![]() There was no way to turn it off and, most times, we let it run unbuckled and, instead, did the two step process of buckling the shoulder and lap belts separately. And if any dirt or grime got on the track, the motorized mechanism would start running back and forth. The lap belt still needed to be engaged manually. Anyone who has ever lived with these motorized menaces knows what they were – a gimmick. In lieu of an air bag, Mazda opted to comply with federal front seat passive restraint mandates with a motorized shoulder belt track that, theoretically, allowed you to leave the shoulder belt buckled while it moved out of the way when the door opened. (It was winter in Michigan and cars weren’t flying out of the door.) It was a basic DX model – manual windows, manual locks, and the most annoying automatic shoulder belt system I’d ever seen. It was a trade in at a local car dealer of a different make and they were interested in moving it. Clearly, the car had been used mostly for highway driving – there was little wear in the interior and the exterior had no dings or dents. The Protege model we bought in early 1995 had about 30,000 miles after about 18 months of use. Also, as Mazda had been pulled financially into the orbit of the Ford Motor Company by the late 80’s/early 90’s, this specific generation of Proteges also provided the underpinnings for the Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer duo, vastly improving on earlier generations of those models. By and large, Mazda was known for making solid, sporty cars that held their own against competition from other Japanese car makers. The Protege was part of a lineage of Mazda small cars going back to the late 70’s Mazda GLC (Great Little Car), the Mazda 323 and continuing through to the Mazda 3 of today. ![]() This was my first Mazda and we were encouraged by the experience of friends who owned similar models. It also was the first manual transmission car I had ever owned and, despite the learning curve, sold me on the merits of the stick shift. This was the first car my wife and I owned together and it holds a special place in our collective hearts as the car that marks the early years of our relationship together. The demise of my 1983 Nissan Stanza and the reality of a 45 minute one way daily commute from Ann Arbor to Detroit necessitated the purchase of a replacement vehicle – a “brilliant black” 1993 Mazda Protege DX (the pic above is the right color, but not the specific car). ![]()
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