This next tip comes from JR who writes: Let’s hope this guy doesn’t get lowballed. It’s a silver lining amongst this crazy used car market. Yes, yes yes! This thing is an amazing little gem for $500 and most other cars in that price range aren’t cars, they are parts of cars or scammer’s waiting […]
This next car is number 9 of 12 in a special feature we are doing inspired by a vintage Car and Driver article that covered cars offered for new in 1992 for less than $10k and had air conditioning, a rear defroster, and an AM/FM radio. These economy cars compact economy cars were ranked by […]
The Mazda 323 was a pretty forgettable economy car sold in America based on the Japanese Mazda Familia, but there was an exception. Mazda sold an all-wheel-drive GTX version that put some rally performance into the light chassis and many had been turned into rally racers over the years. But today, we’ve got a stock […]
1980’s were known as the Golden Age of Rally. Fire breathing Group B cars ran rampant throughout the forests in the early part of the decade, and then tragically it was all over. The meek inherited the woods in the form of production-based Group A cars, and a few of them made it to The Land of the Free. Plucky little Mazda took it’s cooking 323 hatchback and turbo-charged it along with outfitting it with AWD and a locking center diff. Shockingly, it wasn’t forbidden fruit in the U.S., and it was sold in showrooms across the U.S. next to it’s tamer siblings. Of course, you know the rest of the story; it didn’t sell, only moving around 1,200 units in the 2 years here. Find this 1989 Mazda 323GTX offered for $6,500 in Orange County, CA via craigslist.
This next car is a Mazda Protegé5 . Not a Mazda Protegé..space..5 or a Protege 5. It is actually the Protegé5 and this predates Mazda’s current obsession with everything having a numeric name..but this pedantic nomenclature hides a very capable eighth generation BJ Familia/323 wagon. This next car isn’t the Mazdaspeed version, it does look to be in remarkable condition and is offered by a dealer who (despite an exhaustive application of ArmorAll) claims it is a 1-owner vehicle and it does have a manual gearbox. Find this 2002 Mazda Protegé5 offered for $5000 in Shingle Springs (yes, that is a real place, and no it isn’t a good name for a retirement home) CA via craigslist.
This next tip comes from Matt C who writes: Sure, everyone knows about the Subaru WRX and Lancer EVO. The Celica All-Trac bowed out earlier, but it’s notorious for one of the most epic cheating methods in motorsports. And some rally fans will remember the Mitsubishi Gallant VR4. But how many remember Mazda’s entry? Well, you […]
The Mazda 323 was a pretty forgettable econobox sold in America based on the Japanese Mazda Familia, but there was an exception — the all-wheel-drive GTX version that put some extra zoomf in the Zoom Zoom, and today we’ve got a rally prepped example ready for dirt road hoonage for a dirt cheap price. Find […]
The name Ford Laser doesn’t ring any bells in my head, but one look at the car, and I’m sure I’ve seen one before. It looks similar to the Mazda 323 2-door liftback or a Ford Escort, but in truth this thing is a restyled version of the Mazda Familia built and sold for the […]
This next hot hatch comes to us from Brian P, who writes: Hot hatches are awesome. This one is ratty enough that it will be cheap but not so bad that you’ll have to shower after every drive. It could be the dog hair covering the seats or that this car is literally a hot […]
The Mazda Familia was a little family-oriented compact that was sold variously under the GLC, 323 and Protegé nameplates in North America. Here in the states we officially got the little hot rod GTX version during the 5th generation of the Familia/323, which combined the hatchback body style with all wheel drive, a 5-spd manual trans, […]