Hi I'm new to the forum, I wanted to ask you guys a few questions concerning a 2003 Mazda Protégé ES'. I am a student and working part-time and am looking for a reliable vehicle that is good on gas mileage and that is also fun to drive. I have test driven a 2003 protégé last Saturday and it was a lot of fun to drive. It is the ES/SE (whichever) model, it has 140k kilometers on it and is it super clean and nice on the inside with excellent A/C, a nice sunroof and very good Michelin tires. All this for 4000$ Canadian.

The only problem I saw on it was that it has a tiny big of rust forming in the wheel wells, is this a problem? I am looking to own this vehicle for 2-3 years minimum, but if it can last longer so be it.

So what do you guys think?
I was also trying to compare it to a 2004 Mazda 3 GX (4,200$ with160k kilometers), 2003 Nissan Sentra or a Toyota Corolla or Camry.

Help!