I got my Mazda off a used car lot, she was my first car, from the start she needed a little help(80,000 miles), new tires, alignment, and a throttle body to keep the idle in check. She ran like a new car, getting 28-30 mpg, when the model is estimated to have 25mpg, smooth and easy to handle, perfect for a beginner driver. She came with those silly low profile "summer" tires, and since winter in Ohio was coming they had to go, the tiny wheel size was very limiting in what brands and types of tires I could get, but ended up with mid-grade "Wal-Mart tires" with a full warranty, and they were a huge help when the snow started to come down. Had to get the alignment done, cause I noticed the steering wheel wasn't straight anymore, turned out my tie rod was busted, a trip to the garage revealed my tie rod was busted, after getting that fixed and aligned (along with a wheel balance) I could hardly believe how smooth and straight my car was driving again. I needed to replace my throttle body due to the sensors being shot, and it telling the car it needs to have the throttle OPEN, running at higher RPMs than it should be at (2000rpm), after a simple remove, and replace, she went back down to a purring idle (700-800rpm)

The car gets some 40 MPG and I drive a lot, so this is number one in my book. Repairs are not too bad either. The parts are reasonably priced and I can do a lot of the work myself.

This is a great little car. It is very good on gas. You can go miles and miles before fill up and it only costs $20 to fill the tank. It is also cheap to keep the maintenance up on it. I have never had to fix any major problems with this car and it is 20 something years old. I would buy this car again and recommend it to anyone who wants a reliable car that's cheap on gas.