In the old days (late 90s- mid 2000s), Mazdas could be had for cheap, since no one seemed to want them, and insurance rates were very low. I've had very good luck with them, from a 1971 piston model through 5 of them to present. There are two sitting in our driveway now. Jody's Mazda 2 has had one set of brakes, two sets of tires, and will need a battery soon. Not bad for 110,000 miles.
Used Mazdas aren't are cheap as they used to be, but a late 90s 626 with a 4 cylinder and manual auto be in that ballpark. I had a '98, and averaged 28 mpg over many thousands of miles. Do be aware that the late 90's automatics in Mazdas were problem prone, however.
It will be interesting to see if the 2016 Mazda6 holds up. They're getting 40 EPA MPG out of those. In 10 years, they'd be a great econo car.
David Bricker / SYR
