In addition to being a Nissan fanboy at the time, I also viewed (and still view) Mazda as a grossly underrated car company. Their vehicles have a certain character about them, one that’s lacking in most “modern” cars. Well, one day while I was riding my bike to work (the G20 had since become a lawn ornament) I came across this very clean-looking 626 for sale at a local auto repair shop. I could tell it was a V6 by the wheels, but remained doubtful it was a five-speed. Despite that, I went to check the car out and, lo and behold, it was!
I immediately left a deposit on the car, and within a week it was in the same spot in my driveway that my G20 had inhabited not too long before. I always viewed this car as my little secret: At the time, 0-to-60 in 7.1 seconds was pretty damn fast for a family sedan, and it handled VERY well (remember, this car loaned its chassis to the Ford Probe, which was also considered one of the better-handling FWD cars of its day).
The KL motor revved to 7K and beyond, and sounded very good while doing so (after I put my exhaust on, I regularly found myself downshifting just to hear the exhaust note). This was definitely a car designed by the same people who brought us the RX-7. Unfortunately, the car didn’t seem to love me as much as I loved it, and it took great joy in nickel-and-dimeing me to death. The electrical and mechanical problems never seemed to end, and the final straw came when it suffered a catastrophic meltdown right after I put in a low-mileage engine. It was time to cut my losses at this point–this car HAD to go. And then, just as I was beginning to think I’d never find a reliable car, I found one from the most unexpected source….
That is a darn good looking car – especially sharp with the white rims. I can definitely see the appeal but I’m not sure a repair shop would be my first choice to buy a car from. It is a shame it didn’t work out – usually these are pretty reliable except for the flaky automatic gearbox which yours didn’t have.
It isn’t mine, either. Beggars can’t be choosers, though. V6/5-speed 626 models were/are hard to come by, so I jumped on the first one that I could find. You’re definitely not lying about the automatic. The Ford-designed CD4E, offered in 1994-2002 4-cylinder models, was absolutely terrible in every application that it was used it. .
Screw the CD4E! Went out at 65k on my ’99 Cougar. Unbelievable.
Pray tell, young man, just what was the mileage of said car when you bought it? Generally speaking, when you are looking for a used car, less than 100,000 miles means fewer headaches. If you can’t afford something with that low miles, take the lowest tech approach you can!
It had close to 150k when I first purchased it in ’06. I knew that I was potentially asking for trouble, but I had my heart set on a v6/5-speed 626. I HAD to have that car right then and there.
In my own personal experience, mileage has been one of the least relevant indicators of how trashed or near death an older used car may be. Service records (or lack thereof) tell me more about what I’m getting into. Honest, original/long-time owners who will tell me how the car was driven and what it’s quirks are say even more about it. If you’re able to have a compression test done and really look over it mechanically, or have a shop do that for you that’s a huge plus as well – although with cheaper cars that’s usually not a possibility.
Really though, when I’m buying a car like this all I care about is how it feels. I take it out on a pretty long test drive in varying conditions and if it seems tight to me I don’t care what it says on the odometer. Automatic transmissions are a concern because most of them are only good for 150-200k miles, but that’s just one more reason I try to stay away from them. I always expect that any car I buy is going to need a full tune-up, brakes, water pump and timing belt shortly after purchasing it.
Coincidentally, most of the best cars I’ve owned came to me with fairly high mileage (150k+) already on the clock. A lot of the 5+ year old cars with atypical low miles in this area were ones that lived in the grueling traffic conditions of NYC’s outer boroughs exclusively. 60k miles of nothing but horrible stop-and-go, never driving over 30MPH traffic is more like 300k miles of 50/50 mixed city/highway use. A good way to spot them is copious amounts of bumper rash, but if they’re on a pre-owned lot that’s likely been patched up. Interior wear that doesn’t align with the mileage is another way to tell. Then there’s also the myth of the “station car cream puff” – extremely low mileage second cars that people use for nothing but driving 1 or 2 miles to their train station every day, usually hand-me-downs from a recently deceased relative that were barely used in their prior life. These are the absolute worst and most problematic cars around. No better way to ruin an engine than by never letting it get up to normal operating temperature – and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how most people drive when they’re trying to catch a train early in the morning! There’s a guy at my station who uses a ’62 T-Bird for this purpose… I cringe every time I see it.
I agree fully. I guess the fact that the car also came with a huge stack of repair receipts from the previous owner (which I still have in the back of my closet somewhere) put me at ease. This particular example of 626 was simply (for the lack of a better way of putting it) a raging POS. Judging from the bills paid by the previous owner, she loved the car as much as I did, but gave up on her after the last four-figure bill.
Sold here as a Mazda 626 and Ford Telstar, During the no V8 era at Ford Australia there was an attempt by Ford to produce a performance version of the Telstar to mark the win in the BTTC by racer Paul Radiscich, The cars duly arrived with stripe kit and Bilstein shocks 5 speed manual all the sporty fruit Ford could hang on it. There was an attempt to make the car trackworthy but the 626s inherent poor handling put paid to that idea. Collectable though that model may be the rest are not great cars if you have a good one it will be an ok car a bad one will drive you nuts and as always avoid automatics as with lots of Japanese cars its a grenade.
I’ve never heard a thing about the 626’s poor handling. As I mentioned in the article, the 626-based Probe was repeatedly praised for it’s handling. Do you have any references to this alleged poor handling? Not bashing you in any way, just curious as to where you received your information. For the record, the problematic auto tranny was a Ford design, and NOT a Mazda design. The Jatco tranny used in ’93 4-cylinders and 93-02 6-cylinders was no prize, but it was one helluva lot better than the CD4E.
There was a big discussion recently about these cars on tmmb here one of the development engineers mentioned the race programn was cancelled due to handling issues as for FWD handling the 405/6 Puegeot was THE best FWD handler of the era and sorry but the Japanese had not learnt proper chassis tuning by the mid 90s their cars were built soft and comfortable for the US market other markets had their own chassis specs but JDM and US use the same, we get them here as used cars JDM narrow tyres soft shocks marshmallow grade cars horrible on twisty two lane roads which we have here everywhere. I drove everything I could before I bought my current wheels and yes I drove a 626, Primera, Mondeo,Camry all sorts over my pet test route for roadholding and comfort you cant beat French cars. Autos of that age are nearing the end of their life I dont drive automatics so Im unaffected but its a gamble buying a likely unserviced auto trans in a old bomb
I mostly agree with you, especially as far as automatics are concerned. I’m equally unaffected with automatics, although the few that I actually have owned have been bulletproof. Maybe I was just lucky? Most likely.
To be fair Bryce you have only driven NZ and JDM models. The US models may be quite different than what you’re used to. For instance, the early Falcon was not a lemon in its home market, but a great failure down under until it was adapted to local conditions. Let’s face it, OZ and NZ roads beat the tar off of cars.
Actually, the NZ-new 626/Ford Telstar was a very good car. The magazines of the time praised them, and I don’t recall any negative comments about the handling – quite the opposite in fact. A friend bought a 2.0 litre Telstar new in 1996, and it drove fine to me. Ride was a little hard around town, but overall design&engineering was a noticeable cut above the competitors which explained why the 626/Telstar sold well here. Another friend’s father had a V6/5spd Radisich Telstar. It was an excellent car that sounded as good as it went. The V6 Telstar XRi hatch was similarly excellent.
My dad bought a 4cil. AT brand new in 1997 and stayed with us till 2011…
He just loved that car, we never had any troubles with the autotragic tranny… by 2008 it started to show it’s age, with some eletrical issues, (mostly burned bulbs) and burning a quart of oil each 6k miles. the ones sold here in Brazil we’re made in Hiroshima, so i think build quality in the US ones were a little off….
He eventually sold it to a friend to buy a citroen c5 with an awful transmission called AL4….
You got lucky, If the Japanese-built models were built with the CD4E transmission. Oil burning is also a common problem with the FS motor through the valve seals, but they’re otherwise bulletproof. Only a quart of oil for every 6k isn’t bad, though.
I had one of these. Just a little older with almost 150k. Put it to use on a 100mile daily commute. I was very impressed with it. A girl rolled through a stopsign and centerpunched me. Not one problem with that car until then. As I say. I was quite impressed.
They were very reliable and durable cars, provided that you avoided the automatic transmission. What year was yours?
It was a five speed, 4 cylinder and I want to say it was an 88. I think it was one style before this, sort of square, simple to understand and dead reliable. Had come to really appreciate it when I lost it.
This was my second mazda as I had a Ford Courier years ago. It was also reliable.
I bought a four cylinder one a few years ago, when I left a job that came with a company car to go to one without. It was traded in at the dealership I worked at, 11 years old and 96,000km, it was a lift-back auto, but I was just after a reliable daily driver, which it was for me. It needed some minor work (steering rack boot and things like that), but it was a very good car for me.
I didn’t have it that long, as I changed jobs the next year to my curent role which does come with a company car, so I only had her a short time, but it served well for the 10 or so months that I had it.
I sold it to one of the staff at the place that was working, and I still see it around occasionally, so it would appear that the buyer hasn’t had any major problems with it.
When I was in OZ to sell a 626 you basicly needed proof of a new headgasket to get a sale the reputation was so bad, almost to Datsun Bluebird levels, no coolant and minimal servicing might have been behind it but the rep was there all the same
The 4 cylinder 626 is almost bullet proof the engine block is shared with the diesel and should go forever unless it overheats or the tranny dies, Mazda did build some good cars but the 626 wasnt their best.
That F/R series engine is a nightmare for overheating.
I used to work at a yard that sold a lot of the old Bongo coaches back in the day, and of couse, they tended to get sold to persons of a certain socio/economic background on hydraulic’d finance deals over 3 years. Most were sold with “warranty/breakdown insurance”, and many would end up back in our workshop after a couple of years, mostly having had no servicing.
Hauling around large families of large sized individuals in the summer lead to inumerable blown head gaskets and cracked heads. Although I always felt a bit sorry for him I must admit I did find it a little entertaining watching the service manager explain that the breakdown insurance wouldn’t pay because the vehicle hadn’t been serviced:
“But it’s got da warranty”
“sorry sir, but as the vehcile hasn’t been serviced the breakdown insurance won’t cover it”
“BUT IT”S GOT DA WARRANTY”
“Yes, I know, but as you haven’t kept the vehicle serviced, per the stipulations on the breakdown insurance, they insurance company won’t cover the cost of the repair”
“BUT IT”S GOT DA WARRANTY!!!!”
Lol
Yep, I had a ’94 4 cyl 5 speed that had been pretty badly looked after, but never gave me any problems. Clutch was buggered when I bought it, but still kept going happily for about 5 years. Had a bent hub on the front that made the handling interesting. The distributor failed once, which was a surprisingly big bill (didn’t know that the dizzie contains the coils these days) but that was the only major failure.
Sorry to hear you had such bad luck. Did the G20 remain a lawn ornament, or did you sell it after you bought this?
Also, I’m surprised you had such bad luck with this. I’m stereotyping, but usually Japanese cars, including mazda, are pretty reliable vehicles.
The G20 went to someone in VA who performed an SR20DET swap on it. It’s still on the road today, as far as I know. Mazdas are generally reliable, but they’ve had their share of hiccups (The CD4E tranny, occasional electrical problems, etc.)
I had this EXACT car! it replaced a ’94 V6 auto that got wrecked within a month of having it. replaced it with a black 5 speed.
handling: POOR. even with new tires, body roll and oversteer were terrible. I’ve driven MANY better handling FWD cars.
mileage: POOR. the V6 required 91 octane and only got at best 25hwy. to me, that is poor.
acceleration: MEH. the gap between 1st and 2nd was way too large, making quick acceleration a difficult proposition.
power: MEH. only had 162hp IIRC from the little 2.5 V6.
a ’02 Saturn L200 ECOTEC/5 speed I had some years later was a MUCH better car; sharper handling, awesome 5 speed, and great acceleration from the 2.2 4 cyl, that ALSO got 34mpg and used regular gas.
I still like Mazdas though, I have a ’09 Mazda5 5 speed now which is awesome!
While I do agree that there was a good amount of body roll, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the handling was poor. I completely agree with how poor the gas mileage, however. It was probably my least favorite thing about the car.
I wouldn’t mind owning an L-series, but they’re somewhat hard to find with a 5-speed
My brother bought a brand new 626 with 5/speed and V6 back in college. Very nice car! But I think the 5-speed comes with summer tires, so it got no traction in winter. My brother got stuck one too many times, and traded it to a Subaru SVX. Lovely car, symphonic hum from the engine, good acceleration, and sharp handling.
It did indeed come with summer tires, and I can attest to the lack of traction in the winter because of this. The SVX was indeed a beautiful car (the only thing missing was a proper transmission). Was his example an AWD model?
I have a long history with these cars and rather love them. My Dad bought – ordered – the first ’93 626 ES in our city back in ’92, and it was fully loaded for the time. Back then I was just getting into cars in earnest and the 626 was one of the new cars that seemed totally under-rated. Dad had a ’90 626 LX with a 5 speed and rather loved it, so the ’93 seemed like a great jump.
That car was gorgeous, I still remember him picking me up from school shortly after picking it up from the dealer. His had every option aside from, oddly, a CD player. Sunroof, leather, V6, and.. an auto trans. It also had the “summer tires” option, the bigger wheels which made it handle like it was on rails. Of course the first winter hit and the Bridgestones were comically useless. Comically. And we lived on an acreage at the time. I was charged with shopping around and found the Goodyear Eagle GTII to be the best blend – and that’s what the car had on it from then on. We kept that car for 5 years, as after Dad was done with it he passed it on to Mom, and eventually it was traded in on a Taurus SHO.
I had a ’93 MX-6 LS with a manual for about a year before shacking up with my now wife, and I also loved that car. Brilliant machine that I loved rowing through the gears on, and caused me no troubles. In fact it’s one of few cars that I heavily regret getting rid of, I gave it to my brother as a wedding present as he had just wrecked his truck, and man I wish I would have kept that car.
I’m always quietly looking at these. You’re right, the power was nothing to scream home about – but at the time it definitely was. So many memories I had as a 16 year old going every Friday to go wash that cherry red 626 ES for Dad.
Sure the mileage on them wasn’t anything to call home about, and they had lots of nagging little problems (the 626ES my parents got rid of had developed tranny problems, so the SHO came at the right time.. with it’s own issues later (V8)), but man they were fun. And the noise! Both the 626 ES and my MX-6 were fun to open up the top on, open up all the windows, and just rev until eternity.
The ’90 626 that your dad had was probably the most reliable version of 626, ever (other than oil burning from the valve guides, which was an f2 engine weakness).. The MX-6 is one of the most attractive/underrated cars of all time, at least it my book. The 626 did indeed handle very well, If you could ignore the body roll.
V6, manual trans family sedans, a species you can count on one hand largely. (back in the 90s and now.)
I occasionally surf Auto Trader for V6 5 speed Mazda 6s but I confine my search to hatchback and wagon models just for the uniqueness.
I’d kill for a stick/v6 Mazda6 wagon or hatchback. They are indeed a rare breed. Honestly, I can’t think of ONE family sedan where that combination is possible, currently.