. The Protege has great brakes, good handling and fantastic steering.

Thanks for the responses, and keep them coming. If we find one that does have bad motor mounts, how much will they cost her to get replaced?

Will wrote: Thanks for the responses, and keep them coming. If we find one that does have bad motor mounts, how much will they cost her to get replaced?

Not much... they're pretty cheap from Rockauto.

Alternatively, i would suggest replacing with the softest mounts AWR makes. Tiny bit more vibration, but they last longer, and really help the car out. Will run a touch under $200 for the kit if i remember correctly.

Know that this woman won't be doing any of her own maintenance. I appreciate the parts cost, but if anyone knows what a shop would charge to do the motor mounts or other common repairs, that would be great.

Good info here so far, but you may want to head over here for more answers about a P5.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/

The info here has helped me a bunch with my P5.