Cars.com is crap. They have bubkis when it comes to cars older than '98. While searching for any Mazda 1990-1997, AutoTrader came up with 60+ cars within 75 miles, while cars.com had like 10.
Your best bet is to use everything. AutoTrader, E-bay, Cars.com, AutoMart, etc. some people when selling a car will list it at only 1 of those. Other people(like St. Louis Honda), will list a car with a high price on one of the sites then put it on E-bay with no reserve. That's how I ended up getting my car for $1153 when it was listed on AutoTrader for $3990, and the car itself had a price of $2995. And they(STL Honda) just sold a 929S on E-bay for like $1K.
And don't give up after searching for just 2 weeks. I found my Protege after months of searching, and I was looking for 3 different cars(MX-3 GS, 1st gen Protege, 2nd gen MX-6 LS). Wait long enough and you get a good deal on a good car. The main problem with my Protege is a weak clutch, beyond that it's just little problems here and there, but the car runs great and is a blast to drive.
The thing is, you'll never end up 100% satisfied. You'll have to open your searching scope. As I found out, finding a '92 Emerald Green MX-3 GS 5 speed for under $2500 is virtually impossible(I did however find an auto version for $1800, but it was in a worse condition than my Protege, so I'm glad I let it go). While I'm not a fan of black cars, I ended up with one, and I've grown to accept that and I know that I can get it painted if it really bothers me(Lapis Blue...mmmm).
So just hang in there and you'll get your Prelude.
