This was my first car. I bought it used in January 2005 and just sold it September 2007. For the most part, it was a pretty reliable car. There were only a few problems that made me scratch my head wondering.

The belts had a problem of "squealing"... I had to replace the belts two times because of this problem. The other problem I had was that the CV-joints broke twice and there was a constant knocking noise when I turned corners.... so I had to have those replaced twice (for the period of my ownership) as well. Although minor, there was one major problem. The starter died at about 83k miles and left me stranded. That was a couple hundred dollars to replace. Even though there were a few problems while I owned it, this car held up very well for its age.

When I sold it, the car was 11 years old, and all of the power windows and locks still worked like a charm, stock radio worked great, cruise control always worked perfectly, and everything else just worked awesome!

The reason I really liked this car to start with was that it had good leg room in the front. I am 6'3" and I fit like a charm. Surprising, since it was such a small car. However, when I hopped in the backseat, the only way I'd fit was laying across the seat instead of sitting the normal way.

Visibility is great. There were no blind spots that were of my knowledge. I had no problem seeing out the back window or front window or side windows. No problem here.

The interior didn't really impress me that much. The seats were made with what seemed to be a vinyl backing and cloth on the front. The seats were not plush, nor were they very comfortable. The plastic used for the console and door controls seemed to be cheap. The area where they have the window and lock controls had plastic molding around the area that cracked and almost broke off before I super-glued it back into place. The radio could have been better -- The buttons actually began to stick and get stuck, so that was annoying. But I suspect this to be normal wear and tear and typical for a car its age. Another little annoying thing was that wheel covers never stayed on. When I had the factory hubcaps on there, the front left one ALWAYS fell off. It was pretty embarrassing riding around with only 3 hubcaps (until I got home to put it back on), but eventually, it fell off and I just replaced them with other after market hubcaps, which did not fall off.

Despite some minor problems I had with the car, I really liked it. The gas mileage was great. I typically averaged 27 MPG. It performed good, however it did not have hardly enough pick up as I wanted. The reason I sold it is because I wanted to find another vehicle with a little more "get up and go" and more features. I actually considered the newer Sentra, but was quickly turned off because it wasn't as roomy -- legroom wise.

Considering the age of the car, I don't think it'd be a great family car. But I do stand firm in my belief that it'd be a great starter car for anyone just learning how to drive.
Amount Paid (US$): 4500
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1996
Model and Options: GXE - Automatic