Our New Car. Protege ES

My wife and I wanted to purchase a new car but we were unsure about which one to get. We are the anti-SUV type and we like to have a car that has good gas mileage and is foreign built by the Japanese. In our opinion, American cars are poorly built. We did some research and discovered that Consumer Reports rated the Mazda Protege ES a very good car. The 1999 year was the last year that this car was being built with Japanese parts and engineering before being moved to Ford Motor company to be built there.

So we scurried down to the dealer and wanted to buy the ES model in a standard shift. The main difference with the ES model and the DX and LX model is the bigger and wider tires and all the bells and whistles such as A/C, CD player, and power locks and windows, and alloy wheel rims. We were impressed with how much room there was inside the car. We could fit 5 adults in fairly comfortably and the convex style front dashboard was a plus with lots of legroom. The seats are comfortable for a compact car and they are not "backbusters" like the Chrysler cars we tested out.

My overall opinion of this car is a good one. The only downfall is that it has a "smartshift" standard transmission. That means if you are not at the right RPM...it will not allow you to up-shift or downshift easily. The pickup is OK for a compact. Consumer reports was right about this car..it was a good value for your money and my wife and I are happy with this car.