Mazda 323 daily

I'm in search of a daily driver tchit box and came across this Mazda 323 hatchback for 800$.

Anybody have any experience with these? what are common problems I should look for besides the obvious?

friend had one in high school, good little cars
>things to look for
make sure the trans isn't toast and check for rust
also somewhat hard to find the OE hubcaps

Mate I have a 2001sport post face-lift one
It's awesome and I love it but I brought as a beater as it's rusty as fuck. The rear wheel arches are notorious for rust.
Mine has rusted through completely on one arch, almost as bad on the other, has surface rust everywhere underneath, more along the bottoms on the driver door.

But. I've been honing it since may without even topping up the oil and its never missed a beat. If it wasn't rusty I'd keep it.

Rust

Rust

Rust

Other then that enjoy ur badass gokart

I drove an older one as my first car. Yeah it was falling apart bigtime by the time I was done with it, but it was fun as heck and the perfect kind of beat up econobox for a first car and to start to learn how to work on.

Funny enough, I'll be using this car in the winter time when they'll be spraying the roads with salt, it'll fuck it up even more, I just hope the strut towers hold up and dont rust enough for a shock to shoot into my ass, I've had that happen before except it was inches away from my head.

Did you steal my story or were you the one sitting next to my strut tower when the strut blew out the top?

That was because the shop installed it improperly, though, not because of rust.

I was a kid getting a ride in the daycare's rusty Audi hatchback when I heard a loud ass bang and a fuck ton of dust, turn my head around and the spring happened to shoot out just inches from my head.

I don't know if it was rust or the same situation you had with your car though.

Had one, was my first newsed car. (Bought it with 17k miles). Absolutely loved it.

If you want the back seat to lay down flat to get more space in the car, just take the bottom of the back seat out. It pops right up. I used to keep it in my bedroom.

bagging dem midgets amirite :3

No, it was actually so I could fit 2 more JL Audio 15's in there. I already had 2, but that wasn't enough.

(This was in 1993 when it was actually still cool to have a loud stereo).

noice. I had a friend with a SYSTEM in his car, and it sounds surprisingly so much better from the inside.

The 80s and 90s were so much better.

Engines are super reliable, body less so but not awful, kind of a pain in the ass to work on
I've seen some absolutely terrible examples of the car that run almost like they're new, honestly if it turns over and doesn't sound like something is obviously wrong it'll probably last you longer than your interest in the car. My biggest complaint is that the engine is not particularly easy to work on, doing an oil change almost requires you lift the entire vehicle and anything beyond minor maintenance may require removing the engine. That said if you intend to run it into the ground that won't worry you, and getting a shop to work on it probably won't cost that much anyway.

>BBE Sonic Maximizer
wew that's a blast from the past

Did it actually make a difference? I remember so many flame wars about it being expensive snake oil.

Alpine 7805 CD player
BBE SM-4012 Sonic Maximizer
Audio Control 4XS crossover
Alpine 3543 (100x2) running MB Quart QM218.02 set (6.5 and tweeter)
Orion 2150gx (150x2) running 4 JL 15W5's in 3 cubic feet each sealed.

That was my 500 watt stereo from back then so I could compete in IASCA's 251-500 watt power class.

The rear flip out windows would peel away from the body. :) I could also put a cassette tape on my roof, and it would dance all over the place, bouncing 2-3" in the air.

Using the official IASCA SPL track, James Newton Howard's "L'Daddy", I did an official 141dB on a B&K mic at the headrest with an AudioControl SA-3055 meter.

Yes, it was this track I did my 141 on. We didn't use test tones back then, we used actual music to measure the car. These people today that claim they're doing 160dB while still sitting in the car, I'm calling BULLSHIT. I've sat in legitimate World Record 146dB cars, and that 146 is so fucking loud, it fucked with my equilibrium. I couldn't walk straight for 5 minutes. And you're telling me that you can sit inside your car at 160? FUNFACT: that's not fucking 160.

Go old school. Put your meter at the headrest, play this song, then tell me what your SPL is.

youtu.be/MMH5Fru-zEs

>youtu.be/MMH5Fru-zEs
Also good god this track makes my ears hurt even at low volume. I'd make the neighbors deaf if I turned up the volume enough to be in danger of bottoming out my speaker cones.

Yes! It made a HHHUUUUEEEEGGGGG difference. The actual BBE processor made by BBE is nothing the same as the licensed "built-in" BBE that some head units have.

I guarantee you this. Sit in the car, listen to the stereo with it off. Then reach over and turn it on. You'll be a believer.

I still have it to this day, too. :)

My mother had one until I was 8. They're okay but any major repair will total it, and it must have been really slow because she thought a 4cyl 2000 camry was fast.

The 2nd gens are absolutely slow, but they get incredible mileage.

If you want a fast one, get a first gen 1988 GTX. (If you can even find one)

Or, if you're set on a 2nd gen, get a 4 door Protege LX. It's *got* to be the LX though, because the LX came with the DOHC 1.8 that was pretty much the same engine as was in the Miata.

When I got rid of my 323 SE, I traded it in on a Protege LX, and yeah, those could move. And this is relatively speaking here. A Protege LX could hit 130 whereas a 323 *might* go 105, but I doubt it.

My 2001 sport has a 2l dohc engine and it's not slow slow. Has a decent amount of tourqe. Great for honing. Makes a good noise and it'll wheel spin in 2nd