Faults:

I've only owned this vehicle for a short time, however I have had to replace the distributor. Otherwise, it still has a nice, solid, original clutch, and everything else seems solid as well. The interior is perfect, and the body is close to that. It's a 5-speed manual, and my first car as a 17 yr old. I would recommend it to anyone, even at high mileage, since it is serving me well at 138,000 miles.

General Comments:

This car handles well.

Its comfortable.

A lot of power options.

Take players is broken. Looks like an internal problem.

Faults:

Replaced distributer twice, almost every 50,000 miles.

General Comments:

Except for the above chronic problem, the car had served me well. Changed front left/right axel's at 110,000 miles and muffler at the same time.

It has a little wind noise from the driver's door.

All in all, I have enjoyed driving it, it has been comfortable and can transport a lot of goods.

Faults:

The day after I got this car the poorly designed key broke in the driver side door.

Within a month the dash board lights went out (the dealer said it was the switch - turns out it was a loose connection in the wiring)

The engine light keeps coming on intermittently (it might be the oxygen sensor) but the car has also stalled a few times in Winter and in Rain.

Now the last few days the engine is running hot. I have not had a transmission blowout so far, but something tells me its just around the corner.

General Comments:

In the last four years that I have owned the car - I liked the ride and handling.

The car has been generally reliable, but has had a lot of niggling problems

The car looks great, the paint job is excellent.

Faults:

I burned the clutch up in my car about 2 months after I bought it.

I needed a new valve cover gasket, I had to continuously fill up my oil. But this was fixed at the same time my clutch was put in.

My sunroof would go back, but not forward, so in the process of forcing it back during a down pour, I broke a piece off the track.

General Comments:

I love this car. I am only 17 years old, but this car has proven to be reliable and safe.

I can't believe it's 10 years old already. The car has a look that will never go out of style.

It looks sporty, yet it's big enough to hold all of my friends.

It's very fast and easy to control. I would recommend this car for anybody.

The car was only $650.00 total, but I bought it from a friend and it already had approx. 130,000 miles. I look forward to putting a lot more miles on it, and keeping it throughout college.

Faults:

The alternator went in the car at about 200,000 km.

The spark plug wires started to deteriorate at around 205,000 km and were not replaced until 214,500 km.

General Comments:

This car has had some problems with the electrical, but that can all be blamed on poor maintenance, not the manufacturing of the vehicle.

It is a very fast car and has been taken almost to the limit. (It is clocked for 250 km/h)

A manual transmission is the only way to go for this model, automatics are "dead in the water".

Faults:

Changed window regulators at 38k miles covered by warranty. 35k 45k & 49k AC compressor noise dealer said no trouble found and did not make any repairs. 56k water pump replaced. 57k AC compressor locked up and stalled engine, went to local dealer where three previous complaint were made about AC dealer said they would not cover as warranty was up at 50k. Called Mazda USA spoke to manager for service of South West and after looking at the complaints reported earlier for the AC they replaced system at no charge. 51k ac blows warm took to local garage they could not find any leek, but recharged system. 60k AC blows warm again bought over the counter R134 refrigerent and charging system refill freon very 5k or as needed, multiple mechanics have looked at system and cannot find any leeks. I still add freon evry 5k as needed and AC blows cold 70k later at $5 a bottle. Replaced CV boots and half shaft at 85k, just noticed cv boot ripped again at 147k this is a $75 part at auto zone and has a lifetime warranty. Replaced timing belt tensioner and all serpentine belt pulley bearings at 100k this set me back $200. 140k replaced all cooling hoses and vacuum lines when replacing leaky valve cover gaskets this cost $175 in parts.

General Comments:

With the exception of AC problems this is a great car with minimal maintenance needed. We have replaced tires 3 times due to normal wear. Outside of tire cost total maintenance on this car has cost me less than $700 in over 100k miles, that is great. I switched to a full synthetic engine oil at 50k and highway mileage went from 25mpg-32mpg over the years this has slowly declined, but that should be expected after nearly 150k. My wife has always driven this car and will sadly be selling it as or family now needs something bigger. Previous to this we owned a 1993 Protoge that never had $1 spent on maintenance outside of scheduled services it had 87k when we sold it. I have really enjoyed Mazda vehichles and would recommend them to anyone.

The only flaw I have seen is at the dealer as their technicians are paid a much lower rate for warranty work they always seem to want to weasle out of it, I am sure there are good ones out there, but I have not found it yet...