1988 Mazda 323 Turbo 4x4 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Rust here and there.

What do you want for £500?

This car is a reliable, capable little rocket that is great fun to drive. Looks naff, but packs a 135 bhp 1.6 turbo motor, permanent 4wd and 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. Destroys 5 GT Turbos, Nova GTE's etc, especially in the wet, and doesn't blow up every week either. Handling is amusing with shedloads of grip eventually giving way to a 4 wheel drift which is so controllable. Run it on cheap remoulds and it all happens at nice safe speeds.

Treat it to an oil change twice a year and plugs / air filter once a year and it just keeps on going. Zero oil consumption, zero breakdowns - typical Japanese efficiency. Mind you it will do 22mpg if you really give it death.

Must go - have a 5 turbo to bait on the way home. And he'll lose, just like he lost yesterday.

I bought a 1988 Mazda 323 4x4 16v DOHC turbo for 1200 pounds and I loved it for all of a day then the gear box exploded taking the transfer unit with it, the prop-shaft dropped and spiked into the tarmac impacting the diff and nearly ripping the rear wheels from the car! good job I was only doing 60 mph, otherwise I could have been a hedge ornament. I am going to fix the car even though it will be expensive because it put a massive smile on my face when I blew away some geezer in his Subaru Impreza off the lights, boy did he get a shock when my car started dumping bits of metal all over the road in front of him! haha.

I have a Mazda 323 and will be able to post some comments for you, but was wondering if you may be able to place me in contact with the person who wrote the last set of comments stating that he blew up his gearbox.

If not I shall happily write some comments, but ask to put in a message to the writer at the end.

Mr Anonymous.

It was a very bad day for my and my Mazda when the gearbox gave up! I now have all the parts I need to fix the car and more, including Front spoiler, side skirts, 16in wheels, new suspension, new disks and pads all round and enough bodywork repair stuff to stop it from rusting for a few more years, but no place to do the work, so I bought another one and now I have more spare parts than I know what to do with. I will be renting a garage to get the work done in, and hope to have it back on the road for the new year. For now though I'm quite happy with my new one even though It's not as fast it does have a go faster bulge in the bonnet!

As for getting in contact with me, well that could be difficult because I am reluctant to give any of my details out over the net. If you can think of a suitable way then let me know on this page!

Adios Amigo.

My dad had a mazda 323 4x4 turbo. it had 208 bhp at the wheels and 297 bhp at the fly wheel I loved it. could someone tell me if the mazda has a limeted slip diff. also we had a lot of problem with the clutch because it sliped all the time even with an ap 1 on there. best moment with the car was beating an evo 5 away from the lights. mind you it did do 0-60 in 4.9 seconds and top end was 145 mph.

The 4 wheel drive system allows all wheels to rotate at differing speeds. This is why handling is so good. The model I owned (see review: better than a 10 valve audi) has a button on the dash to lock the differentials. This is why so many of these cars have broken transfer boxes/diffs. If you lock the diff on dry surfaces all the wheels will turn at the same speed. This places incredible stain on all the drive components. You can feel the steering become heavy because the wheel on the inside of the bend must move slower than the one on the outside thus resisting any turning. If you want your car to last transfer boxes and differentials are prohibitively expensive to repair so don't press the button. Only lock the diff if the car is stuck in mud or on ice and always disengage before driving normally. Great car. Thank you.

That car rocks!!!

I bought one a few weeks ago, but it is the newer model from 1990. Pedal to the metal and it just keeps on going. Those Mazda Turbo's are rare cars so whoever owns one, should take good care of it. Unfortunately I problably will have to get a new turbo for my car soon because previous owners didn't warm up the car properly. And who turns a turbo's engine off when you just raced it?

Does anyone know or Mazda still delivers the turbo-kits?

Hi, I've had this cars around be since 1998 when my brother had a 86 turbo one, completely standard, which he put on its side down a country lane, 100% write off. So that car sat in a friends garden for about a year, then I managed to find one in a breakers yard, the shell was OK, not perfect, and the turbo was blown, engine was wrecked, along with the gearbox, but the best bits on it was all the engine mods, uprated intercooler, hks blow valve, straight through exhaust and other bits and bobs, £200. Anyway I started stripping down my brothers in about 2000 only for me to get banned from diving. So things sort of went outta the window. But anyway, in the end, about 2003 it all got down, well sort of the engine was really smokey and the body had started to rot, and I just seemed to be jinxed with the cars. Showed my mate what it could do and he didn't close the bonnet propely, flew up at 50mph and wrecked that. Id had enough then, so it just sat on my drive rotting away. Posted a few questions on if anyway had a spare bonnet, no avil, untill a month ago. I get an E-mail of someone saying the got a complete car, 2 owners from new, completly standard, 64000k, with a broken camshaft, £300. So I go and look at it, been garaged all its life, not a spec of rust or a dent on it, just a couple of scratches on the bumpers. I get it home to start work on it, I got plenty of spare, 3 engines by now. What had happened was the cam pully snapped off of the camshaft, so I changed the head, fired it up, sounded like a desil, no oil gettting to the top of engine. Turns out there was an oil blockage in the bottom of the engine, hence that's why the cam seized up. Well I unblocked it, put it all back together and now it is running sweet as. After 5 odd years of hassle with the cars, I'm chuffed to bits. Sod any other car out there, these are my dream cars, there so rare, that's what I like.

Well that's my story, love the cars, plus I've got another complete car as spares, so I'm keeping it, and hopfully I don't do what my brother done : (

I went out in a mates 2wd saphire cosworth, but the 'unpredictable' back end made me think a 4wd was a sensible option!! there too expensive for my likings so I took a test drive in the 323 4x4 turbo and 4yrs on I've never looked back fantastic car just service it regulary and itl reward you no ends.

Not the best car, look poor, dated and not worth the bother, boys get something worth driving such as my evo 6, no mazda 323 tiny turbo will come close, just a horrible looking car although japanese engineering is good, that's about it!!!

Does anyone know where I can find mor einformation on this car? I own a -87 with some mods to it, but I'm worried about the engine and 4wd system and want to find out what my options are. Would be great if someone could find out what gearboxes fit what Mazda engines.

Please email me any info at joakimkarlsson@home.se.

Mate not everyone wants an EEEEVO or farmers wagon STI they are as common as muck, and a lot of people probably including your self jump on the bandwagon of 'must be seen to have a fashionable car'. They are extremely capable cars and in factory road trim they are detuned. 250bhp+canbe achieved without even opening the engine, and they are atleast 200kg lighter than an evo or sti not bad for 85/86 technology.

My brother bought a 88 323 turbo 1.6, 4 years ago with the gearbox shot. I was back in school then used to take out for the odd trip school without him having a clue. It was fire went like stink, he parked up used it and parked it up for 3 years it was sorn. So now in september 2007 18th birthday just gone I decided to take things in my own hands. Part exchanged my 1996 BMW 328i coupe for the Mazda. Now I have tax and tested it, taking it for trackin and sticking on a bigger intercooler, bigger e.c.u, air filter and bleed valve all comes in the deal. These are gems so look after them and you won't be disapointed.

I've had my 323 turbo for 11years now, I love how I can beat pretty much everything I'm up against. I have spent a small fortune on the car, omex ecu/solid shimmed lifter conversion/high lift cams/vj23 turbo/ lightened and balanced/forged pistons and conrods/ massive intercooler/leda coilovers/330mm brake conversion, running 27psi of boost and so on. I had run it on the rollers and got just short of 350bhp and 300lb torque from the little 1.6. The only problem is I keep on blowing up the gears in the gearbox, mostly in third gear in a straight line coming on boost, (which is mind blowing by the way as it comes in) and third gear happens to be my favorite gear as well because 1 and 2 is all over to quick. Has anybody got a better idea about a gearbox conversion on this car? I will probably be scrapping the car soon and converting all the good bits to a mid engined light weight kit car, rear wheel drive, so I could even go with strong type of front wheel drive gearbox. Has anybody got any ideas, help!

I have a convertible version of turbo 323 and as luck has it, the parts are interchangeable with a Ford Laser G series.