Faults:

The car is pretty reliable. List of things that I've had to fix:

Water pump/ cambelt (water pump blew up). This was overdue however and I neglected its replacement. Just standard maintenance.

Brake pads/rotors.

New ignition coils, leads, plugs.

Clutch slave/ master cylinder.

Timing cover (shop messed up and broke the other one and didn't tell me. So I just replaced both the upper and lower timing cover)

General Comments:

It is a really great reliable car. It was my first car, I have never owned any other and hopefully won't for a while.

The 2 litre 5 speed manual variant is very peppy and has good pickup for what it is. I did a 0 to 100kmh run and got about 8 seconds. Which is quite impressive.

Being a boy racer myself, and in the earlier years of me owning this car, just s**t at driving manual, the car has been given its fair share of abuse. Gear grinds, limiter bashing, harsh braking. All of the things you shouldn't do to a car, I have done at some point.

Despite this, over the years of owning it, it still performs wonderfully and never fails to get me to where I need to go. Parts are also quite common and can be found in junkyards for the more obscure things that aren't supplied anymore.

It really is a great vehicle. It is geared for acceleration right off the line, meaning it feels like an absolute rocket in 1st. The downside of this is that it sits around 3k rpm doing 100 down the motorway. This creates a bit of cabin noise but it has never bothered me.

These engines burn oil. It is just a problem they have. The Mazda Fs-De struggles with this at higher mileages, but despite mine having 307000kms on the clock, it hardly burns any.

The car is 23 years old and is sort of falling apart, but in all the right ways. Just cosmetic stuff like the roof rack cover cracking, and a few cosmetic blemishes. Some annoying noise with the ac going. But it isn't too noticeable. Even when the water pump blew up and spewed green coolant s**t all over my high school's carpark I still drove it 30 odd kilometres to the mechanic, topping it up with water as I went. Even when the clutch hydraulics soiled itself on the motorway and the pedal wouldn't come back out without me yanking it with my foot from behind, still managed to get home.

I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION IT IS STILL ON THE ORIGINAL CLUTCH! after 307000 kilometres. That in itself is impressive, given I am its 8th owner and learned in it.

Has plenty of life to go, idles nice and quietly at a stable rpm. Drives smooth, shifts smooth. I get about 700 kilometres to a tank of 50 litires. Brakes fine. Really can't fault it. It just never dies.

Andy

Faults:

Brake fluid seeping occasionally out of the clutch master cylinder.

Clutch pedal rubbers wear out very fast on this car; they only last for about 20,000km.

Air-con gas was released by a dodgy mechanic after I had an argument with him after changing the water pump.

Water pump started leaking at 290,000km.

Radiator top hose cracked at 275,000km.

Wheel alignment needed adjustment around 245,000km, only after I hit a kerb.

General Comments:

This car is very reliable, I have taken it to mechanics who said that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this car, and it should be good to go for another 5 years. They also mention that they've seen many of these cars go up to 500,000km with no problems.

It picks up very nice (comparing to other cars in its class).

The handling is great too, but not in the wet.

It is a bit noisy in the freeways, and the blind spot is quite large.

Despite all the problems aforementioned, those were the only problems I've ever had since I've owned it, and within 100,000km.