1998 Mazda 626 LX from North America - Comments

One week after the purchase, the alternator went out. It cost about $700 to replace at the dealership. Then, at about 92,000 miles, the brakes began squeaking. I had to replace the CV boots, rotors, and brake pads (another $800). Then, it jumped time. I had to replace all the belts in the engine ($600). It still hasn't been running well. Now, not even a year after my initial purchase, the transmission has blown. It will cost $2500 to replace. The car is only worth $2750 as a trade in, so replacing the transmission is a waste of money.

I purchased this car from a private party. The guy was a mechanic and said the car was in great condition. I paid $5000 for this car. The car is still in excellent condition, as far as looks go, but that just doesn't matter when it doesn't run. And I only bought this car because I was rear-ended in my Accura Integra! It has been the worst car decision I have ever made.

Yeah the 626 auto tranny isn't the most reliable of units. However, if you're on a budget, why are you getting simple things serviced at a dealership? Things like Alternators, CV boots, and brakes are dirt cheap at regular garages (in comparison). You could have even traded in the alternator for a rebuilt unit at one of many alternator shops. The tranny is a different story, but nevertheless, don't throw money down the drain needlessly. A problem with my car would have to baffle every mechanic in town before I'd leave it with a dealership. Even if that were the case, I'd seriously consider rolling it off a cliff as a viable alternative.

Interesting if the prior owner really was a mechanic because in my experience, mechanics don't necessarily look after their own cars all that well.

They seem to wait for something to break before they fix it instead of performing preventative maintainance.

I got the same exact car and one of my heads is warped and haven't had the car two weeks and that happened..I'm sure they sold it to me that way

and they said it will cost 850-1000 to fix, but its really not worth thEIr time and I still owe car payments... i bought it as is, but isn't there some kind of 30day lemon law?

I actually purchased my 626 from my mother who took extremely good care of it. It was the worst mistake ever. I sold a perfectly good Honda Civic to upgrade to the bigger vehicle. Now the civic is gone and 6 months later my transmission is gone. I know it isn't because of not taking care of it with regular maintenance, because my mother is a stickler for having cars last forever. My mechanic says it will cost 2500-3000 to replace. I only spent 2000. I am going to take this stupid car and run it across the scales and use the 2500 that it would cost to repair it and use it for the down payment on something with a warranty. (not a Mazda)

About a month ago I purchased a 1998 mazda 626, it ran great, perfect condition. after about 1,000 miles the transmission starts to slip, then burns up. can you imagine how I feel right now, then I find out that it was rebuilt about 13,000 miles ago.

I was never much of a ford person to start with, but I bought it for the gas mileage. but if I could just get it to pull one last time i'd let it go off a cliff.

Hello All.

I've heard so many comments and complaints on this blog and others about the 1998 automatic Mazda 626. It seems to me that I may have been REALLY lucky with mine. It is now 2007 and my car is running absolutely great. I bought it in 2001 and the only major thing I've had to replace was the alternator which was covered because it was recalled or something... I even had a terrible car accident 3 years ago, and the insurance company wanted to "total" it... but I bought it back from them and had a Body mechanic fix it... It still works great... Now that I think about it, it may be because I have a 5-speed. Everyone I have spoken to had an automatic...

I have a 96 626 I bought two years ago with 13k on it. It had slight body damage, but the motor was good. I have the 5-speed manual transmission and it runs great. This car can really move.

I have a 1998 with an automatic transmission and so far it runs very well. I bought it in 2005 with 150,000 miles on it and it now has 170,000 and still runs fine. I'm getting ready to replace the front brakes and do some basic tune-up maintenance, but I don't have any major problems with the vehicle at all.

I have a 1998 Mazda 626 and the transmission just went out and it wouldn't shift out of 2nd gear and just keeps running the rpms up on the motor, its really depressing. I thought it was a much better car.