Note salty beach conditions for entire car's lifetime.
Muffler deteriorated after 11 years.
Oil leaked at the end of the car's life.
Seats wore pretty badly by the end.
Battery fault leaked acid all over the engine, contributing much to deterioration.
This car was awesome. After 10+ years of hard, fast driving it still ran beautifully.
Many people learned to drive manual on this and the transmission and everything still ran beautifully.
The car was driven like it was a sports car by inexperienced drivers, and it handled much better than it should have. The car beat many others off the line and was surprisingly quick for its cost and usability.
I discovered the top speed to be 120 with windows up and 117 with them down.
After running through countless sets of tires the car eventually died from lack of use and my refusal to perform maintenance.
I learned to drive stick on a 1982 Mazda GLC Wagon. The company really knew how to build cars that lasted back then. After the Protege (and with the unwelcome addition of Ford) I don't think Mazda engineers or builds cars that are any better or worse than any manufacturer's.
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