We bought this car in June of 1998 from a good friend. Its been terrific so far - gets amazing gas mileage (around 45 mpg on the highway), and is fun to drive. I was uneasy about buying a small car despite the need to conserve fuel, because of the amount of highway driving we do. But this little car has plenty of get up and go in town, and with the 5 speed manual transmission, is comfortable to drive on the highway and not too buzzy. The seats are firm but not uncomfortable as long as the trips aren't more than an hour or two in duration. Folding rear seats are useful when storing long items, and the trunk is spacious even with the seats upright - all of the trunk space is usable. Even fairly large items will fit. The pass-through space when the seats are folded down is not that large, however - long, wide objects will not fit.
The pictures below show the car at its most versatile - we converted it into Nanaimo's smallest hook & ladder truck in order to get our new ladders, a 7' stepladder and a 24' extension ladder, home from the store. The stepladder went in the trunk and onto the folded-down rear seats, and the extension ladder we roped down to the roof, on a sheet of cardboard to protect the car's finish, and bungeed to the rear bumper. Notice how our cat, Cosmo, somehow manages to be in every picture we take? He's just a big ham, that cat.
