Faults:

Transmission is already shot!! (at 80k miles).

Ignition wiring replaced at 76k.

Automatic door locks go haywire.

Bolts on wheels have rusted in place.

General Comments:

I am currently a college student who has had to take some time off of school for financial reasons. I bought this car to replace my last one, which blew a head gasket at 115k.

Everything I had read and heard about the 626 was very positive; I thought I was buying a reliable car. I drive to work everyday and was hoping to have enough money put away to return to school this January. Now, thanks to my Mazda, I am going to have to spend most of my savings on a new transmission! I have had this car for less than a year and it has been nothing but frustration. Needless to say, I will never buy another Mazda again.

Faults:

First of all, I bought the car used. It had 74,000 miles on it. A couple of my friends had 626's and they seemed like great cars. So far, ever since I bought it, the belts have squealed. Now it is in the shop being checked for that.

Exactly one week after I bought it the linkage broke... It connects the shifter and the transmission and allows it to go into gear.

My compact disc player will go blank and freeze up for no reason. You have to play with the volume button to get it to come alive again.

I miss the body style of the older 626's, but it is still a smooth ride. I like the isolating air conditioner vents.

I would also give this car an A+ on gas mileage. It is a 4 cylinder and is very reasonable on gas. But again, I've only had it almost two weeks...

Faults:

Boot Release Button mechanism broke, but super glue got it back together again.

Rear doors don't always open (haven't fixed that fault yet).

Engine misfired for a while, but I later realised it was dirty diesel that was causing the fault.

Radio "crackles" when left on for a long period of time, it also turns off by itself sometimes.

Other than the occasional light bulb blowing, nothing else has gone wrong.

General Comments:

Great car for long distances, and the fact it is a diesel, the miles per gallon can be quite good. Great for money saving.

Performance is great, I personally think the car does a better 0-60mph than the official figure (11.5 seconds). It feels like it does it in 9-10 seconds, which is good for any diesel.

The gears are laid out nicely, I got the car up to 65mph in 3rd gear, of course, the turbocharger helps greatly. There is no turbo lag, because once you put the pedal to the metal, you can hear the turbo kicking in, no mater what the speed. I got up to 100mph in 5th gear, even at that, the needle was still rising, but I had too slow down because I was running out of road ahead of me. Fifth gear can be engaged at 40mph (1,200 RPM on the tachometer), and at 100mph, it was only at 3,600 RPM. Red line starts at 5,000 RPM.

Comfortable car to drive, even on very long journeys. We drove from Dublin to Rosslare, which is a good 110 miles drive, and yet it was a pleasant experience. One thing it has which is very handy is a pull-down arm rest on the drivers seat, great for when you are crossing at a constant speed on the motorways. It also has two large cup holders, something I didn't have in my previous Ford Sierra. This car also came with air con., something I have learned is very useful on hot days.

There is loads of space in this car, we went over to France to buy a lot of cheap wine, and we got nearly a hundred bottles altogether into the car. It pays to have a good big boot.

Two things however that annoy me about the car is that there isn't as much rear visibility through the back window, and the windows fog up quickly when someone is in it and the windows are up, which leads to near constant use of the de-fogger.

Overall a great Japanese car, I will be buying another one again in the future.