Faults:

At 80,000 miles the Rear door weather stripping came off. Some adhesive took care of that.

Not sure what the mileage was when the heat shield on the exhaust pipe started to vibrate.

At 90,000 miles the "radius rods" (that's what the mechanic called them) broke, but that was caused by hitting a pot hole.

At 100,000 miles the engine started running rough. You can't buy Items needed for a basic tune up at the local parts dealer. So a tune up is rather pricey. And the check engine light comes on.

AT 110,000 miles I put a new clutch in it. While removing a bolt the bell housing broke. The steel bolt seized to the aluminum bell housing. I always thought putting two different metals together was a bad idea.

At 120,000 miles the transmission started to leak destroying the clutch. The cause was a bearing that went bad. I had the transmission resealed. A month later the transmission has gone completely out of it. The driver's (American) side drive shaft popped out of the transmission.

All of this happened after the warranty expired.

General Comments:

This car has been a good car in general terms. We have put some money into it over five years of ownership, and 120,000 miles of HARD driving. With all things considered the car has held up well.

It has started to use a little oil, but I'm not very religious with the oil changes because the car is always on the go.

I consider myself a shade tree mechanic. I think the Protege is easy enough to work on, but all the electronics make it a little more challenging.

The interior is still in great shape even with three small children. No tears or holes. Everything still works as it did when we left the dealer with it.

The exterior has held up to two very minor accidents. (so minor the air bags didn't deploy) One in the rear and one in the front. The body seams are still good and the car still tracked well.

The car handles well even after five years of rough driving.

The engine could use a little more horse power, but it is a economy car.

Gas mileage is still upper 20's even after all the abuse.

Faults:

Had to replace clutch under warranty.

General Comments:

You get more than you pay for in reliability I would recomend to anyone buying their 1st car or buying a car for a child, very safe car. I was hit twice in this car once there was no damage at all and the 2nd time it was totalled and I was not hurt at all.

Faults:

Engine light came on once while sitting in traffic on the interstate (there was an accident ahead and traffic was backed up). If this is the worse it gets, I love it.

General Comments:

It is a very comfortable car for its price range.

The gas mileage is very good.

Faults:

Nothing major went wrong with the vehicle until approximately 45k miles. I did have to take the vehicle in at around 20k to have the power door locks fixed. This was under warranty. Also, the factory stereo was terrible and the CD player stopped working at around 25k. I had a non-factory stereo put in at that time.

Due to an incident with potholes/concrete I did have to have the entire radiator, undercarriage panels and parking break replaced/fixed. However, service at the Mazda dealer was great.

Now, the Check Engine light stays on most of the time, although some days it goes off. The car has now started to have some issues with stuttering/chugging when in 1st and 2nd gear. I am taking the car in next week to find out what the problem is. I have a feeling that it is a problem with the fuel system, which will be costly now that the warranty has expired.

General Comments:

Overall, I really like this car. It has been great on gas mileage and with the 5-speed it doesn't seem like a small 4-cylinder engine. The interior has kept up nicely and I haven't had any problems there. The lettering has worn off the shifter, but other than that the interior and exterior still look great.