1992 Mazda 626 Capella review from Australia and New Zealand

Having only had the car for ten thousand kilometers I was quite dissapointed. Having been an owner of a V8 it was time to get something a little more fuel efficient, why not a supercharged diesel wagon?

Within the first few months of owning it the cylinder head needed to be replaced, and these are not cheap, as it is an import and a diesel. The price to fix this including new injectors was just under $3500 AUD!!!

After this was done the car ran a little sluggish, then the supercharger AND the fuel pump died, and this was another $3000 AUD!!!

The supercharger could not be replaced, as rebuild kits are unavailable, so we had to engineer a whole new forced induction system (a turbo), which took a whole two months to do.

A few other things had to be replaced, and I spent a lot of money upgrading the cooling system.

The car is very comfortable to drive, has a very responsive and intelligent power steering system, and comfortable velour seats.

The supercharger was very sluggish (not sure if it was just cause it was on it's way out), but after the turbo was installed it became highly responsive and a little better with disel.

Fuel economy is VERY VERY good, last recorded on a 42 litre tank was 640 kilometers, which is twice as good as gas.

I'm a very tall person and I find that leg room all around is very good, the rear seats being almost as comfortable as the front!

All in all, if you want a family car that's very good on fuel and very comfortable and built stronger than an aussie family car, this is for you.

Just make sure you get one that has had all the above done to it, as these job are the most expensive, and once they are done you will have smooth sailing for a very long time.

These cars are imported and are subject to import problems:

- Hard to find parts

- Insurance

- Damage in transit (namely mechanical as these cars don't like to sit for months on end)

- Generally not user friendly.

Happy motoring all.