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Hi
I was wondering in general, as I intend to own my 1999 mazda familia 1.5 vvti for a long time, what I should look out for and in general how reliable of a car are they?
The one or two small issues I have had so far are minor such as water on the spark plugs, but that was my own doing.
As you know and I don't, what might be common problems that could occur with these cars, and how would I go about avoiding them?

As we have previously discussed, this is a well regarded model with no stand-out weaknesses. However, it is an old car now but you can minimise the risk with regular maintenance. The cambelt recommended interval is 90,000km, so if there is no cambelt history, it would be advisable to have it changed, along with the waterpump.
Other items to consider are also general maintenance things such as brake fluid change, coolant change and check/replace all other fluids and lubricants as necessary.
Find a good service provider that you can trust and ensure the car is always serviced on time in accordance with any recommendations.