Personally, I think that the second generation MX 6 is on of the best appearing cars. It looks refined.
Underneath it shares its chassis with the Ford Probe, so you can get parts at Ford dealers for a lot less than at Mazda dealers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_MX-6#Second_generation_.281992-1997.29
Having rented a Probe with a four cylinder and automatic - it is a combination that I would avoid. The four cylinder had plenty of power at high rpm, but the automatic always shifted at low rpm, unless you manually held gears. In addition, the automatic absorbed a lot of power. Get a manual transmission.