02 mazda protege hatchback reddit drivers#
02 mazda protege hatchback reddit full#
02 mazda protege hatchback reddit series#

Neither of these cars makes sense if you can’t or won’t do the work yourself. When you’re done, you’ll have a fun, zippy, practical little wagon, and who doesn’t like that? The new brakes and tires, along with good general condition and a complete lack of rust, make a good case for fixing this car. The seller was quoted $1800 for repair, so if you can do it yourself, you’ll save a chunk of change. It looks like a replacement head, along with gaskets and studs and everything else (and a new timing belt, natch), will run you about $600 in parts. Just after having new brakes and tires installed all around, this car’s timing belt broke, and bent a valve. Exceed that number at your own peril, as this seller found out. A little long in throw, but with really good feel.īut – and it wouldn’t be a Shitbox Showdown car without a but – the timing belt replacement interval on the FS engine is 80,000 miles. This car also features a five-speed manual, and the shifter in these is great.

02 mazda protege hatchback reddit series#

It’s powered by a 2 liter version of Mazda’s FS series twin-cam four, shared with the lower trim levels of the Mazda 626, as well as the earlier MX-6 and Ford Probe. The P5 (as it was referred to among Mazda fans) was available in only one trim level, roughly equivalent to the Protegé ES sedan, with disc brakes at all four corners and some fancier interior trim pieces. This is the Protegé 5, a five-door hatchback version, which would appear to count as a wagon based on Jason’s new rules, so we’ll just go with that. I bought a Protegé new in 2002, and drove it all over the country I can vouch for its twisty-road and cloverleaf on-ramp prowess. And like the VW, the Protegé was praised for its handling, particluarly this third-generation, on Mazda’s BJ platform. The Protegé was separated from Mazda’s 323 hatchback in 1990, much the same as the Jetta came from VW’s Golf. Mazda’s Protegé follows the VW Jetta rulebook fairly closely: a small, light sedan with a nice tight chassis and a good torquey little engine. It looks like the door opens and closes all right, so who cares about a little sheetmetal damage?

02 mazda protege hatchback reddit full#

It doesn’t take much for an insurance company to total out a cheap old car, but it’s not like you’re going to ever want to carry full coverage on a $500 car anyway.

The seller notes that the title is branded, due to a little wrinkle in the left rear door sill/dogleg area, and it looks like the door has been replaced. The rest of the car looks pretty good: the interior is intact but a little grubby, and for the most part the exterior is fine. The engine is healthy otherwise, making good compression, so throwing a little time and money into the fuel system would seem to make sense. The seller believes it to be electronic in nature, either a failed computer or a grounding issue. And therein lies the problem with this particular Jetta: the fuel injection system is on the fritz. This 1990 model is equipped with VW’s Digifant engine control system, which combines electronic fuel injection with digital ignition control. This Jetta is a gasoline-powered model, with a single-overhead-cam engine displacing 1.8 liters.

02 mazda protege hatchback reddit drivers#

In the US, Volkswagen sold twice as many Jettas as Golfs American drivers never really embraced the hatchback the way European drivers did, at least until recently. A little bigger, a little fancier, this is the car that set the stage for the sales success of the third and fourth generation Jettas. VW’s Jetta sedan really came into its own in its second generation, introduced to the US in 1985.