The center brake light (CHMSL) has 24 small bulbs that definitely catch your attention. There’s a standard black roofrack, and the black radio antenna is raked back from the rear center of the car. The spoiler fits like an eyelid over the slanted rear hatch. In profile it looks like a short Subaru Legacy GT wagon, but it’s prettier at each end. Great-looking 5-spoke, 16-inch alloy wheels, either brushed or polished like chrome. Trim cladding, just side sills and air dams. Separate options are: moonroof ($700) ABS and side airbags ($800) four-speed automatic transmission ($800) polished alloy (chrome-look) wheels ($500) security alarm ($220) cassette player ($150) in-dash six-disc CD changer ($500) floormats ($80) cargo net ($35) wheel locks ($30) and moonroof deflector ($40). The Vivid Yellow in the commercial is the call.īase price is $16,335 plus $480 freight. The main thing is, it comes in five colors. So sometimes this exciting car finds itself being called a “five-door vehicle” by its maker. Mazda is trying to not call the Protege5 a wagon without defying reality, which takes a bit of marketing and semantic tightrope-walking. With a little literary license (or a lot), the Protege5 might be described as a cross between the Miata and the Tribute mini-SUV. Protege5 uses the same 130-horsepower, 2.0-liter, dohc inline four-cylinder engine as the Protege sedan. Protege5 is a sport wagon built on the solid platform of the tight, handsome, arguably prosaic, arguably under-appreciated Protege compact sedan (see separate Protege review). But Mazda has been building fetching cars for some time now-RX-7, Millenia and Miata to name three-but can’t seem to get recognized for it. Mazda is trying to create a fetching new feeling, by building more cars like this and letting people know it. It's also been on fire twice, jumped, hit every wall at every track its been to, and was a race car for years before he even bought it.In the latest of the popular zoom-zoom commercials, the Protege5 is the fetching yellow car dazzling the fetching little boy. There are several other stories attached to this car that are almost equally as impressive, but that's probably the most popular. In spring he reconnected the battery, hopped in, started it (with God knows how much water in it), drives it back across his yard, and takes a few videos in his garage with it idling just fine. Disconnected the battery, and let it sit over the winter. So, a month or two later, he takes video of himself driving the car with the hole in the block and a missing connecting rod, off the trailer and across his yard. I looked at him incredulously, and said, "NO I didn't try to start it! There's a hole the size of my fist in the front of the block!" He gives me a look, hops in the car, turns the key and "BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB". I'm thinking "well, that's the last I'll hear of this engine."įast forward to end of the night, we're all standing around talking, and the owner of the car asks if I'd tried to start it after it blew. Pushed the clutch in, and it immediately shut off. Eventually, it slowed down so much I didn't even need to let off to make the corners, then it blew up passing the flag man. I figured the engine was going to be garbage no matter what, so I didn't pull off right away. So, we're about 200 laps into a race, when I can feel the car slowing down, and I can hear it rattling. This thing is legendary in our series for several reasons, including this one: I race enduros, and I wasn't in a great place financially, so a friend let me borrow his 1995 Geo Prism. Drove it home, grabbed my wife’s car went back to the store returned the parts, listed it on Craigslist for $500 saying it needed a new motor and ended up selling it for $420.Įvery once in a while I watch the video of it knocking for a good chuckle. One spark plug change I decided to boots as well, left the auto parts store and as I turned onto my road I heard the rodknock.
I could not believe how long that fucking car survived the abuse. Never bothered changing the oil because i was adding so much fresh oil to it. Wouldn’t shift until redline, no lift shifting (it most certainly wasn’t tuned for it), dumping the clutch at 5k, all the fun beater things. For a good 8 months I beat the life out of it. I knew it was on its way out and didn’t really care about the car as I paid like $300 for it. Even after doing the valve cover gasket it still trashed spark plugs within a few months. Bought an 03 Mazda 3 from my brother a few years back.
0 kommentar(er)
