Faults:

Shortly after buying the car:

1. Driver window started struggling to close and open.

2. Steering wheel's front plate kept falling off.

3. Doors struggled to lock.

4. Some minor issues with the climate control.

But to be honest... 15/16 years and about 1/4 of a million kilometers... it's perfectly understandable.

Recently:

1. The radiator started leaking on the highway, and I blew my heads - R4500 to replace.

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Overall, the car is super reliable!

General Comments:

The outside looks are stunning. The headlights, though, have a bit of a "cute" look to them, and slightly spoils the look, but other parts make up for it.

On the inside I love the climate control, cruise control, black leather seats and all the other tiny bits. Unfortunately, though, the rear seats are useless, and in my opinion this car should have been a two seater. It's just built to be a sports car, not a family car.

The boot is large, and Mazda had a genius idea of galvanizing the bodywork, so that the car would never rust... most of it. Which makes it perfect for anyone living next to the coast, or very rainy places.

I own the 2.5 V6 Automatic, which does lack power compared to the Manual, but it still kicks one hell of a punch, and I wouldn't strongly recommend it for a teen's first car.

Overall, I think it's a great buy.

Faults:

Crappy clearcoat paint.

Torn driver seat leather from wear.

Leaky valve cover gaskets.

Okay, now that all the bad stuff is out of the way...

General Comments:

Low, sleek body. Quick and agile as a Cheetah. Huge sunroof. 7600rpm redline. 28mpg on the highway. Fits a 6ft folded table - with the trunk closed. Front seats that hug you on the corners and cradled you on the highway. Best visibility short of a motorcycle or convertible with the top down.

After careful consideration, this was the first car I bought out of college (1998). Just got rid of my third one at 280,000 miles - and it could still do peelouts. Unfortunately, brakes had a major problem, and some idiot hit the fender which caused the insurance company to total it out and give it a salvage title. Also, as this was a rare car, it is not the type of car (such as Muscle cars and exotics) where you will still find parts for it 20 years from now.

A big part of the fun of this car was the light weight and agile handling. The state I live in often had helpful signs at sharp corners indicating the maximum safe speed. These were very accurate: double the number, and that was the MX-6's fun-to-drive limit.

On paper, some other cars may get better handling numbers, but they still feel heavy (like the Mitsubishi 3000GT SL I test drove BEFORE buying my first MX-6). You can't fake a 2800 lb curb weight. The 205 width tires on this car give the same grip as much more expensive 255s on a 3500 lb "sports car." It also had a multi-link rear suspension and a double-wishbone front suspension, instead of the cheaper MacPherson strut suspensions common on FWD competitors.

To be honest, the car was not maintenance free. I've done plenty of work associated with high-mileage cars, such as brakes, exhaust, and water pump. However, I drove it hard (4000rpm once a month at least), and the engine was bullet-proof. I would also skip gears a lot (1-2-4, 1-2-3-5), just so I could rev the engine higher. Clutch lasted the whole time I owned it (150K+!!!), and still had no sign of slippage.