1988 Mazda 323 Hatchback review from North America

Within a few days of owning the car, I noticed that the car lurched whenever I turned on the air conditioner. I had made the horrible mistake of having an after-market air conditioner put into the car in order to save a few bucks. After several interactions with the vendor, they finally fixed it. Always get factory-installed equipment.

Another problem manifested itself within ~15k miles. The clutch seemed to be slipping. It turned out there was a defective seal that allowed transmission fluid to get on the clutch. It was covered under the warranty and didn't cost me a dime. By the way, I replaced my clutch after 250k miles.

This car is the ultimate nightmare for auto manufacturers; a well-made car that will last forever with only basic care. The biggest problem I have had is the interior falling apart due to the ravages of time. The driver's seat has already gone through one set of after-market seat covers. All exposed plastic parts have been affected to some level by ozone.

I have owned this car for 21 years and still use it as my primary commuting car. It gets ~32 mpg and still has a lot of pep, even though the engine has 250k miles on it. It's fun to drive. I can't say enough about this car. I just wish I had purchased two, (one hermetically sealed) so that I'd have a replacement for this one.