This was my first car ever and I really loved it. It was a manual, and I bought it with 96k miles on the odometer (although it had been switched) and a huge book full of receipts. The engine and transmission went without a problem for the full time I owned it, except many electronic bits seemed to go out. First the tachometer, then the gas gauge. It never left me stranded though, and that is what really matters. It had the typical vibrations and noises in older cars, but most of them were easy to find and eliminate. The interior was cheap but functional and actually not that bad looking. The color, windsor blue, was great and the paint held up really well after 16 years. Go into a small accident and only the bumper cracked a little. The car was built well. The styling may be a little dated nowadays, but I and many others still find it very attractive. It had the 2.0 engine, which was pretty slow, but mated with the 5 speed transmission it felt zippy enough and was really fun to drive in the corners, and also got around 22 mpg no matter how I drove it.