2002 Mazda Protege5, automatic, 202k miles. Needs nothing. Had a new timing belt at 160k, so it's not due for another 60k. Runs good, but the wife is ready for something newer after it threw a belt and overheated on her. I'm 95% sure the overheat did no damage. Oil and water look fine, it runs fine, etc. I'm still putting miles on it to increase that level of confidence. As part of this repair it obviously got a new alternator/water pump belt. The overheat caused the radiator to pop a hole, so that is new as well. Further inspection under hood revealed a few other issues that I'm going ahead and taking care of before it moves to it's next home - The coolant recovery tank had a crack, so it's being replaced. There were a few minor oil leaks around the valve cover, so I replaced it, and went ahead and did a new PCV, PCV grommet, and oil cap seal at the same time. She said it's been using about a quart of oil every 2000 miles, but I'm pretty optimistic that I cut that in half with the fixed leaks, though obviously it's hard to quantify that immediately following a repair. It does show a puff of blue smoke on startup after it's been sitting a few days, so that points to valve seals. Only other mechanical issue is it has a click on tight left turns from a stop that sounds like a CV joint, but a visual inspection shows the boot in good shape and I've honestly never seen a CV go bad that still had it's boot, so I'm not sure. Throwing axles at it probably fixes the issue, but I can't say for sure. I know that a car in this price range probably ends up in the hands of a kid or someone who can't afford to throw money at it, so I've put a few extra bucks into it to get it to a point where they shouldn't need to think about it for a while.
Other - It got a full respray a couple years ago to deal with the different panels fading differently. No wreck, it was just ugly. It's a Maaco spray, but I prepped it right - sending it to them with all trim, lights, roof rack, window squirters, etc. removed. Did some detail work while it was apart polishing lights and such. It really looks nice cleaned and waxed. Interior is in good shape as well. No tears, no burns, etc. Not perfect, but impressive for the miles. The AC works great, but is doing the funky thing these all eventually do where it doesn't run the compressor in fan positions 2 and 3. I hear there is a fix, but I haven't dug into it.
It's probably going to prove to be a perfectly fine driver as it sits. It also might be a good donor for someone with a hot drivetrain but a rusty shell. I know these things rot up north, but this one has spent its whole life in the south and is completely rust free.
I'd like to get $3,500 for it, but if you can get it out of my life without me having to put it on CL and deal with that headache, that's worth a few bucks to me as well.
I'll get a few recent pics after I get it cleaned up, but here's a pic from a couple years ago after paint -
