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Best Year Millenia


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Originally posted by milleniaowner

 

- security light is red instead of amber

- turn signal and wiper control stalks have a less "damped" action to them

- center console material became hard plastic and not the "slush-texture" padded surface as used on the rest of the dash

- wood veneer console replaced with plastic wood

- rear interior illumination lamps do not illuminate when a door is opened

- leather handbrake and gear selector surfaces were replaced with textured urethane

- A, B and C pillar upholstery replaced with textured plastic

- oven-baked paint rotation process omitted

- toolkit bin and plastic spare tire covers with integrated jack lever storage replaced with inverted spare and a piece of unfinished particle board

- trunk carpet lost its padded backing.

- med kit box between rear speakers replaced with tissue box retention-friendly design

- sound damping material under carpet replaced with cheaper alternative

- aluminum hood replaced with steel

- Bose audio system redesigned in order to use fewer amplifiers

- engine bay finish work a bit more sparse.

- transmission redesign to homogenize USDM KL-series applications to cut costs

- intake port design homogenized for USDM KL-series applications to cut costs

- keyless remote transmitter redesigned to cut costs (1 battery instead of 2, cheaper button feel)

- instrument cluster redesigned to cut costs (gear selection indicators)

- body hardware (screws, clips, attachments...all throughout) homogenized with the rest of Mazda's lineup

- door lock system redesigned to cut costs (manual locking of all four doors from passenger side door lock switch is omitted)

- auto-off headlamps were added

- power FM antenna replaced with less effective but more aesthetically pleasing hidden in-glass type.

- some chrome-look buttons and door pulls were added

- revised gauge cluster (2001)

- tail light revisions (1999, 2001)

- front turn signals (1999)

- wheel/tire size changes (1999)

- minor radiator grill revision (1999)

- head lamp design revision (1997)

- interior color changes/additions (1997, 2001)

- chrome license plate finisher (1999)

- chrome "millenia" on front door sills (1999)

- larger front brake discs (mid-2001)

- retuned front shock damping (2001)

- Resized & relocated rear trunk badging (1999)

- Rear seat ash tray omitted (1997)

- US models received revised (and inferior) 1-bulb rear-deck mounted center brake light while models sold elsewhere, including Canada, kept the original 2-bulb original design.

 

Also, anyone notice that the Euro Xedos 9 for 2001-2002 kept the tail lamp assemblies from USDM 1999-2000 models?

 

There are probably more I am either forgetting or haven't noticed. But have since added.

IPB Image

IPB Image

 

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think the first year was the best. They used the rotisserie paint job, they had real wood trim (not fake plastic wood), etc. After the first year of making them to the highest quality standards, Mazda fell into hard times and the parent company (Ford) made them start cutting corners to keep costs down.

 

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according to what i have read(and no way to substantiate), the 2001- my chassis was 30% stiffer. a HUGE improvement, imho. i really dont care for looks. performance and handling is what i like. anyone have slalom times for the cars? only the 2.3 had the rear bar in the us, 2001-. dunno if the stiffer chassis was the same on the 2.5

 

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The added rigidity was part of the unibody construction, so I would have to guess that all models got that and the better shocks in front. The Millenia was always low production, so they couldn't have saved that much in the grand scheme of things for some of the really small stuff. Another thing I forgot to add was the center speaker was omitted from the base audio system whereas it was wired in to the head unit on the earlier models with standard audio. Later models without Bose audio simply had a grille with no speaker underneath.

 

As far as the trunk floor, I wish they hadn't made a huge dome underneath the tire so that it has to be inverted. Earlier models had no dome and the tire bolted to the floor facing down. The space left made for great storage underneath the tire cover. I kept jumper cables and a small toolkit underneath the carpet on the other car. I did transfer the 2-piece plastic cover though. The gray car now has unfinished particle board.

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01-02 has %30 more "tortional" rigidity. 01-02 has cabin air filter, xedos9 had them before 01, dont know when they started. My brothers 00 xedos looks pretty different outside. Wipers visible above the hood and the rear looks lower than mine. Inside is more or less he same

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  • 4 weeks later...

Dullas airport frank, major airport roughly 7 miles from me.

 

I would be willing to bring ONE person along in the millenia.

 

Clearly some rules will apply such as washing hands before opening doors, nothing in backseats, luggage must be cleaned off from airport dirt before going into trunk etc

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  • 4 weeks later...

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