Used Mazda Protege for Sale

I got my Mazda off a used car lot, she was my first car, from the start she needed a little help(80,000 miles), new tires, alignment, and a throttle body to keep the idle in check. She ran like a new car, getting 28-30 mpg, when the model is estimated to have 25mpg, smooth and easy to handle, perfect for a beginner driver. She came with those silly low profile "summer" tires, and since winter in Ohio was coming they had to go, the tiny wheel size was very limiting in what brands and types of tires I could get, but ended up with mid-grade "Wal-Mart tires" with a full warranty, and they were a huge help when the snow started to come down. Had to get the alignment done, cause I noticed the steering wheel wasn't straight anymore, turned out my tie rod was busted, a trip to the garage revealed my tie rod was busted, after getting that fixed and aligned (along with a wheel balance) I could hardly believe how smooth and straight my car was driving again. I needed to replace my throttle body due to the sensors being shot, and it telling the car it needs to have the throttle OPEN, running at higher RPMs than it should be at (2000rpm), after a simple remove, and replace, she went back down to a purring idle (700-800rpm)

The car gets some 40 MPG and I drive a lot, so this is number one in my book. Repairs are not too bad either. The parts are reasonably priced and I can do a lot of the work myself.

I really liked the gas mileage. There are a lot better options these days though. But for a 20-year-old car, it did great on gas. I did not have to repair the car often. When I did, the costs were reasonable. All the tires for it are all-weather tires, which are better. A negative about the car is its size. its on the smaller size, so there's not a lot you can do with it. We have owned our 2000 LX with auto transmission for 14 years and 227,800 miles. Other than a new ECM about eight years ago, we have only completed oil changes every 3k miles and the occasional brake job (all completed by me). At 225,000 miles, I decided it was time to replace the original timing belt (which, believe it or not, didn't look too bad). At that time I also replaced the following: valve cover seal, spark plugs, cam seals, crank seal, water pump, timing pulleys and tension spring, struts, control arms with lower ball joints. Replace four qtrs. tranny fluid. Outer tiered ends. New driver side axle. I completed all the work myself, and it was fairly easy to complete. All for about $800 in parts. If you are a do it yourself type of person, then this car is for you. Very easy to work on. I drive this car 60 miles per day and am confident it will make it to 300,000 miles.