Just to clarify, I drive a two-door Z24 (which has a double overhead cam, and I don't know if the non-Z24 does). That feature, from what I know, helps with the "get-up-and-go" factor. I think it has great acceleration for not being an super sporty car. I am able to pass other cars and merge easily as I can speed up pretty fast when I need to. The Z24 also has a sunroof, which obviously does not impact performance, but is simply nice if you enjoy that type of thing.
I have really enjoyed driving this car for the past 5 years. I bought it for about 8500 back in 2002. Then, it had 35,000 miles. Now it's going on 95,000 and I still really like it. It's been reliable and I think it looks nice. It's been perfect for me, as a young adult. It's large enough to hold 5 people if needed (but not super-comfy backseat if you usually have passengers), but I usually drive alone, so the smaller size is good for me. It's small, but it drives well and feels sturdy, in my opinion. Though there's not tons of trunk space or legroom, the backseat does fold down between the trunk and the backseat; I end up using that fairly often as it really makes a difference if you're carrying luggage or anything. Plus, mine gets really good gas mileage. I would say an average of 30mpg, which is clearly something you don't get with a bigger vehicle.

There are few minor problems I've encountered: I had to replace the motor on the driver-side window. It would get stuck and I wouldn't be able to roll it back up. The same thing has happened to the sun roof, though I just leave that closed now.
If you live in a cold climate, it's not the best for defrosting (the rear one especially takes a while). I live in Texas though, so that is something I only encounter a few times a year, so maybe I'm just not prepared to deal with the way cold weather affects my car.

The CD player which comes with the car, if it has one, breaks if I try to play burned CDs. It will play them for a while, but will inevitably end up spitting out everything, saying "Error". At that point, even non-burned CDs will play. The man who replaced mine (twice- before we figured out what the problem was!) said that burned CDs have some qualities that make them harder on this apparently sensitive player.
This is incredibly picky, but I've been frustrated with the range of the windshield wipers. It doesn't go far enough to the edge of the window, so there's almost a blind spot there if the rain or ice is bad at all.

Amount Paid (US$): 8500 (in 02)
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1999
Model and Options: Z24, automatic