Faults:

Seats show a lot of wear at 100,000.

Replaced radiator at 125,000 miles.

Complete brake job at 175,000 miles.

Replaced both front axles at 225,000 miles.

Replaced Valve cover gasket at 225,000.

Replace timing belt every 70,000 miles as recommended.

General Comments:

A great car. All maintenance has been routine.

The car was totaled in 2003, but because it was so reliable, I bought it from my insurance company and had it fixed. This was at 134,000 miles.

The car just keeps on running. I still get 33 mpg, and I am working on the 2nd paint job.

Faults:

The exhaust needed some welding, and the brakes were replaced to be on the safe side.

General Comments:

I had this car for 4 years, and it NEVER let me down.

Not the ideal car for going up the ski hill in the winter, but I once drove it 2400 km in a weekend, and it performed like a dream.

When I got rid of this car, I think I had put a total of $500 into it (DIY maintenance, above-mentioned brakes, etc)

Faults:

- Front axles

- Strut mount in the back.

General Comments:

This car is plain awesome. I bought it at 264.000 miles with a 150.000 miles replacement engine in it. (After 250.000 miles the head gasket leaked and the previous owner popped in a 1.8 engine from a wrecked Miata.)

Mechanically and safety wise, the car needed little so far. Nonetheless, I went to a few scrap yards and replaced & upgraded quite a few things.

Peppy engine, decent miles per gallon. Ford uses the same chassis for the Escort, so no wonder that the interior is spacier than you may expect considering the size of the car!

If someone complains about costs for this car, it is because they cannot do it themselves. A good 80% are old beaters by now, and many things that fail are because of a lack in maintenance from the previous owner!

In addition: After ~60k miles, certain parts are more likely to fail on all cars. Hey, my rear strut mounts lasted for 270k miles! The car has no rust, but the mounts were rusted out.

Numerous Mazda and Ford and some Kia models share allot of mechanical and electrical parts so Ebay, junkyards, etc. are your friends.

If your dealer charges more than $600 for a brake job, no wonder the Protege you bought for $1200 seems expensive all of a sudden!

Faults:

No real problems. Give it an oil change twice a year and it's good.

Replaced upper radiator hose and drive belt at 145000.

Replaced timing belt at 125000.

Replaced the front brake pads at 150000.

Replaced muffler after "bottoming out" on a rough dirt road.

General Comments:

A surprising number of these little old Mazda hatchbacks are still running on the streets of Vancouver.

This car is perhaps the ultimate econobox. It's hard to think of a more basic, reliable, fuel-efficient, no-nonsense vehicle. It does its job with no fuss and little expense.

Driving carefully, I always obtain 40-42 mpg on highway driving, with a vehicle which is now 14 years old.

However the 1.6 L automatic has weak acceleration, esp. uphill. You won't spend much time in the passing lane. I know this because I drive a lot through high mountain passes in the Rockies.

I wish they were still made, because I'd certainly buy another one new.

Faults:

I have owned this car for over 1 year so I have driven this car in all 4 seasons in Canada (f/w/s/s) with

(w) inter as the worst season so I will discuss my experience for this reason:

A) With windchill temperatures below -20^C/0^F highway driving becomes a challenge as the windows, esp. at the back, become frost covered on the inside even with heater on maximum level. I try to rub it off at traffic breaks, but it just freezes over again! Arrggghhh!!

B) I had to keep a sweater, jacket and gloves on while driving at 100km/h or 60mph on the highway even with the heater on maximum.

General Comments:

Reliable: Despite the window frosting on the windows, I was impressed with how reliable this car was especially for its age (1994) and when I park outside daily at temperatures below -20^C/ 0^F. The car started up without ever stalling or required restarting.

Great MPG: I used this to commute to work 70km round trip Mon-Fri on the highway. With a full tank Monday morning, I usually refill it by Thursday evening or Friday afternoon so it lasts about a week of highway driving.