Faults:

Hole in the left top side of the gas tank.

CV boot was ripped when I purchased the car.

General Comments:

This car is very cost effective. Gas mileage is much better in this than my previous car, never less than 25 even heavy city driving. The seats are very comfortable and interior is in very good condition. Acceleration is moderate and handling is quite well.

Faults:

At 70K the power window regulator began to fail in colder tempature.. I have yet to fix I have to press down on the window to help it go down and push it up to help it close.

At 176,000 Kilometers the clutch finally went.

At 176,000 While the clutch was out I changed the CV, shocks and struts to save the wheel alignment.

At 156K The Turbo cooling hose sprung a leak and eventually blew.

At 170K the Moon roof started to squeak making me lubricate it.

At 170K the door weather stripping is starting to show signs of age.

General Comments:

This Car started the Mazda ZOOM ZOOM motto. The car out performs everything in it's class with the only draw back being torque steer. It's not a fun car to drive in the winter since the tires spin so easily. In the rain you need a tire that deal with water since it will be prone to hydro planing.

The car is the perfect family sedan since the model I have is the 5door (hatch) it can haul everything, goes fast, and looks like a Joe blow sedan so the cops leave you alone.

Compared to my CRX I've only gotton 2 tickets with this car.. one was for blue lights and the other for estimated speeding over 150KM/h.. both tickets issues same time since.. Well.. We were speeding down the hiway...

My only complaint is the car is a standard and the wife can't drive it and the sunroof isn't designed for my size.. and I'm only 5'10... so I have to slide the moon-roof slider open to give my hair some room.

The seats do not have the child seat safety strap latch with was a bummer, but hey look at the age of the car...

The car has no rust after 12 years of sitting outside in -50C +42 C weather. Rock chips though.. Every spring you need to go on rock chip patrol.

Faults:

I was interested to find that many other 626 owners had the same problems I had:

A couple CV boot replacements, especially on the right side.

New exhaust every 2 years.

Needed alignment often to eliminate shakes at high speeds- but was smooth as butter at 85mph when fixed.

Paint on hood was cracking near the end.

New throttle air hose at 143k.

Transmission was going at 144k when I kissed it goodbye. = (

General Comments:

Glove box is small.

No cup holders.

Loved the pickup- everyone underestimated my 626 off the line!

Great cargo room when backseats are folded down.

Comfy, low seats for road-trips and cruising around.

I was sad to see this car go... it was a dream car after those Ford boats my dad made me drive in high school. My brother bought it new; there were no major problems until ~140k. I should have let go of it sooner because I only got $330 at trade-in.

Don't know if I would buy a new Mazda because of all the transmission horror stories I've heard about 1994-2001 626s. It's a bummer; I loved this car. The new Proteges look kinda sweet though.

New car: 2003 Corolla S. Excellent so far, but is a little more bumpy and sits much higher than the 626... can't see behind you to parallel park or pretend like you're low-riding. =)