Pick A Cheap Faded Four-Door: 1993 Mazda Protege vs 1995 Ford Taurus

All right, let’s get back to some more normal fare. Yesterday was a bit too much for almost all of you, I guess. Today we’re going to look at a couple of perfectly normal four-door sedans whose only fault seems to be scorched clearcoat. And even better, they’re both cheap!

Once in college, I was in my dorm room listening to the Pixies, and my roommate complained that it was “too weird.” So I turned it off – and put on Devo instead. See, I like weird. Weird is good for you. Weird makes you think, it pushes your buttons. You may not like where it takes you – my roommate left when I put on Devo (though that was kinda the idea; I didn’t like the guy much) – but it’s important to go out on a limb once in a while. That’s where the fruit is, after all.

That said, I don’t want either of yesterday’s choices any more than any of you. But they did get you talking, which is the point. They didn’t get you voting; the comment-to-vote ratio was way out of whack. Among those of you who could be bothered to vote, the scary Dodge Avenger won easily, probably just because it was much cheaper.

As much as I like weird stuff, I like a good bargain even more. I hate paying more than I have to for something, and cars are no exception. These two are the kind of cars I usually favor: cosmetically challenged, but mechanically solid, and as nice inside as I can find. In other words, good solid beaters. What’s this, you say? Two actual good deals after yesterday’s foolishness? Just keeping you on your toes. Let’s check them out.

1993 Mazda Protege DX – $1,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter OHC inline-4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Floyd, VA

Odometer reading: 164,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

This is a car I’m very fond of. Mazda’s BF/BG/BH/BJ-platform cars don’t look like much, but they’re everything you could ask for in a small car: tough, efficient, practical, and more fun to drive than you’d expect. When the BG platform was introduced for the 1990 model year, the four-door sedan became known as the Protege, at least here in the US. Elsewhere it was still the 323 or Familia. But what’s in a name? You can call it whatever you want; I call it a lot more desirable than any Corolla ever was.

Two engines were available in the BG Protege in the US, both 1.8-liter four-cylinders. This being a humble DX model, it has the lesser of the two, a single-overhead-cam unit making 103 horsepower. Two transmissions were offered as well, and this has the one you want, a five-speed manual. The seller doesn’t give us a lot of information about it; they just say it “runs fine” and has “good brakes.” So it goes, and it stops. For fifteen hundred bucks, these days, that’s probably good enough. Anything else is just gravy.

For the price, the interior isn’t bad at all. The seats are intact and not stained, and most of the trim is where it belongs. The wires coming out of the left side of the dash are a bit worrying, but I’ve dealt with worse messes in cheap cars. It does have motorized seat belts, and I know for a lot of you those are a deal-killer. In most cars, they would be for me too, but I might make an exception for this car, because I like it so much otherwise.

Outside, it has some battle scars; the right front door has a serious dent, and the right front fender wears an LX badge, which means it came from a junkyard. Hey, at least it matches. The clearcoat on all the horizontal surfaces is shot, too. But it’s a good color, and it’s not embarrassing-looking.

1995 Ford Taurus SE – $2,150

Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter OHV V6, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Carmichael, CA

Odometer reading: 128,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

For a car that went out of production thirty years ago, it’s surprising how many second-generation Ford Tauruses are still kicking around. Sure, it was the best-selling car in the US in its day, and Ford cranked out a million and a half of them, but still. These cars were available in a wide range of trims and colors, and it seems like no two you see for sale these days are alike. I kind of like this one; it’s the 1995-only SE model, with a couple of sporty touches borrowed from the SHO, but without the horsepower.

The standard engine in the Taurus in these days was the 3.0-liter “Vulcan” V6, available only with a four-speed automatic. It’s a good old cast-iron pushrod engine, the kind of thing that runs out of steam after 4,000 RPM, but will keep spinning as long as you keep oil in it. This one runs and drives “excellent,” according to the seller, and just passed a California smog check – and it’s pre-OBDII, so we’re talking an actual tailpipe test, not just a code scan. It also sounds like the seller has owned it for a while, which is always a good sign. I tend to distrust flipped cars, unless they’re from our buddy in North Carolina.

Part of the SE package are a center console with a floor-mounted shifter, and really comfy-looking bucket seats. It’s all in good condition, too. The seller says, in all caps, that the “AC BLOWS COLD.” Good to know, thanks. The ad lists a bunch of other options, too, but there’s no word, in either upper or lower case, whether any of that stuff is broken.

Outside, the SE borrows a few pieces from other sporty Fords, including Mustang-like alloy wheels and the Taurus SHO’s rear spoiler. Does it help? I mean, it doesn’t make it any faster, but it makes it look a little less like a rental car. I like it in green, too. The clearcoat is fried, but at least there’s no rust or damage.

Cars this cheap are usually more of a compromise than these are. The biggest charge you can level at them is that they’re a little scruffy-looking and not all that exciting. You could do a lot worse, as we’ve seen. Which one of these calls to you?