I lived in Madrid for two very happy years. That was during the boom, and it was a fabulous place to live, the only downsides being the noise, traffic and pollution, but probably no worse than many other big cities, and the public transport was excellent and cheap, so were the taxis.
The boom is over, Spain is now bust and heading for the abyss. It's also awash with illegal immigrants although I suspect they will move on to greener pastures.
Very sad - socialism and the EU have ruined a great country.