I am a longtime mazda admirer who used to drive an 87 626(great car), and then a 91 protege(not such a good car for me). I want to believe in the mazda brand, but have reservations after my protege let me down. I am about to buy a 97 2.3L which seemed fine upon preliminary inspection. It's just that I have read conflicting opinions about their quality. As I understand it, the "s" version isn't molested by Ford's influence, and is completely built and designed in Japan. In other words, it's a real mazda. Is this correct? Are there any special clues that I should look for on this model in order to determine it's longevity. It currently has 93k on engine and carfax is pretty clean. Thanks for any advice anyone might have.

 

i think all of the millenias are made in japan, as opposed to the 626, which was made here in the usa. we had a 96 626, what a pile of crap. the us STILL cannot build cars. i had a similar situation with my mitsubishis. the 93 gsx i had was made here in the usa. the galant vr4 i had was all made in japan. the difference in quality was astounding. the gsx was a rolling pile. everything squeaked, rattled, or fell off. slam the door, some piece would fall off. open the hatch, it would fall down and hit you. when it rained, the car got full of water. working on the car, i was constantly finding stuff like where there should be 4 nuts or bolts, there would only be 2 or 3, and they would be loose. on the galant, everything was tight, every nut and bolt was there, and they were ON there.

we bought the 626 new. same deal. it had to go back several times for running problems. when it was cold, the steering and suspension made a racket, and it sounded/felt like someone/something was beating the floor on the driver's side. several trips to the dealer were worthless. the transmission shifted terrible, when it would actually shift. the car felt like it would not get out of it's own way. it sounded like a diesel, too. tremdous wind noises. the millenia is the opposite. the fit and finish is excellent. multilink suspensionfront and rear, and excellent brakes. very nice leather, and heated seats. excellent climate control, excellent cooling system. my wife goes out at lunch and eats in the car, in texas. 100 deg heat, engine idling, a/c on, and it will put out 35 deg at the vents. black car, too.

my complaints are that there is no fold down rear seat, and no body side mouldings. this car seems to attract door dings. the transmission could use a 5th gear, and space them closer together. i hate the way it takes so long for the car to heat the cabin. it seems like all the heat is delayed for several minutes, then it is diverted to the interior. i like a warm car in the winter. there is not a lot of room in the engine bay, so some maintenance is a very tight squeeze. the car should have a rear sway bar(the 2001 my and later DO have a rear bar, supposedly the 2001- body is 30% stiffer). i hate donuts for spares. i have replaced both with full size spares, they fit almost perfectly in the well. i prefer the older style of HVAC, like my bmw's had, where you can split the air flow, and have heated air on your feet, and cool/cold air on your face.

some of the things i like are; the brakes. excellent braking car. the engine has good power, it is a low revving hi torque motor. the miller cycle gets max torque at 3500, WELL below that of much larger engines, and it produces way more torque, too. that is why the car feels so powerful. the cooling system is very good. we have 2 99 s', and i am pleased the cooling system has held up so well. the motor is non interference, if the timing belt breaks, there will be no damage done. the paint is gorgeous. i have zaino'd both cars, they look great. the a/c is the best we have ever had. fuel economy has been about 22-25 combined city/hiway, about the same that the 626 pile was. i like the bose sound system, but then i am not a music nut. the head unit in the early cars only had a single cd, and we had a remote 6 cd changer in the trunk. to us, this was inconvenient, so i converted both head units to the in dash 6cd changer units. the automatic tilt steering is nice when getting in/out. we love the heated seats.

resale on these cars suck. so, you can generally get a used car for a good price, but you will take a bath if you try to sell it later. i think the 2001 my and later is a better deal because of the stiffer chassis. although, our 99's are no slouch; i have had both cars jacked up many times, and the doors open and close like the car is still on the ground. no flexing here. i have replaced both axles on both cars, both at about 65k. i have replaced the seat heaters. plugs are 60k, the rear bank is mucho labor, so lots of cars dont get them changed. i have replaced all the coils on one car, that was like 700 bucks. now i have 2 used sets i got off ebay for 20 bucks/set. brakes on both cars(both cars have about 90k). alternator tensioner on one car(340 bucks!!! again, i got an ebay one for 20). a few of the multilink suspension pieces, and ball joints, sway bar end links, one coolant resevoir. i change oil/filter about every 5 k, 5w-30 synthetic, usually mobil 1. i flush coolant/brake fluid yearly, and every oil change, i pull out as much power steering fluid as i can, and replace it. both fuel filters, they are a bit of a pain to change. we bought our black 99 new for about 26k after rebates and discounts, and a white 99 3 years ago for 8k, it had 67k on it, and had been fanatically maintained. i dont think either car today would bring more than about 6 k each. but, we like our millenias.

 

Yeah! Everything Keninn said and they look sweet, and good power, but my opinion is that they are nothing but a money pit with absolutely no resale value what so ever! Interior looks good until you start taking it apart! Very fragile, cheap and poor quality! Steering is quick but the cars ride like **** over bumps and not to great on cornering! The Bose stereo is so over ratedthat my wifes HondaCivic sounds better.The body panels are so thin that you can leananywhere on the carand put a dent in it! This probably explains why the cars only weigh 3200 lbs and feels powerfulwith the punny little 130 someodd cubic inch (2.3) supercharged motor, which the supercharger by the way is guarranteed to start going out at about 80,000 miles. Keninn forgot to mention that the catalytic converters like to go out, which you can buy the right front one for $333.32 and the left frontone for $603.89 through Online MazdaParts.com. Pretty good deal!If you are going to buy one of these cars get a good code scanner ,a bumper to bumperextended warranty, and join this forum and it will be ok. Better yet dont be fooled by the good looks of these cars and go ahead andbuy a less trouble free, better quality, and a car with better resale valuelike a Lexus, Acura, Honda, or a Toyota! Peace out my friend!