1997 Mazda 323 Astina hatch review from Australia and New Zealand

Absolutely 100 percent reliable. Other than regular servicing the car never cost me anything. Can't fault this car in this respect.

The brakes are poor in my opinion, and the engine gutless.

Also you get a lot of road noise depending on the tires you run.

I had no problems whatsoever with this car. My problem is with the dealer and Mazda Australia.

The sales guy that I did the deal with went on holidays, so a week later when I came to pick up the car the sale had been handed to another salesman (salesperson?). I guess this guy was not getting any of the commission from the deal so he was not interested in me. After he made me wait forever he then basically threw me the keys and said see you later. At the same time I could see other customers picking up their cars and getting the red carpet treatment, including a a full run down of their car... I got none of this. Very poor service I thought.

My other complaint was that 6 months later the new model came out and Mazda dropped the price nearly $10,000!

Great for my resale value...NOT! How could they charge $32000 for my car, and then drop it down to nearly $22,000 for a newer and better model?

For this reason Mazda have blown it with me.