1989 Mazda 626 2.2 review from Australia and New Zealand

Engine leaks a little, but that's to be expected of a car that's covered 300,000k's.

Air conditioning blew. $250.

Clutch starting slipping pretty bad. $600.

Very easy car to drive, plenty of grunt from as low as 1300-1500rpm. This made cruising in 5th a breeze, even with a few other people in the car.

You can't fit a cd-player in the car, as the place where you put a cd-player (i forget its name) isn't deep enough for accommodate one. Another thing is that you'll only be able to install 4" speakers in the front, and they fire downward towards your legs, so the only advantages of a 4" driver (namely high frequencies) are lost. You won't have a problem fitting 6" in the rear however.

The hatch is plenty big, as big as what i'd expect to see in a sedan.

Although the car has plenty of low end torque, it doesn't produce it right through the rev range, by ~4700rpm the shows over. Forget about the 6000rpm redline. 0-100 came up in about 11 seconds for me, but I'm sure 10's maybe even less wouldn't be out of the question with some decent wheels (i.e traction)

Fuel economy in the city isn't exactly earth-shattering, but then you don't buy a 2.2 litre for remarkable fuel efficiency. It LOVES the freeway, doing 3000rpm @ 120km/h.

Gearbox was smooth and easy to use.

Engine was harsh and very unrefined.

All in all it was a feature filled (for '89) car that had plenty of cruisin ability. They aren't expensive to buy, and the offer incredible bang for buck. And unless you really want a 6/8 cylinder, you won't be disappointed with its effortless low-end performance.