Greetings from SW US
 

Hello Mazda Folks, I'm here to seek knowledge in choosing my next long distance commuter car. I drive to work 200 miles and stay four days before returning, so Japanese reliability, endurance, and gas milage is a must. I owned and drove a 2001 Protoge for a couple of years and liked it. It came from a rental lot and had the 1.6 lt. and a 4 speed automatic. I'd stayed with the vehicle if it would of been a manuel shift. My current commuter is a 2003 Nissan Sentra Spec V and I love it, it'll be hard to replace. I hope to get another two years out of it but I'm coming on 170,000 and had to put a bit on money in it; so here I'm at exploring. If the thing gave up the ghost tomorrow, what would I replace it with. The Mazda 3 is currently on my top 3 short list but I do have several questions which I'll take there. Thanks.