The Mazda Protege with M3 style mirrors

 

 

The Mazda Familia is a long-running nameplate used by Mazda for their small family cars or compact cars manufactured between 1964 and 2003, with 10,589,052 sold worldwide. The Familia was marketed under various names, including 1000, 1200, and 1300, 800, 808, and 818. In many markets, however, the more recent Familias were known as Mazda 323. In North America, the names Mazda GLC and then Mazda Protégé were used. In South Africa, it was known as the Etude. The Familia formed the basis of the Ford Laser and Meteor in Asia, Australasia and from 1991, the Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer in North America.  Many modifications can be done to your Mazda to make it look sportier and perform better.

 

Installing M3 style mirrors is one of those neat projects that can really add some spice to the look of your Mazda without taking up too much of your time. The total install time for a pair of M3 style mirrors should be less than two hours.  

  

Aftermarket mirrors are available in different materials, including FRP plastic, carbon fiber and fiberglass. Plenty of different styles are available such as D1 style, F1 style and M3 styles. You can also get them in manual or electric, and get them with or without LED turn signals built in.

  

The toughest part of the job is actually finding a set of mirrors that will match your body color. If your Mazda is white or black, there are usually aftermarket mirrors available in those two colors. Any other color will need to be custom-painted to match your body paint.

 

Some aftermarket mirrors are manufactured with an additional lamp in the side. This can be wired to either to your parking lamps or your turn-signal lamps. Either one requires additional wiring to be threaded through the door, so I usually don't recommend this approach. Most of the cars I've seen with lamps in the side of the mirrors don't actually have them connected-they're just for show.

 

Familias were built in Hiroshima, Japan, although they were also assembled in Taiwan, Malaysia, South Africa, Colombia and New Zealand. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda Axela in 2004.