Yep. I bought a 2002 in 2005. Low miles, well cared for. Drove it for almost 8 more years and 100k miles. It was a blast to drive, my kids loved riding around in it, but the rust was taking over. I too, was sad to see it go. It was such a nice package, but so many spots for rust. WTF.

Interesting about cylinder 3. I thought those motors were pretty stout. What is the situation? I saw an MS6 recently with a very smoky exhaust...betting on fried turbo on that one. But a smoked turbo isn't usually the end of the road on cars, the other items you mention are more troubling though.

OK, so how about this: The car appears somewhat feminine in appearance, meaning that it has softer lines, and a less aggressive demeanor than perhaps more masculine, aggressive cars. All I'm saying is that for a bananas-crazy balls-out track machine, this seems a contradiction in terms. It has the bones of a…

Well, no. The hood is ass too. But I can get past it. The GT350R is better in every way than this.

Hmm...my Protege5 had motor mount issues. And rust issues. But it was still a super reliable car that never ever let me down. Loved it. But the rust won the war. Had to move it on.

None of the pictures make this grille look good. It looks like something from JC Whitney. Everything else is very good...just need to ditch the grille. Stock is better than this.

And I still disagree. For many people, the 500 will never make the list of cars to look at when buying something for performance. That's just my opinion. You can have yours too.

Umm, any car that looks like it would be driven mostly by women. There are many of these cars out there. Miatas are one of the few that get a pass because they are just so good to drive. I suppose the Abarth earns a similar badge, but it's still just not a good looking car. It's oddly proportioned and with those…

Can you expand on the reliability statement? I've always loved these and the Mazdaspeed3 of that era. What are the hot buttons? I don't feel like pouring through forums right now....

#ohmygodwhocares

I love my print copies of R&T. I don't have any desire to convert to digital, though they want me to. But when it goes away completely, will I really be upset? Probably not much. There is such a dearth of (free) information out there nowadays, it makes it hard to justify spending more for something similar. Sure,…

Don't care. Still looks like a girl's car.

Is that a toy chainsaw?

When the 1-Series re-launches in a couple years, it will be on the new front-wheel drive Mini platform and will probably come back to America as a sedan destined to do battle with the hot-selling Mercedes CLA and Audi A3. Enjoy the rear-drive hatch while you can. Which you can't, if you're an American.

I came here hoping for funny stuff like The People of Wal-Mart. I am disappoint.

They MUST offer a real manual transmission or this car is not on any list of mine. Sorry. Same reason I cross off any other flappy paddle sports cars. It's just not the same.

Yes. Because I don't give a shit about lap times. I'm not that awesome. I want to enjoy DRIVING the car. #SaveTheManuals

This engine bay doesn't belong in a $17k classic. Clean that shit up!

Needs thin chrome bumper to cover up this shit.

As long as minivans have power sliding doors and flat load floors, people will keep buying them. These are the primary benefits over any of the crossovers. Now, if someone makes a crossover with power sliding doors, the battle just might be over...