I do like the car, I find it very comfortable, the comfort reminds me of my old Rover 214 Si without the failed head gasket at 75000 miles...(mind you I did rag it a liitle too much as a youngster the exact wrong thing to do with that engine) I still loved the car though. The 626 is easy. I love the electric aerial (like gold dust now) It is a sleek cruising car annoyingly without cruise control. The arm rest with the storage that actually gets in the way of the hand brake. I would still love to try a Hydropnematic Citroën however. For fun how about a list of cars you have owned?
the 626 and 6 were worlds apart, but the twist to the 6 was rust and corrosion which they are/were very good at doing. The 6 MPS was very very fast and good.
I always thought the 626 was not much more than a series of facelifts from the late 80's onwards it might have grown some though. Still was always a good car.
Haven't driven a 6, but have driven a 3, and that drove brilliantly. That noughties era for Mazda made some great driving cars. I also like the NC MX-5.
My dad had a 626 back in the 80's. He bought it at 3 years old and 36,000 miles and it finally died 20 years later at 297,000 miles! It actually shot a piston out of the block. It was still running on 3 cylinders though!
We ran a 1990 Toyota Carina for 15 years. It was a dull car. But, it never ever, not once, let us down. My wife drove it every day on her trip to work and back, about a 35 mile round trip, in all weathers, without a single issue. It never broke. It never failed to start, or stop. That is what a perfect daily driver does. It drives every day. I never had to worry that there would be a problem. I knew she would get to and return from work in reasonable comfort and with complete peace of mind every day. Have I made my point? It's the perfect form of transport. No more, no less.
I had a T-reg 626 for a couple of years and it was a great car, I only sold it because the bloke I bought it from was rather keen to buy it back from me. Nearly ten years later he's still got it and drives it daily. That 626 was definitely one of my best car purchases
I'm from Germany and besides my 2017 Kia-Sorento I own now my third Mazda 626. I love it a lot and I never want to give it away. The first one was a 1998 2.0 16V sedan Touring with automatic climate control and cruise control. The 2l engine has 115 HP. I bought it in 2000 with only 24.000 km. No problem to tow my 1.200kg caravan. In 2009 I gave it to my wife because we got a new Mazda 5 minivan. Compared to the 626 the longlife quality was very poor. Unfortunately my wife had an accident in 2011 and the 626 was totally damaged. That time it had already 208.000 km and was still running without any problems. I was very sad to loose that car. From my local Mazda dealer I got the same car like shown in this video in silver colour. In nearly 11 years it had run only 85.000 km, had full options like the previous one, even a towbar. And some nice alloy wheels. 2l engine and 5-speed manual. After changing the timing belt, and sparkplugs and with new TÜV (German MOT) I enjoyed again to drive it and it made much more fun compared to our also somrwhat sporty 2l Mazda 5 family van. On our highways with unlimited speed it was no problem to reach the maximum speed of 200 km/h and in many drivers faces of BMW 3-series or Audi A4 you could really recognize that they were wondering themselves how fast this vehicle could run. That 626 I kept until 2018 with 225.000 km. I gave it away because there were serious structural rust problems and no more chance to pass the TÜV for another two years. The clutch was also nearly at its end. The engine still ran very good but had finally a high consume of oil. The boss of the free garage, where I gave it for service asked me whether I would be inteterestet in a car which parked in the court behind his company. It has very low kilometers and was owned by an old man who was an uncle of a mecanic of this garage. He died that time 4 month ago and the documents of the car were missing, but he promised me to get new ones. I said okay, let's have a look. And what I found there was absolute amazing. There was a 1998 Mazda 626 sedan in silver colour, 2l 16V Exklusive Touring with full options, exactly the same car what I bought in 2000. In 20 years the owner drove only 83.000 km! Because of long parking the car was a bit overgrown with roses, but the interior was absolute clean and in extraordinary condition. Only a bit smelly because of long parking. Surprised I was about the removeable towbar and I was absolute impressed because of the good condition of this car. The garage owner told that they would fix new tires, new callipers and ABS-sensors at the rear brakes, change all the liquids , sparkplugs, timingbelt and make an aircondition service. Than he offered me to make a whole day testdrive with red numberplates. When all the service works have been done I made the testdrive. It was amazing. The car drove like brandnew. After polishing the colour was shiny snd the car became a real eyecatcher. Only I had to convince my wife to buy it but my decision was clear. From the garage I got 300 € for the rotten 626 and gave 2.000 for the actual one with new TÜV for two years. Still it offers lot of fun to drive it. Even after now 26 years and nearly 200.000 km you don't find any rust at the downside. The condition is still very good. The engine performs still strong and offers a nice sporty sound by accellerating. Still the first exhaust is there! Of course thare have been some necessary repairs in the meantime. The whishbones have been changed and the clutch. At 180.000 km it was obligate to change the timingbelt, the sparkplugs and for safety the waterpump. In 2021 we gave our Mazda 5, which became a big troubleshooter, away for our Sorento. The Mazda 5 16 inch alloy wheels are matching perfectly on the 626 with new tires in 205/50 16. The original steel wheels with original hubcaps I use for snowtires. Because of this special history of this car I love it so much and I want to keep it as long as possible. Only 4 years I have to wait for an oldtimer registration . I hooe I will reach the 30 years if I continue taking care like before. Some people here would wonder why that guy is writing such a long comment for just an ordinary second hand car like that. For me it is not just a second hand car. Cars like this have somehow a special kind of soul what all new vehicles can't offer. Of course I like my luxury Sorento to and I appriciate all the comfort it offers. But the 626 is definitely more enjoyable. By the way thank you a lot for this much entertaining video.😊
My 1st car. VW polo in yellow think it was an X reg? Never offically made it to the road as I tried to jack it up, the jack went through the seal! Then a Ford Fiesta mk2 ( It had an XR2 body kit and interior, Fiesta mk1 number plates and a 1.4 Ford Orion engine. Woke up one morning with the police staring at it! G reg Rover 214 Si in bronze. Loved that car, super comfortable keep fit sunroof and door handles. Coin drawer was a plus and a flashy petrol cap release on the right of the drivers seat. Remember my 1st fill up panicking on how to open the cap! I then had a K reg 1.5td Vauxhall Nova! Absolutely loved that car, could wheel spin it in 3rd gear on a wet day! Bought from a garage in Wickham. Had a very juicy auto Golf in metallic green. Think it was an X reg. Too costly too keep. Then had a Peugeot 306 1.9TD fantasic car though had an annoying light issue some sort of choke thing on UK only vehicles. Then I got into debt for a 1.9 diesel Metallic Red Renault Laguna ( the 5 star safety rated one.Great car though the cat managed to scratch the plastic wings getting on and off it. The bumper got ripped off when the other half at the time reversed into a barbed wire fence then drove forward.(I will never forget it flying off when I drove down the A3 at speed after clipping it back on. Brake disk change cost me a fortune due to the built on wheel bearings £795 quid at the time! Eventually failed on emissions! Bought a Vauxhall Astra LS Eco 4 1.7tdi. Really loved that car. The chassis was designed by lotus it was lower than a normal astra and was only £30 tax and could do 60mpg. Even had plates under the chassis to reduce drag! Alas it died after filling with cheap ASDA diesel. The ISUZU 1.7 16V injectors were too expensive for me. Think I had a 2003 Ford Focus Ghia for a short while after that good car with all the toys but got rid as I felt it was going to start costing a lot of money. Then bought a Honda civic 1.7cdti little did I know it was the same engine as the astra with a better turbo. Stupid variable garret turbo kept playing up honda quoted 2k to replace. Great car but crap turning circle. The Ex had that car who after I kindly gave to her she kindly gave to her boyfriend! Then bought a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SXI 2005 Great little run-around that someone kindly drove into the side of whike I was taking the kids down Portsmouth! Bought it for £1300 got about 1300 back on insurance! Then bought a 2012 Chevrolet Aveo 1.3lt (basically a Corsa chassis with different panels and a 1.3 Fiat diesel engine in it. 95hp free tax! I gave that to my son. I was gifted the Mazda 626 by my other halfs aunt whos mother owned the car before her husband. Both now have sadly passed. And that is the end of my car journey thus far!.😅😅
I bought a used light blue Mazda 626 manual transmission in 1992, can't remember the year it was made but that car went forever (thank God) with minimal care, just had the oil changed properly and had back brakes put on it. I was so poor in the 90's, single with a little girl and I drove that car for years then gave it to my brother whose wife drove it for years and from there it went to our brother-in-law who drove it for a decade back and forth to work. It had well over 200k miles on it and was still going. I never had any troubles with it except that I left the lights on and needed the battery jumped, the guy put the battery cables on backwards, (I thought all men knew how to put cables on the battery correctly) anywho, it took out my car radio but that's it. Eventually I replaced the radio and kept on driving it. I still thank God for that little car that never gave me problems.
I'm not a Mazda enthusiast, but I understand why they are so popular here in NZ. I've had two: in the early 1980s a little Mazda 1200--your very basic little saloon. Went around, did the stuff, eventually I lent it to some friends, and I think they didn't know about topping up the oil, so it ended up putting a rod through the block on the motorway. Still ran on three cylinders after that, just a bit rough and noisy. The other was a Cosmo (aka RX5) rotary. It was the Japanese idea of the American idea of a GT, full of luxury (for the late '80s) and comfortable and the wonderful turbine-like quality of the rotary. Handling not great, but not boring. That's the difference with Mazda: they make boring cars for people who just want a car to get around in, that is comfortable and reliable; and if you want something a bit different, there's the MX 5 and I think they're still making the RX 8. Not boring cars. BTW, at 7:35 I think you've missed the reference of the fake. Obviously that trim is not wood. But what it looks like is Bakelite, though I'm sure it's a more modern plastic. I had a Subaru Legacy with the same material round the audio. IIRC Bakelite was having a moment, fashionwise, at the turn of the millennia, so it's fake fake, which is absolutely on point for Y2K which was pretty much the high point of the meta.
My brother had several 626s, from 1981 (when it had just been renamed the 626, having previously been called the 'Montrose') to about 1994, when he got a company car. His last one was bought by a mechanic at the local BMW dealership who ran it up to over 230,000 miles. Really good cars.
I've had one, a 98 1.8 GLX. Boring but very reliable car. Loved it, really comfortable and good towing vehicle as well. This one is a facelift model, they're nice but I prefer the first ones, like the Citroën Xantia's honestly.
Guy I worked with, had year or two older one of these. In metallic beige... Solid car, never gave any headaches. Kind of an anti-car in all the blandness, and I kind of liked it for it.
You are going to really appreciate cars like these when owning it for a few years. All of a sudden you will realise that nothing major ever goes wrong or breaks. Not evoking any emotions but bloody reliable. The quintessential Japanese car experience.
My first car was a Suzuki, old and done a lot of KMs/Miles.. but it just worked, always started when needed and took me where ever I wanted. Parts were bit of a problem to get but.. Yea, thinking of going back to these cars from a "premium" brand :D
In early 1987 Mazda most generous when I wrote to car-makers (actually wrote: paper, envelope, stamp) about their logos, symbols, etc. They've gone through some corporate identity changes alright - but I received their logo as two different types of pin-badge and a fabric sew-on.
The first 626 of this typ GF was launched in 1997. It was offered with a 1.8 (90 HP), 2L (115 HP), 2L (136 HP) and a bit later a 2L Turbodiesel direct injection (100 HP, after facelift 110 HP). The Diesels had very good ecomomy but they had lots of issues. There was a 4door-sedsn, a 5-door hatchback and a 5door estate. Until the facelift in 1999 customers complained that the springs and shockabsorbers were somewhat hard and didn't offer much comfort. So after the facelift it became a little bit softer. I owned bouth versions and I also felt a difference. As you can read in my other comment I'm owning the elder version.
Last November I was looking for a cheap small car to use as a standby if my main DD needed unexpected serious attention, to allow diy repair and not get ripped by a garage. What eventually transpired as a result of my search criteria was a Mazda 323F GXI, x reg, just over 50k miles, one VERY careful owner from new, full history, in quite unbelievably good condition, £900!!!! It's not fast, just a 1500 twin cam, not exciting, but comfortable, good ride and handling and it's really grown on me. Only thing not working is the aircon, but I'm betting thats just a regas job. Even has an electric tilt and slide sunroof! It is a bit dated compared to it's contemporaries, but is solid and well made. It's a total coincidence but my main DD is a 2010 Mazda 6 2.2 sport diesel and I bloody love that thing, it's a real sleeper because it goes like stink and has brilliant handling and roadholdig for a 4 door family car, and I think the styling is great. It's also very well equipped, and so far in 7 years it's just needed a cam chain kit, besides brakes, tyres and servicing. I'll defo be lookig at another 6 when this finally starts to get too miley.
Already subscribed to yr channel, how could I have missed this fantastic review of the last 626 that nobody else would think of to remember. Let me confess: I owed one, the even more boring 1.8 LX hatchback and it ran on LPG which made it even more sluggish. Had it for 15 yrs until 31-12-21, aged then 21yrs, I decided it would be my last car ever, climatewise. No other car would have been able to postpone that decision for over 10yrs or so. Just -as you put it rightly so - because it was there and did the job whenever I asked for it. Boring? Brilliant. I believe the workshop owner who paid me €100 to finally help me to decide to get into cycling only still has it and at least used it another 2 yrs or so, may be he still uses it. Thanks so much for remembering that last Mazda 626, the best car I ever had ❤
In South Amarica they really offered a V6 2.5l with 169 HP. They called it Mazda Millenia and it had lot of options including leather seats. In Europe were only 4-cylinder engines available. The previous 626 GE from 1992 - 1997 had a 6-cylinder option too.
it is essentially a 2000s car that was still build like a 90s car. but i love how 90s japanese engine bays were made. reasonable, nothing conplicated, lots of metal used (unlike the cheap germans) it is just a reasonable saloon youd buy if you dont care much about cars and you just want good, reliable unassuming transportation.
A non friend, friend seat, I like that, in fact that's remarkable in itself. Those rear window switches are very 80's BL / aftermarket. Great addition to the "I know nothing" series, good format 👍
The generation after the 626 i.e. Mazda 6 and 3 are very fun cars to drive as far as commuter cars go, with responsive steering, slick manual gearbox and competent suspension.
Had two of these in the past , one orginal one more fancy , they were seen as working class luxury, accountants cars seem to last longer than other offering at the time.
The zenith of Mazda anonymous styling, but it has grown some charm over time. The unsophisticated interior reminds me a bit of how surprisingly backward my 1997 Corolla was (US spec). This 23 year old 626 has been really well looked after!
This is so much better than the American 626 from thd same time period. I really wish we got the wagon (estate) version here, as with most cars. The 2.5L V6 is a lot of fun, though. It was an option on all trim levels in the US. Also worthy of note is that the boot has no button anywhere at all, just a keyhole. There is a remote button for it, though.
There waqs 3 generations before this, the 86-92 626 was the best of them (i'm erm a bit biased, my dad had a fair few 626's from 83 to about 1992, a couple of saloons and an estate (the estate was huge and beautiful.) My brother has 2 VERY VERY rare (they were rare when in production) 626's a 1990 G reg coupe 2.0 GTi 16v, and 1991 H reg 626 coupe GTi TWR (the TWR had a body kit and different ECU for about 170bhp, the standard Gti had 150bhp whic was a lot of power in 1990)
A decent family/rep mobile. But an appliance and most owners treated them as such. These must be pretty rare on the road nowadays. Can't remember the last time I saw one.
I very much enjoy these “I know nothing about this car” series. Very refreshing! The definition of boring is very personal. A previous Mercedes estate I had, was a very good car but boring to drive for me… but my current Focus which is less refined and slower feels less boring to me. I believe this could be a classic since many 90’s cars are being the victims of scrappage schemes and clean air zones.
Just felt it was easier to admit I know nothing and am going in from scratch than busily trying to read up on it and getting things wrong while pretending I know what I'm talking about!
Late eighties, early nineties model was if it's time too. Memorable for me because our local Mazda garage used to write hilarious newspaper adverts, relatively sarcastic to their second hand stock. This almost looks like the curvy rebody of that model. Brilliant review Sir! If only Top Gear was back to this sort of thing! 😀👍
One thing I really like about this car is the steering wheel. It looks kind of chunky, but not bloated like some of the airbag wheels of the era. It also looks slightly sporty, but not at all out of place in a family car. All in all, it's not a bad looking car. I'd much rather have this than a mk1 Avensis or a Primera P11 when it comes to looks.
Wow indicators on the left in a Japanese car is unheard of in Australia where I am from. We have them on the right hand side which is the correct side.
These were a backwards step from the previous generation 626 (1991-1996), because Mazda had practically bankrupted itself after trying to create a whole bunch of new sub brands in the 80s/90s. That’s why it has all those outdated details like the boot release, aerial etc. They were just trying to survive as a company and didn’t have the budget to make it special
My folks grey-imported an estate to Scotland via Holland and Ireland saving a few £k. I learned to drive in it. Lots of Ford parts under the bonnet. I may or may not have trashed a CV boot getting it beached in snow.
Sure my Cactus has a rear intermitent wash wipe.... Reading BL in the comments and my late grandfather replaced his Marina with a Mazda 929! Must have been a huge step up from BL products. Have to admit cars like these like the Primera, Avensis and 626 do not set the world on fire to drive but prove to be realible and get you from A-B. A excellent review Rich.
The Xedos 6 was based on the same platform. When entered into the BTCC it was so good that even David Leslie and Matt Neal couldn't get higher than an 8th place finish. 😁
The heater controls - and yes, the boot button - are very much the same as my 2004 Toyota Yaris, now gifted with a dangling exhaust as both rear mounts have snapped off due to rot and potholes.
I think its a really cool car.I love old school JDM cars.Reminds me of my 97 Primera 2.0 but it was a turbo diesel and that used to fly But it got tired after 440K miles(i was a taxi driver way back).
Had s plate 2 litre manual can be fun on right road used to bomb about Devon back roads only sold rust and valve stem seal 150 000 great motorway car ❤ 50 mpg
9:14 Ford was pretty involved with Mazda in 2001. Perhaps the Ford AU cars used Mazda starters or vice versa. My daughter drove a 2000 Mazda Protégé (US market 323) and the instruments and heater controls were just about identical to what you're showing.
😢My and.my.mates bought one of these few years back £85 with mot. It was epic for the green lanes. We actually got air in it and took of the front bumper 😂 but the car still triumphed on. Had it in water deep enough to cover the windscreen it didn't care properly bulletproof the 2 weekends it's survived it literally spent on the limiter constantly. Brilliant fun and proper comfy
This is what I call a dependability car. It gets you from A to B with no fuss or muss for most people that just want that. My wife or mother would drive it. This is a great car when taken care of because they will last and never leave you stranded. This is where they excel. Kudos to the family that owns it for keeping it nice.
Another great upload. Not sure why but it its not showing under my subscriptions tab but if I just select your channel it shows up. Would have missed it without seeing your X post on it.
My uncle had a N plate or M one it was OK car the engine was the best thing about it 2.0 liter supercharged diesel the nose the supercharged was really unique to me .And I have never come across another one
I used to have a Toyota Carina E - similarly dull, but ultra reliable. That car had an intermittant rear wiper too. It had a single button control for the titlt/slide sunroof though. You're bob-on with regards the old Vauxhall 8-valve lumps. A bit gruff and unrefined perhaps, but not so when compared to a CVH... and very punchy. I had a mk1 Astra 1.6 that went like shit off a shovel. 90ish ponies I think.
There's no in-between with Mazda, they either make something really interesting/pretty that has some inherent flaw (i.e. rot or a rotary), or they make something unbelievably staid and bulletproof. Also, i feel like 626 may have sat at the bottom of their saloon tree back in the day. There were so many interesting/more luxurious variants based on the platform (Eunos 500/800, ēfini MS6/8/9, Autozam Clef etc.) "Car" is definitely how I'd describe it tho 😂
We had Mazda 626s in Australia became the Mazda 6 but Mazda is a very popular in Australia and l owned a 2004 Mazda Bravo the ute version rear wheel drive for my courier work with a 2.6 litre engine l found it rather good and whilst it was been repaired after another collision it seemed to have a magnet and the loan vehicle was a Toyota Hilux of the same era and it wasn't as good but it was automatic which l didn't like but l now own the previous generation Hilux and its pretty good and it's manual and Mazda is the second biggest selling car brand behind Toyota and l have a couple of close relatives who have Mazda 3s and they like them and the main competition for this 626 in Australia would have been the Toyota Camery which were built in Australia and there are so many of those old Camerys driving around see them every day l go out driving
Button on the boot is more Morris 1100/Landcrab than Cortina - nearly all Fords back then needed key to open, rather than a push button. (Nerd Alert ‼️) And - yeah, 626 nearly always boring ! A boss I had back then went from a Citroen XM to a 626 - the previous model to the one you’re driving. XM had all kinds of odd electrical problems… the 626 never put a boring bloody foot wrong !!
The exterior design strikes me as quite pleasing, if fairly conventional for a family car/repmobile of the time. Mazdas are reckoned by many to be pretty solid and reliable, so that shouldn't be an issue. I could imagine somebody be quite fond of such a car for those reasons alone. Practicality and common-sense design may be a tad dull but not all of us buy a car to be a boy racer or to impress people at fashionable venues. For some, that it reliably gets us to, say, a Travelodge off the A1 on a business trip, to the golf club up the road of a Sunday morning or a visit to the the wife's sister in Market Rasen each May does just fine.
Yup, would agree with all that. My only point would be that the people who normally take cars through to survive to be classics are people who are 'into cars', so if a car is very forgettable (regardless of how competent it is) it has less chance of surviving to be a classic.
TBF for a last 90’s car development in Japan in the early/mid 90’s it’s all pretty standard!!! Looks very P10 Primera. If you’re coming from a Saab or Volvo with huge buttons it’ll all look and feel flimsy and fiddly. When you think that many Japanese manufacturers only got into serious manufacture for export after WWII the fact that they are class leading for “affordable cars” and have been for a few decades is outstanding really. That with a V6 2.5 outta the MX-6 and black or tan leather would be sweet!! VW are a prime example of torque over bhp! The P10 and P11 are typical 16v cars that need to rev and rev. I worked at Nissan when they were new. The workshop boys said the best way to run it that SR20 engine was to rag the snot out of it!!! We did just that to my brothers P10 eGT and P10 GT company cars!! 😅 I’d always thought it was a larger car than what you’re comparing it too tbf. More of a 605 or XM competitor. It is so dull that it loops round to being awesome! Like my old 940 Turbo Wagon but rarer! 😍😍😍
i always love cars that could turn the front passenger side into a table because a. yes, i have no friends b. i could use it as a table to put stuff like takeaways or a laptop c. as you mentioned, a not-so toyota century style footrest for the rear passenger, but that's never gonna happen because refer to point a
I own a 2000 626 ES with factory Bose speakers sunroof leather power seats 4 wheel discs , DOHC V6 5sp independent rear suspension dual electric fans alloy wheels rear deck spoiler all factory 100,000 miles 24 yrs old and every single bulb and option works even the cruise . Even a CD player and pass through trunk
I had a 2003 323f Sport from 2009-2012. Lovely car which looked great, was very comfortable and very practical. Shame it wasn’t all that economical. Knackered ABS pump and rust killed it off. Mazdas of that era dissolve quite easily. I currently have a ‘99 NB which is the same 😅
They seem to have sorted that in the BK Mazda3. Got an '06 Sport here, bought three years old and I still see no reason to replace it even though it's by far the oldest car I've owned. Seeing if it can make it to 20 is tempting.
I remember reading A review of several midsize sedans back then and the 626 was the most boring one they tested. They neither liked nor disliked anything about it. Then again, I would take one over anything sold new today if it was still in the market. I miss hones, simple Japanese cars that are easy to service and never go wrong.
I argue that it's less polluting than a modern car. It's still going strong so you don't need to buy a new one. People who get every 3 years a new one, are polluting way more.
They are, it's true. But in isolation, I mean - the world without this 626 ever having been in it will be a teeny bit less polluted, if that makes sense? Relatively speak, yeah it's a pretty clean car, footprint-wise.
I believe Mazda used an outside contractor to hand carve the walnut dashboard and door inserts, even the vent symbols. It was the same contractor that carved polo's for the Japanese Market.....
Funny that you mentioned the boot opener.. The only thing I remember about these cars is that the boot opener reminded me of a bath plug for some reason. And I´m pretty sure that memory will remain until I die, regardless of any potential insanity, alzheimers or whatever. Why brain, why???
🤣😆😂 We've got wood! Steady!😂😆🤣😅😛😝 Double entendre at its best!👍👏👏👌 It was the successor the Mazda 6 that was a more dynamic drive than the 626 & better looking IMO.🤔 But as I haven't driven either car, I'm going by other people opinions.🤔
I had a 2003 323lxi (top of the range 323 back then) and loved it, sadly off the road now, corrosion sarted to eat it's way when i traded it for my first skoda octavia about 8-9 years ago now. the 1.6 ZM engine was a cracker. i now a 2019 mazda 2 with the 1.5 skyactive engine, and well i love it to bits, it handles well but the engine is errrrm rather lack luster, gutlees to what i was used to, 150bhp/230nm of tourqe from a 1.4 tsi (turbocharged), to 90bhp/88nm of torque from a 1.5 skyactive (naturally aspirated) is a huge drop.
I have a series 1 wagon that was bought as a runaround. Unassuming and un-glamorous, yes, but if you have owned a few Euros or modern cars after that, you will find that this is the one to keep till you die. It is dead-set reliable, functional, doesn't have any stupid gizmos, and costs you nothing to run. ps. your car has the HVAC control dials, which I prefer over the climate control.
Nice car, like it. At least it won't do a software update or user have to sign up to their data being passed on. Its what we will never see again, a car that does what it was made to do without the fuss and faff of user names and the like.
Oh you ain't lived. Password and pin number for different users and settings. Theory is, if you reset the car to default, you can recall all car setting to as you set them up. The problems start when you just get logged out, not fun. Or one day the service or backend is stopped by the car manufacturer. I would give my right one for a car with velour seats, and that 80s or 90s vibe. Like a Rover 800 or something. One day...
My Dad had a 626 just like this. It was an odd car, even compared to the previous model 626 which my dad also had it seemed a step backwards. The previous 626 was far more refined and interesting. On this model, the interior design is really scattered and a bit of a mess. Its nothing like the previous model or the following model. Strange. Anyway, it never gave any trouble for mt Dad. I do remember one of the rear window regulators broke, which i fixed. That was the only thing.
Yeah, that's what I found. I was surprised as I initially thought it'd be the 134bhp version, but then realised a Jap long-stroke engine had duped me AGAIN!
I do like the car, I find it very comfortable, the comfort reminds me of my old Rover 214 Si without the failed head gasket at 75000 miles...(mind you I did rag it a liitle too much as a youngster the exact wrong thing to do with that engine) I still loved the car though. The 626 is easy. I love the electric aerial (like gold dust now) It is a sleek cruising car annoyingly without cruise control. The arm rest with the storage that actually gets in the way of the hand brake. I would still love to try a Hydropnematic Citroën however. For fun how about a list of cars you have owned?
The jump from the 626 in 2001 to the 6 in 2002 was insane
the 626 and 6 were worlds apart, but the twist to the 6 was rust and corrosion which they are/were very good at doing. The 6 MPS was very very fast and good.
I always thought the 626 was not much more than a series of facelifts from the late 80's onwards it might have grown some though. Still was always a good car.
Especially the MPS! But the 6 had a lot of rust issues....
Haven't driven a 6, but have driven a 3, and that drove brilliantly. That noughties era for Mazda made some great driving cars. I also like the NC MX-5.
@@Ju1ian10001 Surely the 626 was just as bad for rust - anything else Mazda of that era was!
My dad had a 626 back in the 80's. He bought it at 3 years old and 36,000 miles and it finally died 20 years later at 297,000 miles! It actually shot a piston out of the block. It was still running on 3 cylinders though!
We ran a 1990 Toyota Carina for 15 years. It was a dull car. But, it never ever, not once, let us down. My wife drove it every day on her trip to work and back, about a 35 mile round trip, in all weathers, without a single issue. It never broke. It never failed to start, or stop. That is what a perfect daily driver does. It drives every day. I never had to worry that there would be a problem. I knew she would get to and return from work in reasonable comfort and with complete peace of mind every day.
Have I made my point? It's the perfect form of transport. No more, no less.
I had a T-reg 626 for a couple of years and it was a great car, I only sold it because the bloke I bought it from was rather keen to buy it back from me. Nearly ten years later he's still got it and drives it daily. That 626 was definitely one of my best car purchases
My son-in- law's father taxied one of these to over 500,000 miles. He loved it!
I'm from Germany and besides my 2017 Kia-Sorento I own now my third Mazda 626. I love it a lot and I never want to give it away. The first one was a 1998 2.0 16V sedan Touring with automatic climate control and cruise control. The 2l engine has 115 HP. I bought it in 2000 with only 24.000 km. No problem to tow my 1.200kg caravan. In 2009 I gave it to my wife because we got a new Mazda 5 minivan. Compared to the 626 the longlife quality was very poor. Unfortunately my wife had an accident in 2011 and the 626 was totally damaged. That time it had already 208.000 km and was still running without any problems. I was very sad to loose that car. From my local Mazda dealer I got the same car like shown in this video in silver colour. In nearly 11 years it had run only 85.000 km, had full options like the previous one, even a towbar. And some nice alloy wheels. 2l engine and 5-speed manual. After changing the timing belt, and sparkplugs and with new TÜV (German MOT) I enjoyed again to drive it and it made much more fun compared to our also somrwhat sporty 2l Mazda 5 family van. On our highways with unlimited speed it was no problem to reach the maximum speed of 200 km/h and in many drivers faces of BMW 3-series or Audi A4 you could really recognize that they were wondering themselves how fast this vehicle could run. That 626 I kept until 2018 with 225.000 km. I gave it away because there were serious structural rust problems and no more chance to pass the TÜV for another two years. The clutch was also nearly at its end. The engine still ran very good but had finally a high consume of oil. The boss of the free garage, where I gave it for service asked me whether I would be inteterestet in a car which parked in the court behind his company. It has very low kilometers and was owned by an old man who was an uncle of a mecanic of this garage. He died that time 4 month ago and the documents of the car were missing, but he promised me to get new ones. I said okay, let's have a look. And what I found there was absolute amazing. There was a 1998 Mazda 626 sedan in silver colour, 2l 16V Exklusive Touring with full options, exactly the same car what I bought in 2000. In 20 years the owner drove only 83.000 km! Because of long parking the car was a bit overgrown with roses, but the interior was absolute clean and in extraordinary condition. Only a bit smelly because of long parking. Surprised I was about the removeable towbar and I was absolute impressed because of the good condition of this car. The garage owner told that they would fix new tires, new callipers and ABS-sensors at the rear brakes, change all the liquids , sparkplugs, timingbelt and make an aircondition service. Than he offered me to make a whole day testdrive with red numberplates. When all the service works have been done I made the testdrive. It was amazing. The car drove like brandnew. After polishing the colour was shiny snd the car became a real eyecatcher. Only I had to convince my wife to buy it but my decision was clear. From the garage I got 300 € for the rotten 626 and gave 2.000 for the actual one with new TÜV for two years. Still it offers lot of fun to drive it. Even after now 26 years and nearly 200.000 km you don't find any rust at the downside. The condition is still very good. The engine performs still strong and offers a nice sporty sound by accellerating. Still the first exhaust is there! Of course thare have been some necessary repairs in the meantime. The whishbones have been changed and the clutch. At 180.000 km it was obligate to change the timingbelt, the sparkplugs and for safety the waterpump. In 2021 we gave our Mazda 5, which became a big troubleshooter, away for our Sorento. The Mazda 5 16 inch alloy wheels are matching perfectly on the 626 with new tires in 205/50 16. The original steel wheels with original hubcaps I use for snowtires. Because of this special history of this car I love it so much and I want to keep it as long as possible. Only 4 years I have to wait for an oldtimer registration . I hooe I will reach the 30 years if I continue taking care like before. Some people here would wonder why that guy is writing such a long comment for just an ordinary second hand car like that. For me it is not just a second hand car. Cars like this have somehow a special kind of soul what all new vehicles can't offer. Of course I like my luxury Sorento to and I appriciate all the comfort it offers. But the 626 is definitely more enjoyable. By the way thank you a lot for this much entertaining video.😊
Mate, you should've been screen tested for Top Gear, this is top notch car reviewing!
Haha! I don't know about that.
My 1st car.
VW polo in yellow think it was an X reg? Never offically made it to the road as I tried to jack it up, the jack went through the seal!
Then a Ford Fiesta mk2 ( It had an XR2 body kit and interior, Fiesta mk1 number plates and a 1.4 Ford Orion engine. Woke up one morning with the police staring at it!
G reg Rover 214 Si in bronze. Loved that car, super comfortable keep fit sunroof and door handles. Coin drawer was a plus and a flashy petrol cap release on the right of the drivers seat. Remember my 1st fill up panicking on how to open the cap!
I then had a K reg 1.5td Vauxhall Nova! Absolutely loved that car, could wheel spin it in 3rd gear on a wet day! Bought from a garage in Wickham. Had a very juicy auto Golf in metallic green. Think it was an X reg. Too costly too keep. Then had a Peugeot 306 1.9TD fantasic car though had an annoying light issue some sort of choke thing on UK only vehicles. Then I got into debt for a 1.9 diesel Metallic Red Renault Laguna ( the 5 star safety rated one.Great car though the cat managed to scratch the plastic wings getting on and off it. The bumper got ripped off when the other half at the time reversed into a barbed wire fence then drove forward.(I will never forget it flying off when I drove down the A3 at speed after clipping it back on. Brake disk change cost me a fortune due to the built on wheel bearings £795 quid at the time! Eventually failed on emissions! Bought a Vauxhall Astra LS Eco 4 1.7tdi. Really loved that car. The chassis was designed by lotus it was lower than a normal astra and was only £30 tax and could do 60mpg. Even had plates under the chassis to reduce drag! Alas it died after filling with cheap ASDA diesel. The ISUZU 1.7 16V injectors were too expensive for me.
Think I had a 2003 Ford Focus Ghia for a short while after that good car with all the toys but got rid as I felt it was going to start costing a lot of money. Then bought a Honda civic 1.7cdti little did I know it was the same engine as the astra with a better turbo. Stupid variable garret turbo kept playing up honda quoted 2k to replace. Great car but crap turning circle. The Ex had that car who after I kindly gave to her she kindly gave to her boyfriend! Then bought a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SXI 2005 Great little run-around that someone kindly drove into the side of whike I was taking the kids down Portsmouth! Bought it for £1300 got about 1300 back on insurance! Then bought a 2012 Chevrolet Aveo 1.3lt (basically a Corsa chassis with different panels and a 1.3 Fiat diesel engine in it. 95hp free tax! I gave that to my son. I was gifted the Mazda 626 by my other halfs aunt whos mother owned the car before her husband. Both now have sadly passed. And that is the end of my car journey thus far!.😅😅
Imagine a time when the big companies made cars without gimmicks and unnecessary electronics. Love it.
These were actually really good cars. I think they are quite attractive aswell. From the late 80s until their demise I liked them.
I bought a used light blue Mazda 626 manual transmission in 1992, can't remember the year it was made but that car went forever (thank God) with minimal care, just had the oil changed properly and had back brakes put on it. I was so poor in the 90's, single with a little girl and I drove that car for years then gave it to my brother whose wife drove it for years and from there it went to our brother-in-law who drove it for a decade back and forth to work. It had well over 200k miles on it and was still going.
I never had any troubles with it except that I left the lights on and needed the battery jumped, the guy put the battery cables on backwards, (I thought all men knew how to put cables on the battery correctly) anywho, it took out my car radio but that's it. Eventually I replaced the radio and kept on driving it.
I still thank God for that little car that never gave me problems.
I'm not a Mazda enthusiast, but I understand why they are so popular here in NZ. I've had two: in the early 1980s a little Mazda 1200--your very basic little saloon. Went around, did the stuff, eventually I lent it to some friends, and I think they didn't know about topping up the oil, so it ended up putting a rod through the block on the motorway. Still ran on three cylinders after that, just a bit rough and noisy. The other was a Cosmo (aka RX5) rotary. It was the Japanese idea of the American idea of a GT, full of luxury (for the late '80s) and comfortable and the wonderful turbine-like quality of the rotary. Handling not great, but not boring.
That's the difference with Mazda: they make boring cars for people who just want a car to get around in, that is comfortable and reliable; and if you want something a bit different, there's the MX 5 and I think they're still making the RX 8. Not boring cars.
BTW, at 7:35 I think you've missed the reference of the fake. Obviously that trim is not wood. But what it looks like is Bakelite, though I'm sure it's a more modern plastic. I had a Subaru Legacy with the same material round the audio. IIRC Bakelite was having a moment, fashionwise, at the turn of the millennia, so it's fake fake, which is absolutely on point for Y2K which was pretty much the high point of the meta.
The estate versions of these are deliciously nice
My brother had several 626s, from 1981 (when it had just been renamed the 626, having previously been called the 'Montrose') to about 1994, when he got a company car. His last one was bought by a mechanic at the local BMW dealership who ran it up to over 230,000 miles. Really good cars.
I've had one, a 98 1.8 GLX. Boring but very reliable car. Loved it, really comfortable and good towing vehicle as well.
This one is a facelift model, they're nice but I prefer the first ones, like the Citroën Xantia's honestly.
Reminds me of the reasonably priced car from TopGear. Also when you started it I could almost hear Bettys beep sound in my head... haunting stuff.
Still haunted to this day!
Guy I worked with, had year or two older one of these. In metallic beige... Solid car, never gave any headaches. Kind of an anti-car in all the blandness, and I kind of liked it for it.
You are going to really appreciate cars like these when owning it for a few years. All of a sudden you will realise that nothing major ever goes wrong or breaks. Not evoking any emotions but bloody reliable. The quintessential Japanese car experience.
My first car was a Suzuki, old and done a lot of KMs/Miles.. but it just worked, always started when needed and took me where ever I wanted. Parts were bit of a problem to get but.. Yea, thinking of going back to these cars from a "premium" brand :D
In early 1987 Mazda most generous when I wrote to car-makers (actually wrote: paper, envelope, stamp) about their logos, symbols, etc. They've gone through some corporate identity changes alright - but I received their logo as two different types of pin-badge and a fabric sew-on.
I do miss the times when these were around! Thanks for the video Kitch!
The first 626 of this typ GF was launched in 1997. It was offered with a 1.8 (90 HP), 2L (115 HP), 2L (136 HP) and a bit later a 2L Turbodiesel direct injection (100 HP, after facelift 110 HP). The Diesels had very good ecomomy but they had lots of issues. There was a 4door-sedsn, a 5-door hatchback and a 5door estate. Until the facelift in 1999 customers complained that the springs and shockabsorbers were somewhat hard and didn't offer much comfort. So after the facelift it became a little bit softer. I owned bouth versions and I also felt a difference. As you can read in my other comment I'm owning the elder version.
Last November I was looking for a cheap small car to use as a standby if my main DD needed unexpected serious attention, to allow diy repair and not get ripped by a garage. What eventually transpired as a result of my search criteria was a Mazda 323F GXI, x reg, just over 50k miles, one VERY careful owner from new, full history, in quite unbelievably good condition, £900!!!! It's not fast, just a 1500 twin cam, not exciting, but comfortable, good ride and handling and it's really grown on me. Only thing not working is the aircon, but I'm betting thats just a regas job. Even has an electric tilt and slide sunroof! It is a bit dated compared to it's contemporaries, but is solid and well made. It's a total coincidence but my main DD is a 2010 Mazda 6 2.2 sport diesel and I bloody love that thing, it's a real sleeper because it goes like stink and has brilliant handling and roadholdig for a 4 door family car, and I think the styling is great. It's also very well equipped, and so far in 7 years it's just needed a cam chain kit, besides brakes, tyres and servicing. I'll defo be lookig at another 6 when this finally starts to get too miley.
Its does the job better than most mines currently on 117k I love it
Already subscribed to yr channel, how could I have missed this fantastic review of the last 626 that nobody else would think of to remember.
Let me confess: I owed one, the even more boring 1.8 LX hatchback and it ran on LPG which made it even more sluggish. Had it for 15 yrs until 31-12-21, aged then 21yrs, I decided it would be my last car ever, climatewise. No other car would have been able to postpone that decision for over 10yrs or so.
Just -as you put it rightly so - because it was there and did the job whenever I asked for it. Boring? Brilliant. I believe the workshop owner who paid me €100 to finally help me to decide to get into cycling only still has it and at least used it another 2 yrs or so, may be he still uses it.
Thanks so much for remembering that last Mazda 626, the best car I ever had ❤
Usually the most boring cars are the most reliable.
It's one of those cars that I would call a "blandmobile". To be fair, I did drive an older 626 for a year and was happy with how it worked.
In South Amarica they really offered a V6 2.5l with 169 HP. They called it Mazda Millenia and it had lot of options including leather seats. In Europe were only 4-cylinder engines available. The previous 626 GE from 1992 - 1997 had a 6-cylinder option too.
it is essentially a 2000s car that was still build like a 90s car.
but i love how 90s japanese engine bays were made.
reasonable, nothing conplicated, lots of metal used (unlike the cheap germans)
it is just a reasonable saloon youd buy if you dont care much about cars and you just want good, reliable unassuming transportation.
I think as you have little knowledge of some of the you test drive it gives you a better way to tell us about the car. I enjoy your road tests.
A non friend, friend seat, I like that, in fact that's remarkable in itself. Those rear window switches are very 80's BL / aftermarket. Great addition to the "I know nothing" series, good format 👍
Thanks for the upload Rich. My kind of "well the door shut nicely" review. I'm sold. 😄
The generation after the 626 i.e. Mazda 6 and 3 are very fun cars to drive as far as commuter cars go, with responsive steering, slick manual gearbox and competent suspension.
Had two of these in the past , one orginal one more fancy , they were seen as working class luxury, accountants cars seem to last longer than other offering at the time.
The zenith of Mazda anonymous styling, but it has grown some charm over time. The unsophisticated interior reminds me a bit of how surprisingly backward my 1997 Corolla was (US spec). This 23 year old 626 has been really well looked after!
This is so much better than the American 626 from thd same time period. I really wish we got the wagon (estate) version here, as with most cars.
The 2.5L V6 is a lot of fun, though. It was an option on all trim levels in the US. Also worthy of note is that the boot has no button anywhere at all, just a keyhole. There is a remote button for it, though.
There waqs 3 generations before this, the 86-92 626 was the best of them (i'm erm a bit biased, my dad had a fair few 626's from 83 to about 1992, a couple of saloons and an estate (the estate was huge and beautiful.) My brother has 2 VERY VERY rare (they were rare when in production) 626's a 1990 G reg coupe 2.0 GTi 16v, and 1991 H reg 626 coupe GTi TWR (the TWR had a body kit and different ECU for about 170bhp, the standard Gti had 150bhp whic was a lot of power in 1990)
A decent family/rep mobile. But an appliance and most owners treated them as such. These must be pretty rare on the road nowadays. Can't remember the last time I saw one.
I very much enjoy these “I know nothing about this car” series. Very refreshing!
The definition of boring is very personal. A previous Mercedes estate I had, was a very good car but boring to drive for me… but my current Focus which is less refined and slower feels less boring to me.
I believe this could be a classic since many 90’s cars are being the victims of scrappage schemes and clean air zones.
Just felt it was easier to admit I know nothing and am going in from scratch than busily trying to read up on it and getting things wrong while pretending I know what I'm talking about!
Late eighties, early nineties model was if it's time too. Memorable for me because our local Mazda garage used to write hilarious newspaper adverts, relatively sarcastic to their second hand stock.
This almost looks like the curvy rebody of that model.
Brilliant review Sir! If only Top Gear was back to this sort of thing! 😀👍
One thing I really like about this car is the steering wheel. It looks kind of chunky, but not bloated like some of the airbag wheels of the era. It also looks slightly sporty, but not at all out of place in a family car. All in all, it's not a bad looking car. I'd much rather have this than a mk1 Avensis or a Primera P11 when it comes to looks.
That fold down front seat proves useful when moving big stuff. My Mazda 2 (also called a Capella) had it.
Wow indicators on the left in a Japanese car is unheard of in Australia where I am from.
We have them on the right hand side which is the correct side.
The word “Unexceptional” springs immediately to mind…..
Lovely old thing deserves to live on. Very few left now. Excellent review as always 👍
Love your style kitch, please keep it up 👍
These were a backwards step from the previous generation 626 (1991-1996), because Mazda had practically bankrupted itself after trying to create a whole bunch of new sub brands in the 80s/90s. That’s why it has all those outdated details like the boot release, aerial etc. They were just trying to survive as a company and didn’t have the budget to make it special
My folks grey-imported an estate to Scotland via Holland and Ireland saving a few £k. I learned to drive in it. Lots of Ford parts under the bonnet. I may or may not have trashed a CV boot getting it beached in snow.
Visage - fade to grey. Haven't heard that since it was on top of the pops waaaay back. Nice one 👍
Sure my Cactus has a rear intermitent wash wipe.... Reading BL in the comments and my late grandfather replaced his Marina with a Mazda 929! Must have been a huge step up from BL products.
Have to admit cars like these like the Primera, Avensis and 626 do not set the world on fire to drive but prove to be realible and get you from A-B.
A excellent review Rich.
Intermittent, yes, but the option of both that and full speed?
Proper Billy no mate's car, which is probably why I like it.😊
The Xedos 6 was based on the same platform. When entered into the BTCC it was so good that even David Leslie and Matt Neal couldn't get higher than an 8th place finish. 😁
Hahaha! Neal had a mental crash in his at Silverstone, IIRC?
The heater controls - and yes, the boot button - are very much the same as my 2004 Toyota Yaris, now gifted with a dangling exhaust as both rear mounts have snapped off due to rot and potholes.
I think its a really cool car.I love old school JDM cars.Reminds me of my 97 Primera 2.0 but it was a turbo diesel and that used to fly But it got tired after 440K miles(i was a taxi driver way back).
I KNEW YOU WILL BRING UP IBISHU PESSIMA AND YOU DID! Fantastic!
Haha! It was begging for it.
The world is a better place when these older cars have survived.
Had s plate 2 litre manual can be fun on right road used to bomb about Devon back roads only sold rust and valve stem seal 150 000 great motorway car ❤ 50 mpg
9:14 Ford was pretty involved with Mazda in 2001. Perhaps the Ford AU cars used Mazda starters or vice versa.
My daughter drove a 2000 Mazda Protégé (US market 323) and the instruments and heater controls were just about identical to what you're showing.
😢My and.my.mates bought one of these few years back £85 with mot. It was epic for the green lanes. We actually got air in it and took of the front bumper 😂 but the car still triumphed on. Had it in water deep enough to cover the windscreen it didn't care properly bulletproof the 2 weekends it's survived it literally spent on the limiter constantly. Brilliant fun and proper comfy
The Ford Telstar and Mazda 626 cronos (same car) were the closest cousin to this car I recall. They were very very common in South Africa…
The Mazda 626 was an incredibly popular car in Germany - a case of selling coal to Newcastle.
I had an injected Mazda 626 in 1986, it was a fantastic car. Problem was 15 years later they were more of the same.
With the Fiat Marea, you were trying to say it had “Brio”, and you would be right (especially the 1.8 or 2.0 5-pot).
This is what I call a dependability car. It gets you from A to B with no fuss or muss for most people that just want that. My wife or mother would drive it. This is a great car when taken care of because they will last and never leave you stranded. This is where they excel. Kudos to the family that owns it for keeping it nice.
last car I remember with an adjustable r/w/w was my brother-in-laws 1984 MG Metro
They were solid but dull, the only interesting one was the turbo charged diesel wagon💪
My 2023 Chevrolet Bolt has off/int/on for the rear wiper. It's quite handy.
Another great upload. Not sure why but it its not showing under my subscriptions tab but if I just select your channel it shows up. Would have missed it without seeing your X post on it.
Have a look at the subsequent posts (there's one on here too). I played with the settings and it backfired!
The word "appliance" comes to mind here. Let's add a word to be more descriptive and make that "competent appliance"...
My uncle had a N plate or M one it was OK car the engine was the best thing about it 2.0 liter supercharged diesel the nose the supercharged was really unique to me .And I have never come across another one
I used to have a Toyota Carina E - similarly dull, but ultra reliable. That car had an intermittant rear wiper too. It had a single button control for the titlt/slide sunroof though.
You're bob-on with regards the old Vauxhall 8-valve lumps. A bit gruff and unrefined perhaps, but not so when compared to a CVH... and very punchy. I had a mk1 Astra 1.6 that went like shit off a shovel. 90ish ponies I think.
My parents Hayter 3HP lawnmower was smoother than a CVH lump, in fairness! But yeah, a 2.0 8v Cavalier felt like it flew, even if it actually didn't.
The Volvo v70 phase 2 rear wiper stalk is sort of similar. I'd expect to have seen more MK2 Mondeo stuff in this to be honest.
Like the review 👍
It pre-dated the parts/platform sharing with Ford, I think. Pretty sure it was just badge-engineering at this point, but could be wrong.
There's no in-between with Mazda, they either make something really interesting/pretty that has some inherent flaw (i.e. rot or a rotary), or they make something unbelievably staid and bulletproof.
Also, i feel like 626 may have sat at the bottom of their saloon tree back in the day. There were so many interesting/more luxurious variants based on the platform (Eunos 500/800, ēfini MS6/8/9, Autozam Clef etc.)
"Car" is definitely how I'd describe it tho 😂
We had Mazda 626s in Australia became the Mazda 6 but Mazda is a very popular in Australia and l owned a 2004 Mazda Bravo the ute version rear wheel drive for my courier work with a 2.6 litre engine l found it rather good and whilst it was been repaired after another collision it seemed to have a magnet and the loan vehicle was a Toyota Hilux of the same era and it wasn't as good but it was automatic which l didn't like but l now own the previous generation Hilux and its pretty good and it's manual and Mazda is the second biggest selling car brand behind Toyota and l have a couple of close relatives who have Mazda 3s and they like them and the main competition for this 626 in Australia would have been the Toyota Camery which were built in Australia and there are so many of those old Camerys driving around see them every day l go out driving
Button on the boot is more Morris 1100/Landcrab than Cortina - nearly all Fords back then needed key to open, rather than a push button. (Nerd Alert ‼️)
And - yeah, 626 nearly always boring ! A boss I had back then went from a Citroen XM to a 626 - the previous model to the one you’re driving. XM had all kinds of odd electrical problems… the 626 never put a boring bloody foot wrong !!
Ah yes, you're right. It's a bit more BL than Ford.
The exterior design strikes me as quite pleasing, if fairly conventional for a family car/repmobile of the time. Mazdas are reckoned by many to be pretty solid and reliable, so that shouldn't be an issue. I could imagine somebody be quite fond of such a car for those reasons alone. Practicality and common-sense design may be a tad dull but not all of us buy a car to be a boy racer or to impress people at fashionable venues. For some, that it reliably gets us to, say, a Travelodge off the A1 on a business trip, to the golf club up the road of a Sunday morning or a visit to the the wife's sister in Market Rasen each May does just fine.
Yup, would agree with all that. My only point would be that the people who normally take cars through to survive to be classics are people who are 'into cars', so if a car is very forgettable (regardless of how competent it is) it has less chance of surviving to be a classic.
TBF for a last 90’s car development in Japan in the early/mid 90’s it’s all pretty standard!!! Looks very P10 Primera. If you’re coming from a Saab or Volvo with huge buttons it’ll all look and feel flimsy and fiddly. When you think that many Japanese manufacturers only got into serious manufacture for export after WWII the fact that they are class leading for “affordable cars” and have been for a few decades is outstanding really. That with a V6 2.5 outta the MX-6 and black or tan leather would be sweet!!
VW are a prime example of torque over bhp! The P10 and P11 are typical 16v cars that need to rev and rev. I worked at Nissan when they were new. The workshop boys said the best way to run it that SR20 engine was to rag the snot out of it!!! We did just that to my brothers P10 eGT and P10 GT company cars!! 😅
I’d always thought it was a larger car than what you’re comparing it too tbf. More of a 605 or XM competitor. It is so dull that it loops round to being awesome! Like my old 940 Turbo Wagon but rarer! 😍😍😍
Definitely a D-segment car, the 626. Mazda's answer to the 605/XM class was the 929 in the old days, and the Xedos 9 in the 90s.
Fair enough fella. I'd say its on the big side of D segment though 🙂@@UPnDOWN I do like you reviews.
Extra points for the Sony stereo being in DEMO MODE!
The earlier V6 was a beauty
i always love cars that could turn the front passenger side into a table because
a. yes, i have no friends
b. i could use it as a table to put stuff like takeaways or a laptop
c. as you mentioned, a not-so toyota century style footrest for the rear passenger, but that's never gonna happen because refer to point a
Ah the Toyota Century! Would love a go in one of those!
"This is not a Saab, is it?" - excellent!
I own a 2000 626 ES with factory Bose speakers sunroof leather power seats 4 wheel discs , DOHC V6 5sp independent rear suspension dual electric fans alloy wheels rear deck spoiler all factory
100,000 miles 24 yrs old and every single bulb and option works even the cruise . Even a CD player and pass through trunk
The phrase you were looking for to describe the Marea is 'je ne sais quois'
Beautifully kept example.
It is, it's like new inside.
I had a 2003 323f Sport from 2009-2012. Lovely car which looked great, was very comfortable and very practical. Shame it wasn’t all that economical. Knackered ABS pump and rust killed it off. Mazdas of that era dissolve quite easily. I currently have a ‘99 NB which is the same 😅
They seem to have sorted that in the BK Mazda3. Got an '06 Sport here, bought three years old and I still see no reason to replace it even though it's by far the oldest car I've owned. Seeing if it can make it to 20 is tempting.
There was a Focus Mk1 with a passenger seat like that for reps to work from.
I remember reading A review of several midsize sedans back then and the 626 was the most boring one they tested. They neither liked nor disliked anything about it. Then again, I would take one over anything sold new today if it was still in the market. I miss hones, simple Japanese cars that are easy to service and never go wrong.
I argue that it's less polluting than a modern car.
It's still going strong so you don't need to buy a new one.
People who get every 3 years a new one, are polluting way more.
They are, it's true. But in isolation, I mean - the world without this 626 ever having been in it will be a teeny bit less polluted, if that makes sense? Relatively speak, yeah it's a pretty clean car, footprint-wise.
I believe Mazda used an outside contractor to hand carve the walnut dashboard and door inserts, even the vent symbols.
It was the same contractor that carved polo's for the Japanese Market.....
Haha!
That looks a lot like the Honda Accord of the same vintage 1998-2003
I believe that was the advertising tagline from Mazda back in the day:
“The new Mazda 626…….Sorry!” 😂
Funny that you mentioned the boot opener.. The only thing I remember about these cars is that the boot opener reminded me of a bath plug for some reason. And I´m pretty sure that memory will remain until I die, regardless of any potential insanity, alzheimers or whatever. Why brain, why???
Haha!
🤣😆😂 We've got wood! Steady!😂😆🤣😅😛😝 Double entendre at its best!👍👏👏👌 It was the successor the Mazda 6 that was a more dynamic drive than the 626 & better looking IMO.🤔 But as I haven't driven either car, I'm going by other people opinions.🤔
I've heard this about the Mazda 6, too. Never driven one, but have driven a Mazda 3 2.0 Sport (2005ish) and actually thought it drove really well.
First comment!!!! wheyyyy
Honestly wont become a classic IMO as its just overshadowed by the 323
I had a 2003 323lxi (top of the range 323 back then) and loved it, sadly off the road now, corrosion sarted to eat it's way when i traded it for my first skoda octavia about 8-9 years ago now. the 1.6 ZM engine was a cracker. i now a 2019 mazda 2 with the 1.5 skyactive engine, and well i love it to bits, it handles well but the engine is errrrm rather lack luster, gutlees to what i was used to, 150bhp/230nm of tourqe from a 1.4 tsi (turbocharged), to 90bhp/88nm of torque from a 1.5 skyactive (naturally aspirated) is a huge drop.
I have a series 1 wagon that was bought as a runaround. Unassuming and un-glamorous, yes, but if you have owned a few Euros or modern cars after that, you will find that this is the one to keep till you die. It is dead-set reliable, functional, doesn't have any stupid gizmos, and costs you nothing to run.
ps. your car has the HVAC control dials, which I prefer over the climate control.
Nice car, like it. At least it won't do a software update or user have to sign up to their data being passed on. Its what we will never see again, a car that does what it was made to do without the fuss and faff of user names and the like.
True
I've never owned a car that asked for a user name 😆
Oh you ain't lived. Password and pin number for different users and settings. Theory is, if you reset the car to default, you can recall all car setting to as you set them up. The problems start when you just get logged out, not fun. Or one day the service or backend is stopped by the car manufacturer. I would give my right one for a car with velour seats, and that 80s or 90s vibe. Like a Rover 800 or something. One day...
My Dad had a 626 just like this. It was an odd car, even compared to the previous model 626 which my dad also had it seemed a step backwards. The previous 626 was far more refined and interesting. On this model, the interior design is really scattered and a bit of a mess. Its nothing like the previous model or the following model. Strange. Anyway, it never gave any trouble for mt Dad. I do remember one of the rear window regulators broke, which i fixed. That was the only thing.
Gives me 90's rover 400 seires vibes.
This 323's and 626's of this era were generally bland but extremely functional and reliable. I had the former. Completely bullet proof.
Those window switches look like they could have been a dealer special.
I think by looking at the dubious WIKI the 2.0 litre is a 1991 cc with either 113bhp or 134 bhp if its a GSI or an SE.
Yeah, that's what I found. I was surprised as I initially thought it'd be the 134bhp version, but then realised a Jap long-stroke engine had duped me AGAIN!