Faults:

Had to replace water pump.

General Comments:

Bought this car brand-new in 1987 and got over 300,000 miles on it. It was still running when I gave it to a friend in 2003.

The engine on this car just won't die.

I had the oil changed religiously every 3,000 miles.

I never replaced a spark plug until >200k miles. I did NOTHING special to maintain this car.

This car paid for itself many times over. I'm sold!

Faults:

When I purchased it for a real bargain @ $200, it needed a clutch and CV joints. I drove it until the winter of 2000 like that, and then put the clutch and axles and I haven't had a problem with that since.

The fuel tank has begun to leak.

It has begun to use some oil.

General Comments:

The car still starts easy no matter the temp, and runs as good as anything I've ever owned. The body is beginning to rust out, but I still wouldn't be afraid to drive it long distances. It's still my daily driver.

Faults:

Transmission finally died in the cars final hours. It was weak for about 50,000K, but kept on running.

Speedometer cable went at about 350000K.

Rear springs both broke, and rear struts wore out twice in the time I had the car.

Brake master cylinder went at 275000K.

The usual things that should go in a car with this much mileage on it.

General Comments:

This car was a logging road machine. Very stable on pavement and equally good in snow and on gravel. I took it places that some trucks couldn't and wouldn't go.

Super reliable car.

Car lacks in braking power. Even with all brand new braking system.

Rear suspension didn't last long for me, but I had a big sub box in the trunk.

The car was awesome. Got up to 200km/h on the highway, and then went 4X4ing in over 2 feet of snow up the mountain that same day.

Liked it so much that I bought another one after the transmission went on the first one.

Faults:

Rear-ended by an old guy in an SUV, and wrote it off.

Steering tended to pull to the left a lot.

Front left constant velocity joint was clicking when I first bought the car, then it stopped, but before I got rid of the car it started to shimmy really bad at speeds over 100km/h. It was either that or a warped rotor, I suspect.

General Comments:

Started with little coaxing in -30C weather.

Hot air within 5 minutes of starting the car. Very nice in the winter.

Never left me stranded.

Fast acceleration from a standing start.

Threw a hitch on it and was able to pull a SeaDoo in and out of the water, as well as a small aluminum boat with motor, and a utility trailer.

Faults:

Nothing out of the ordinary. I had to replace the clutch and brakes when I got the car, but that's just common maintenance.

I found that many things were made cheaply on this car, and had to replace both the rear struts, the CV joints and boots, and other various things.

The bushings for the manual transmission are very low quality, and they rattle at high speeds, causing the shifter to rattle very loud.

General Comments:

The interior is VERY plain, and it's definitely not the type of car to turn heads. But it is an excellent first car, and has a very large trunk; which would also make it a good college car.

Faults:

The transmission was reluctant to shift up; turned out to be a rotted vacuum hose.

Starter motor made horrible noises every fifth start, but it never died.

Ignition switch was touchy; the windshield wipers and A/C sometimes would not work until I gently jiggled the key.

Every 3000 miles or so, the car would lose power and hesitate. The timing would be adjusted. Changed the timing belt, but in 5000 miles the hesitation was back. At 120,000 miles, hesitation was awful (~5 seconds) and top speed was 35 MPH. Evil Mazda dealer put in new spark plugs (even though I told him to check the timing first), which didn't help. Then it was discovered that place where crankshaft meets the timing gear was broken. Cost to fix was more than the cost of the car, so I sold it for junk value. Evil Mazda dealer insisted that I pay for the cost of the spark plugs, but not labor.

General Comments:

It's hard for me not to like the car, because it was my first. It would have been much more reliable, considering its age, were it not for the busted crankshaft (I suspect the man who sold it to me knew about it). But I did get 20,000 miles for $1900.

The A/C was very cold, and the seats were quite comfortable. The three-speed transmission made the motor turn at 4000 rpm at 70 mph (speed limit), so it was noisy on interstate trips.