4Car: Ten Fun Affordable Coupes

Mazda 323 Fastback (1994-98) by Farah AlKhalisi 29 May 2003

All the information on this page has been taken from www.4car.co.uk

Prices: £1500-£5000
Engines: 1.5i - 1498cc, 90bhp, four cylinders; 1.8i - 1839cc, 115bhp, four cylinders; 2.0 - 1995cc, 147bhp, V6.
Check for: Full service history, minor electrical faults, scuffed bumpers and alloy wheels, general about-town knocks and scrapes, full service history as correct timing belt change is important.

Yes, it has five doors - we spotted that. But the bulbous Mazda 323 Fastback is the five-door hatchback that thinks it's a coupe, almost looks like a coupe, and has often been bought by people who thought that they wanted a coupe. If you're about to give up your two-door for all the usual reasons - imminent parenthood, getting a dog, getting too old to climb in and out of something low-down - or aren't quite sure whether to forsake five-door practicality for sporting looks, then this could be the car for you. It's not necessarily a compromise, and it's a lot more practical and livable-with than the rare and tiny MX-3. It's also cheaper, by virtue of being older and discontinued, than those other coupe-alikes, the five-door Alfa 147 and 156 saloon.

Mazda's hatchbacks haven't always been the most dynamic of offerings, but the 323 Fastback picks up where its pop-up-headlamped predecessor left off: slightly overlight to steer, but well balanced with good grip, lively engines and adept suspension. All the ingredients that make the MX-5 such a great drive, except, of course, rear-wheel drive. The 323 is also well equipped, to a higher level than equivalently-priced European hatches. All except the earliest 1.5s have twin airbags, while many have air-conditioning, and you should look out for special-edition models which usually have pretty metallic paint finishes, nice alloys and extra kit.

Keen drivers will have to have the 2.0 V6; it's beautifully smooth and refined yet torquey. However, the 1.8 is plenty fast enough for most, and even the 1.5 does the job.

Most Mazda 323s have led relatively sedate lives, so don't accept anything less than a full service history. As they're so reliable, lazy owners may have been tempted to skip a service or two. However, a large proportion of 323s have lived in town and have parking knocks, scrapes, bumps and scuffs, so you might have to get busy with the touch-up paint.

This artical has been copied from www.4car.co.uk