[slow&rusty]

Hugh - My sister just bought her first car its the exact same Mazda as yours.

She thought she got a deal on it, it has a little over 100K...and she paid $1700 for it. When she had it inspected at two independent Mechanics they found a whole host of things wrong with it only due to negligent previous owners. They quoted over $1500 in labor only for the following items:
1) Replace timing belt
2) Replace water pump
3) Replace A\C belt
4) Replace P\S belt
5) Oil change and filter needed
6) Flush tranny
7) Both CVs have cracked boots (left one was quite bad and knocking)
8) Rear brakes needed
9) Front brakes needed (rotors and pads)
10) Wipers needed
11) Lower ball joints needed
12) Full tune-up recommened (plugs, cap, rotor, wires, coolant flush, fuel and air filters as well)

As she is a student...she did not have the ca$h and so I told her to make the 600+ mile to my place and I replaced everything on the above list for less than $400 (parts cost) and it took me about 20hours to do everything.

After that the car ran superbly...very smooth and not bad power at all. She was happy...car will be good for another 100K.

FWIW...the tranny on these cars are made by Ford and her car shifts like butter.

Yasin