Faults:

Needed a complete coolant flush.

Dizzy cap blew up.

Central locking sometimes dies.

Left passenger door lock doesn't go all the way down.

Clutch had to be replaced.

Needed stepped flywheel.

Needed new clutch cable.

Main Seal was leaking.

Fuel Pump leaking.

Coolant + Oil leaks.

Front & Rear Brakes needed rebuild.

Ignition barrel broke.

Wiring in dash short circuited on nearby metal.

Front right suspension rubber worn away.

Gearbox syncro's worn (gearbox is whining)

Sticky 1st + 2nd Gear

Diff is whining

Drivers power window doesn't automatically stop winding.

Have I forgotten anything???

General Comments:

Absolute piece of crap.

Do NOT buy an old Mazda, especially a fwd, manual 80's Mazda. Never purchasing a FWD again. Awful to drive (compared to RWD).

Most unreliable car I have ever owned.

Battery + Engine have never died on me, just every other component of the car has.

Faults:

Side-skirts are badly disintegrated and have started to fall off.

Strange noises from the air conditioning compressor appeared at approximately 1,950,000 kilometers. This eventually led to the failure of the compressor.

Rear seat headrests have faded and worn badly due to heat and other sun damage. Interior upholstery throughout the car is also sun damaged.

Central locking is now starting to fail, with the front passenger unable to lock or unlock, the rear passenger unable to unlock and the rear driver seat unable to lock.

Electrical units, such as the cruise control system, failed soon after the compressor died.

The steering is slightly off-center.

General Comments:

This is a great first car for anybody that has just earned their license, the manual is nippy and reliable with very low fuel consumption.

The steering, due to not being power assisted, is a little too heavy for some. However, it holds the 'line' quite well and cornering is just plain fun.

Massive under-steer is evident when pushed a little too hard through corners.

Wheel-spin is common.

Seats are relatively comfortable for an older model car, although the upholstery needs to be covered up.

First through to third gear have acceleration 'flat spots'. This causes the car to keep revving without an increase in acceleration. It can be irritating, but the driver can overcome this with quick changing of gears. When this is overcome, the acceleration is linear and it feels as if the car always has something more to give. My top speed is 195 Kilometers per hour and times of 7 to 8 seconds for the 100km/h mark have been achieved.

The car does not like to start/'kick-over' when the engine is above, approximately, 70 degrees Celsius.

All in all, an excellent first car and a pleasure to drive.

Faults:

Replaced a lot of the exhaust.

Replaced the radiator.

Can't afford to get the air conditioning fixed for the 3rd time!

Starter motor solenoid replaced.

It currently has a very small oil leak.

General Comments:

This is my first car, but I swear I am not biased about it. It's a great first car, but if I had more money, I would have bought a newer car. It's never left me stranded anywhere, the things that go wrong just slowly die.

I'd definitely recommend this model (perhaps the 87 though) to a first car buyer. It's cheap to buy, cheap to run, and I've found it cheap to fix. The parts are everywhere, because they are such a popular car.

If I'd had a manual licence, I would also have purchased a manual. The old automatics are really terrible, they stall when cold, and really don't know what they are doing. I think that's really the only problem I've had with the car.

Definitely worth a look.