My wife and I bought an 04, 4-cyl 5-speed manual in May of 04. She drives the heck out of it, and we've only had a few issues with it. First, the HVAC panel went completely out, leaving her in a nasty rainstorm with the windows open and my daughter in the back seat in the cold. That was all she could do to keep the windshield defrosted. Got that replaced by the dealership, and went on our way.
Next issue was the plastic cladding on the doors. The strips were cut a little long, and they rubbed against each other in extreme cold and extreme heat. Again, the dealership came through for us. They took off the old cladding and replaced it with new stuff.
Final issue we had was recently, when the reverse light switch went out. Thrid time's a charm, the dealership replaced it and sent us on our way.
The only complaint I have is the goofy size of tire they put on it out of the factory. It's difficult to find it in anything but a Bridgestone (which I'm not a big fan of), but you can go with another tire size, which we did. Sorry, can't remember which size it was.
My wife loves the vehicle, and it has plenty of room in the back seat, as well as the cargo area. Our great big child seat fit great when my daughter was still rear-facing. My 6 foot frame was able to fit in the driver's seat with it all the way back, and didn't even touch the child restraint.
3 position LATCH for car seats in the back is a great feature too. Most cars only come with 2.