1993 Mazda 323 from North America - Comments

It needs many repairs, including:

-gas tank

-rear washer fluid pump

-wheel bearing

-window crank/glass tracks

-exhaust system

-radio

-mysterious front end 'clunk'

-speedometer cable grinds and squeals in the cold

-paint peeling and some rust spots showing.

I bought this car about 6 months ago from the same dealer who sold me my last car; and since that car was so reliable I didn't take this one to be checked out - big mistake! As outlined above this car needs many repairs.

I'm not sure if I am going to do all these repairs needed, or just get rid of the car when it quits. In the meantime, though, this car has been fabulously reliable - starts every time, no matter how cold, gets good mileage, doesn't use any oil, and in general just seems to take a lot of hard driving without any complaints.

It is the very base model, so it is not at all fancy or luxurious; but it is surprisingly quick and gutsy despite only having an 82 hp motor. It handles fairly well, except in the winter the rear end tends to slide out a lot (which can be fun, if you are so inclined!) It also is very solid and well-built: I was hit quite hard from behind twice in it, and there was no damage at all.

As I haven't done any of the repairs outlined above; it has cost me next to nothing to run so far - but if I start repairing it...!

Its the owner of the car... back for an update. It's a little over a year later, and the car just keeps humming along! Its gotten a bit rougher around the edges, and I have had to knuckle under and do some of the repairs outlined - mainly the exhaust system and both tie rods needed to be replaced for safety reasons.

Beyond that, the car still runs great - it just rolled 200,000 Kilometers (my original entry was done wrong, it was kilometers, not miles - Canadian car!) Still needs most of the repairs above, and a couple more - next urgent thing needed will be new plugs and wires, as it now has a lot of problems running in the damp!

In general though, it runs like a top - when it is dry out, it fires right up, no matter how cold, and will run all day without a hiccup. It uses a bit more oil than it used to, as well, but it doesn't burn it badly, so I just keep it topped up when needed. I can't afford to replace it, so I will probably do as few repairs a possible and see how long it will keep going! Definetly a reliable car.

-speedometer cable grinds and squeals in the cold

I can testify to that!

When whirring, the speedometer on my 323 shows that I'm doing twice my actual speed. Once the interior warms up, the problem corrects itself. Strange...