is a 2003 mazda protege 5 reliable? thinking of getting one for a winter beater

 

I have one, it will definitely get you through the winter, they are just known for rust....everywhere!

 

I recently bought an 03 protege5 for a beater... drives great - except like iagraham's mentioned, its got rust everywhere lol.

 

The Protege platform as a whole is very reliable. They eat bushings like you wouldn't believe (just get used to the clunking in the back) but otherwise, great cars. Other than the rust of course. (We store ours for the winter.)

 

I don't even want to look at the underbody of my 97 Protege for fears that rust flakes will fall down into my eyes.

 

The slushbox can be a little dicey at higher mileage. To be honest I think the same generation of Civic is a better ghetto beater. It's not as fun to drive, but the cabin is much quieter, and it doesn't rust like a Mazda.

 

PM altspace, I believe he owned(owns?) one for a long time.

 

We had a P5 for seven years and it was dead reliable. The reason we got rid of it was due to the rust.