At 80k miles my timing belt went, this is my fault as it recommends replacing it at 60k. Everything else with this car was routine maintenance based on it's age. The stereo had some interesting problems involving whether it would come on or not and the front passenger side speaker went, all would have been fixed under warranty if I'd bothered to get the car in there. It was all solved when my son replaced my stereo with a better one (right before the car was totaled, of course!)
I loved my Mazda. I loved it enough to replace it with a 2000 Mazda ES when I was rear-ended and the car was totaled. It was reliable, comfortable, and fun to drive. The small things that bothered me were not that important - except - if they could fix one of them it would be that the window did not defrost unless I turned the air on - the heat option just does not do the trick - so in the winter that could be a bit chilly.
Actually, you shouldn't blame yourself for the timing belt going at 80K miles.. though most manufacturers recommend replacing it every 60K miles, Mazda's 1999 Protege owner's manual states the first replacement should happen between 90K-105K miles (?!?). I bought mine used with 75K miles, and after reading that decided that mine must still have the original belt.. so I replaced it immediately!
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