2001 Mazda 626 GXi 2.0 petrol from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Dull car, but I will remember it for reliability
Faults:
Quite a lot, but mostly wear and tear, and those parts got replaced cheap enough. Never had any major breakdowns or really expensive problems. Kept up with servicing.
In my final year with the car, the radiator fell apart, engine was starting to blow blue smoke, electric windows failed, driveshafts were noisy, and basically it was 20 years old with high mileage and time to go so I scrapped it. Surprisingly had very little rust for a Mazda!
General Comments:
When I got this 626 in 2011 I was not impressed, just needed a reliable car for work. Dull, slow, boring, firm ride, not great to drive; I knew it was nothing special, but to be fair it grew on me over the years and never let me down.
Not bad to look at in black with rear spoiler and multi spoke alloy wheels.
GXi model had decent electrics, seats were comfy enough, just a shame about the firm ride. Plenty of space.
The car handled OK. 2.0 petrol was not fast nor economical, averaged about 32 mpg, not great today and not great years ago either. I believe the auto-box let the car down; a manual transmission on the same engine would have undoubtedly had better performance and economy.
Still, for a car I got cheap at already 10 years old and lasted another 10 years before being scrapped at 20 years old and never let me down... you cannot say fairer than that.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 29th November, 2022
21st Jul 2022, 20:20
The negative reviews relate mainly to the unreliability of the automatic gearbox. But in saying that, my parents owned a 1998 version with automatic that was fine during their course of ownership, however it was programmed for fuel economy and not driver enjoyment.