Faults:

Brakes needed replacing in October 2001.

Brakes needed replacing in October 2002.

Brakes needed replacing in October 2003.

Brakes needed replacing in September 2009.

New front tyres in 2004 due to picking up nails in the tyres.

Replaced ventilation control cable in September 2009.

New battery in August 2008.

General Comments:

Car has perfect handling.

Decent speed for everyday stop-and-go traffic.

Doesn't handle well in snow, but is able to maintain control.

Seats are uncomfortable when driving and sitting in it for long periods of time.

Faults:

Some kind of 90 degree 3 or 4 inch hose attached to my engine melted wide open, and when I turned the car off, I could hear my radiator boiling.

Cheap quality seats.

Interior pieces break off, A/C heater vents, passenger sun visor.

Speakers blow quickly.

General Comments:

Cute little car with great gas mileage. Good basic transportation.

Great gas mileage, 35mpg+. Drove 400 miles in a day and only used a little under half a tank.

Doesn't shudder or shake at high speeds, even at 85 mph.

Takes turns really well and quick. Quick little car.

Faults:

Everything is running fine, as of date.

General Comments:

Car is so good to me, I am starting to worry what might go wrong in future.

I am thinking of look for changing timing belt when it crosses 50k.. though it looks based on my past driving, that it might take 2 more years.

It is a really surprise for $2500 I paid. I am not worried about look and glamour as long as I get 25 mpg.

Faults:

When I purchased the car, I purchased it knowing it had problems. At 73200, the following needed attention:

Valve Cover Gasket leak

Check engine light on for Oxygen Sensor & Camshaft Position Sensor

Didn't have the original oil cap for the valve cover and was spilling oil

Needed an alignment

Needed a tune up.

It had a new clutch recently done before I bought it and tires (Bridgestone Potenza G009) were pretty new and great. I use them on my BMW 5 series.

General Comments:

After giving it a thorough tune up (air filter, oil filter, pcv valve, fuel filter, oil flush & change, coolant flush, throttle body cleaning, intake manifold cleaning and running through a bottle of fuel system cleaner, the car was running a lot better. After I replaced the oxygen sensor the engine code for that went away. The camshaft position sensor turned out to be a recall and a local GM dealership did the work in 1 day with 1 week notice and that code went away as well. The valve cover gasket looked like someone tried to replace it before but replaced it with the wrong one. Put on the right one and it is great so far. The car is now running superbly and I am getting about 38mpg.

The car is really a shock for an economy car. It has leather seats, power mirrors, power windows, power steering, AC, AM/FM/CD/Tape 140Watt stereo, two-tone (red/black) leather seats which are VERY comfortable. The car is built very well I thought for a car in this class.

If you find one in good condition - buy it! Parts are cheap and it's very easy to work on. If you do have to change the timing belt however - you're better off taking it to a shop unless you have an engine hoist/lift.