Mazda 323 - Accident prone? | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

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Wed 17 Jul 2002 21:16

Mazda 323 - Accident prone? - pjgd

I have been trying to buy a used Mazda 323(4-5 yrs old). So far I have seen 4 within my price range (<£4000), the first one seemed very dubious - there were misleading comments in the advert, it had French number plates, and the engine was practically new for a car that had done 52K miles.

The strange thing is that the other 3 cars which I have seen and agreed a price with the seller subject to inspection have ALL been Insurance Losses (two at Category D and one Category C), in two cases the current owners were not even aware that this was the case.

Have I just been unlucky or is the Mazda 323 too accident prone? Should I look at other makes/models (although I am told that they are excellent cars).

Any views/comments.

Thanks

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Thu 18 Jul 2002 07:40

Mazda 323 - Accident prone? - rg

I drove one hard and long as a company car for a couple of years, and found them a fine-handling car with a responsive engine and decent brakes.

No particular vices in the handling area. And I certainly did some "research"

Only problem was a vunerable radiator. No guard on this, hence fresh air between the road (stones, other debris) and the radiator itself.

If this holes and loses its coolant, there is no clear warning (no overtemperature light, no coolant level light, gauge will drop to "cool"). One melted engine.

Accident-prone? They are a very sexy looking car IMHO, and seem to be driven by ,errmm, females of a certain type - (former colleagues called the 323 "a hairdresser's car"). Maybe it's the type of driver they attract...

(clunk...seals bunker door to prepare for incoming fire)

rg

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