Faults:

Struts were replaced at 180000.

Air conditioner was fixed at 139000.

Radiator cracked at about 140000.

Leaked power steering fluid.

The paint on the car did not last at all - the hood looked like someone had sandblasted it. It was faded, though not peeling.

General Comments:

This was a wonderful first car.

The entire time I had it, I never had to replace anything major.

It was very fuel efficient and easy to maintain.

Always fairly comfortable to drive, though long drives were a little more uncomfortable.

I have never seen a car age so gracefully! Wish I could say the same for my Infiniti.

Faults:

Very little. My brakes lasted for 92K miles! No problems of any major significance until very close to 100K miles then a minor problem with the front suspension.

General Comments:

This was a beautiful car when we bought it and I believe it will become a "classic". The ride is comfortable; the engine purrs; the gas mileage is still good (23-25mpg/city) The seats are still in very good condition, the interior parts (especially the plastic molded parts) are still sturdy, seatbelts and locks, alarm still working. This is a wonderful car- I may never get rid of it!

Faults:

Brakes: needed new calipers, and rear brakes need a total overhaul.

Front end makes a crunching sound when I turn the wheel to the right. As to be expected, considering the high mileage. Guess I need new bushings.

Tranny slips slightly. Was rebuilt years ago. Still performing its task for the most part.

The heat shield located below the spark plug cables gets very hot and burns the spark plug wires. They are still elevated (not directly laying on the heat shield), however I keep a close eye on this.

General Comments:

The seats to me are very comfortable. The 4 cylinder still has decent acceleration and runs strong. To my surprise, the engine does not overheat here in Alabama with our heavy summertime humidity, and having almost 160,000 logged on the odometer.

I change the spark plugs each year using NGK. For some reason when it idles, the RPM bounces around between 500 and 800 occasionally.

It has air conditioning, but I don't use it, and I'm not willing to pay the outlandish fees to have it upgraded.

It's been a decent car, and is still running strong considering its age and mileage. From reading in other forums, this was probably the last year for decent built Mazdas. This car's reliability has been great.

I bought it used 10 years ago. I would say that's a pretty good track record with no major breakdowns, other than the tranny needing to be rebuilt not long after I bought it. Still, it gets me from point A to point B, and for now that's all that matters.