Faults:

Rear struts replaced at 140 000 km.

New starter and alternator put in at 155 000 km.

Small oil leaks occasionally, but to be expected with a 16 year old car.

Sometimes sluggish to start in the winter.

General Comments:

I bought the car for $800 as a student and still love to drive it. Considering the engine size (1.6 L), it has a lot of pep to it and is great on gas. Many of the parts are interchangeable with a Mazda 323 and are easy to come by.

Came with only 4 speed manual transmission which was strange to get used to. This also makes it a little noisy to drive on the highway as it constantly sounds like it is always at a high rpm.

Faults:

Cv's went at 100000.

Tranny leaks a bit.

Rad replaced at 120000.

General Comments:

The car isn't a sports car or anything, but for a 4 door hatch it stomps.

The engine, although bomb proof, has only 90hp on a good day, but there is an incredible amount of upgrade options as it's sister car the 323 came with a turbo package, and an all wheel drive package. It even won the world rally championship for the two years the turbo AWD was offered (88-89 I think).

The suspension however is insane, put some 15 inch wheels and some sway bars from a junked 323 GT on it and it'll kill ANY stock civic on an auto cross course.

Faults:

The struts needed to be replaced, timing belt, brakes, muffler. Regular maintenance items. It has never broken down.

General Comments:

The Tracer is peppy, however the engine noise is fairly loud. The body hardware is average and the strength of the body is weak. You do not want to get into an accident in this car. This is an absolutely outstanding car and has been more reliable than all my relative and friends cars combined.