Excellent vehicle for the money...

My purchase of a 2000 Protege LX was the result of a year of research. My criteria were: gas mileage, engine performance, features and back seat room (I often carry four, sometimes five people). In the final decision between the Mazda and the Nissan Sentra, the Mazda won on the last two categories.

The mid-range LX model comes with more standard features than the competition (e.g. CD player, power locks/windows/mirrors). This outweighs the slightly higher cost when compared to other vehicles in its class. If you are looking for a completely "vanilla" car, the LX might not be the best for you. But if you want the most bang-for-your-buck, the Protege LX is definitely the way to go.

(P.S. -- For optimum performance, I would suggest the manual transmission. Automatic transmissions are often sluggish on compact cars.)