General Comments:
The exterior is cute and unique. The interior is surprisly roomy for its class, very reasonable leg room for rear passengers, plus you get a very spacious boot.
The performance is above average for a 1.3 engine, to get faster acceleration you need to push the gas pedal REAL hard. Overtaking requires some planning. The clutch and stick are very easy and comfortable to use. However the gas pedal feels a bit steep.
For such a small car, I was surprised how well the traction on the ground it has. Steering could be a bit heavy while parking, but no big issues at all, since this car is not that heavy. there can be some noticeable under steering while cornering sharply at speed above 40km/h, due to the higher center of gravity of the car.
Unfortunately noisy engine and hard suspension don't make it a very comfortable ride.
The car is very reliable, this is a ten years old vehicle, I have owned it for 3 months and haven't experienced any major faults or breakdown.
Running cost is also very low around 6.9 l/km by my rough calculation.
I am a very happy 121 bubble owner and I would highly recommend it to any first car buyers especially to those students out there like me.
31st Jan 2011, 00:21
I am interested in buying a '95 Mazda 121 but I am worried about the small fuel tank and also the amount of room for back seat passengers. On average does anyone know how much fuel is used per 100km and if there would be enough room for back passengers?