1987 Mazda 626 LX from North America - Comments

Front Brake rotors needed replaced at 237,000 miles and the only way to do it is to damage the front bearings to get the assembly apart for replacement. I do not have a problem with that as it was at 237,000 on the clock. wow.

The metal relay assembly for the injectors is mounted behind and or next to the battery and when the battery corrosion makes its way downward, it disintegrates these relays. Ten dollars for a pair of relays at a Salvage yard fixed that problem.

As someone else noted, some rust around the fuel door area and the right rear strut tower suffers from some rust, but an old license plate and some pop-rivets, plus some expanding foam fixed that problem.

The only complaint worth seriously considering is the ignition switch. All of the car's power runs through it, and so it gets hot, melts the soldered contacts and quits, or in my case, the solder melted and fell down on the next contact for enganging the starter and every time I would push the clutch to shift gears it would scrape the starter gear on the flywheel. A trip to a salvage yard for another good switch from an 88 MX6 solved that problem.

Guess what folks, I paid $500.00 for the car and the air still works, hooray-- it gets hot in the summer. I wish I had known about this car when it was new, I would have bought one new in 1987 then.

A daily driver at about 64 miles a day to and from work

and it gets 29 to 32 mpg with the air on.

Seat is comfortable and even thought the ride is a little choppy depending on the road, what do you want for $500.

Not a drag racer, but handles really well for a front driver (I put polyeurethane bushings all around), even though my true real hot rod was a modified 71 Cougar and rear drive.

30 plus mpg I can handle.

Update on this 1987 626 -- It now has 243,100 miles on the clock and I'm getting ready to buy a set of tires as these are finally about done with around 40k on them. So far, no problems, just keeps going like that little bunny... 12-19-2007.

I also bought my 87 626 for 500. It has no rust and the AC is also still working strong. I did have to fix the muffler, but it really is one heck of a car!