The median asking price for a used Mazda Protege is $2,995 across 63 listings. A 2003 costs about $3,995; a 2001 about $2,995. But the same year can differ wildly: among 2003 cars the dearest asks 3.6 times what the cheapest does — condition, mileage and title do the rest.
What each model year costs
Three numbers per year: the cheap end, the middle and the dear end. The gap between them is the useful part — it tells you whether the year has a clear market price or whether condition decides everything.
| Year | Cheap end | Median | Dear end | Spread | Typical mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | $1,900 | $6,800 | 3.6× | 113,840 mi | |
| 2002 | $1,600 | $4,380 | 2.7× | 129,304 mi | |
| 2001 | $2,175 | $2,995 | 1.4× | 200,035 mi |
A spread near 1.5× means the market agrees what the car is worth. Past 3× it usually means the sample mixes tidy examples with tired ones — and that a careful buyer can do well.
Dealer or private seller
Both figures are measured against the median for the same model year, so age is taken out of the comparison — this is the forecourt markup on its own.
| Seller | Listings | vs median year | Average asked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dealer | 26 | +35.6% | $4,961 |
| Private seller | 18 | -14.3% | $2,588 |
The gap comes to 49.9 percentage points. Some of that buys something real — reconditioning, a warranty, paperwork handled. The rest is the cost of not looking further.
Asking prices are the market. What is that car worth?
- Exact value for one VIN, adjusted for its mileage
- Live listings with prices, not just percentiles
- Price-drop alerts on the model you are watching
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How we count
Every figure comes from live classified listings — asking prices, not sale prices. Sellers ask more than they get, so treat these as the top of the range, not the bottom.
Why the percentages, and not plain averages. This is the part worth explaining, because getting it wrong produces confident nonsense. Take a naive average price per state and you learn that this car costs four times more in Alabama than Indiana — which is false. What actually happened is that Indiana's listings were older cars. Do the same by title and you get the absurd result that rebuilt cars sell for more than clean ones, because the rebuilt ones in the sample happened to be newer.
So we never average prices across a slice. Each listing is first converted into its ratio against the median for its own model year, and those ratios are averaged instead. «Fifteen percent below median» then means what it says, and holds up whichever years the slice happens to contain.
Slices with too few listings are dropped rather than shown with a wide error bar — a percentage built on eight cars is decoration, not data.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
How much does a used Mazda Protege cost?
The median asking price is $2,995 across 63 live listings, ranging from about $2,995 for a 2001 to $3,995 for a 2003. These are asking prices — sellers generally accept less.
Is it cheaper to buy a Protege from a private seller?
Yes, by roughly 50 percentage points. Dealers ask +35.6% against the median for the same model year, private sellers -14.3%. Part of that gap pays for reconditioning and a warranty; the rest is the price of convenience.
Why do prices for the same year vary so much?
Among 2003 cars the dearest asks 3.6× what the cheapest does. Mileage, service history and title status explain most of it — which is why an average price for an older car tells you very little on its own.
What is this worth compared with my own car?
This page describes the market. To value a specific car by its year and mileage, use the Mazda Protege valuation tool.