My Little Japanese BMW!

Since early 1999 and nearly 60,000 KM later, my Mazda Protege has always been a loyal road companion. It has never failed, never complained and has always been a joy to ride. It is roomy, responsive, high quality and solid.
The cockpit is laid out ergonomically and is not complicated. The body has beautiful lines and is among the best looking cars in the same class.

The Protege 99 has one technical flaw which is a leaking passenger side foot vent in summertime and if you are wearing pants you will never notice this flaw. However, in Canadian winters (And if you wife is sitting on the passenger seat wearing a skirt) your passenger's legs could freeze and turn blue. I passed this knowledge to the service department manager at Scarborough Mazda and they found it in several other models. To this day, there is no resolution. Also, on the negative side, the car consumes more gas than it should. It uses approximately 12 liters per 100 KM which is a lot for a 1.8 engine. Again, there has been no solutions to this issue. Considering the complexity of a vehicle, I find it normal to have such problems in a car as long as they are not critical. Overall, I recommend this car to anyone. There is ride and there is joyride and Mazda succeeded in bringing the two words together.