Hi all. Last December I bought my daughter a 97 Protege to take to college. I did some basic maintenance on it and it served well both for commuting and some extended road trips. 3 days ago ago another car from an oncoming lane tried making either a left turn or u-turn in front of her and she hit it going about 60mph. My daughter and her passenger walked away with some air bag rash and neck and back pain but otherwise ok. Thank you, G_d! The car protected her well, too. It was a corner impact and at that speed I would have expected some leg compartment intrusion but she had no leg injuries. Well, we still need a car for her and yesterday after test driving a Ford Contour with unsettling steering issues I pulled up Craiglist and what had popped up? A 96 Protege with 76,000 miles! Unlike the 97 with its faded peeling paint this one looks like it has been garaged a good part of its life. It shifts smoother too. The only thing that doesn't work is the radio. Is that hard to replace?

 

Glad to hear they are ok. It might be a blessing in disguise. At least that's how i try to look at things like that. The radio is easy to replace, Personally i would get a direct fit radio from Ebay. I have seen a lot of botched aftermarket installs. The factory radio's work just fine. All you should need is a phillips screwdriver. Hopefully they did not cut the factory radio connector. If so you should be able to buy one.

 

That's really good from that Protege! Excellent protection! Glad they weren't driving a mini or a smart car!
Small cars are great on fuel, poor on protection, got to find the perfect mix, Protege did it!

 

Bstew, I remember how concerned you were to have the car in good shape for your daughter. Now the car kept your daughter in good shape! I am glad to hear that she is o.k. with minor injuries.
I suppose you get that '96 for her. I recommend to leave the Contour to someone else. Someone you don't like I might add.

You could pull the radio from the damaged car.

All the best.

 

Thanks Tan, and everyone else! Unfortunately, she and the wrecked car are several hours' drive from me or I might have tried salvaging the radio. The car is in a tow yard though and they don't like you pulling parts. She and her girlfriend did, however, play cute and get the attendant to turn his back while they got the jack and lug wrench out or the trunk; the 96 doesn't have one.

I didn't know there were oem radios in Ebay. It sound like the way to go. I'll check it out!

 

I should have thought of that; of course the car will become the property of the insurance if it is totaled, therefore no pulling of parts.

You can get just about any part on e-bay, used. A lot of junk yards sell their parts that way. Buy from a seller with high ratings.

 

The recent Nissan Quest minivan and Dodge Caravan minivan (& town country) both failed this test---just like your accident (overlap crash).

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/n...tion/index.htm