I'm 17 and looking for my first car and one of the cars I have in mind is the 2004 Mazda 3. I like the Mazda 3 because of its sporty look and its gas mileage. I prefer to have the standard 4cyl. 2.0L engine. I looked on kbb.com to do some reasearch and i realized that when i saw the hatchback version(Mazda 3s) it had the 2.3 engine which gets less gas mileage than the Mazda 3i (base trim).

I have a couple of questions regarding this car?

Is there a Hatchback version of this car in the 4cyl 2.0L engine?

Does this come standard with side airbags?

Is this a good car to start out with?

Is this car reliable as in no engine problems, electrical, transmission problems etc?
I do prefer to drive the 5 speed manual so that i don't have to deal with the mechanical headaches of automatic transmissions when they go out.