1994 Mazda 626 LX V6 review from North America

Changed window regulators at 38k miles covered by warranty. 35k 45k & 49k AC compressor noise dealer said no trouble found and did not make any repairs. 56k water pump replaced. 57k AC compressor locked up and stalled engine, went to local dealer where three previous complaint were made about AC dealer said they would not cover as warranty was up at 50k. Called Mazda USA spoke to manager for service of South West and after looking at the complaints reported earlier for the AC they replaced system at no charge. 51k ac blows warm took to local garage they could not find any leek, but recharged system. 60k AC blows warm again bought over the counter R134 refrigerent and charging system refill freon very 5k or as needed, multiple mechanics have looked at system and cannot find any leeks. I still add freon evry 5k as needed and AC blows cold 70k later at $5 a bottle. Replaced CV boots and half shaft at 85k, just noticed cv boot ripped again at 147k this is a $75 part at auto zone and has a lifetime warranty. Replaced timing belt tensioner and all serpentine belt pulley bearings at 100k this set me back $200. 140k replaced all cooling hoses and vacuum lines when replacing leaky valve cover gaskets this cost $175 in parts.

With the exception of AC problems this is a great car with minimal maintenance needed. We have replaced tires 3 times due to normal wear. Outside of tire cost total maintenance on this car has cost me less than $700 in over 100k miles, that is great. I switched to a full synthetic engine oil at 50k and highway mileage went from 25mpg-32mpg over the years this has slowly declined, but that should be expected after nearly 150k. My wife has always driven this car and will sadly be selling it as or family now needs something bigger. Previous to this we owned a 1993 Protoge that never had $1 spent on maintenance outside of scheduled services it had 87k when we sold it. I have really enjoyed Mazda vehichles and would recommend them to anyone.

The only flaw I have seen is at the dealer as their technicians are paid a much lower rate for warranty work they always seem to want to weasle out of it, I am sure there are good ones out there, but I have not found it yet...