Great little car, cheap to maintain and easy to service. Still have my 1997 323 Astina hardtop 1.8 ltr auto as a daily beater driver. Done 207,000 with no mechanical problems, only one rocker cover gasket replacement.
Thank you for your comment. They're great little cars - I never had a problem with it in the few years I owned it. In fact, a few tiny things even fixed themselves!
I got one 4 years ago.. An older lady drove it to the shops only.. Has low ks felt new since it was a garage queen.. Its a great run around and great dynamics.. Holds the road very well.. Shape looks great and is noticeable in the sea of the same. For me a great little work horse that corners extremely well
I had the 97’ estoril blue version nearly/0 years ago now. It was very unique in its design back then and the drive around town was incredible. Great video mate, brought back alot of fun memories.
My family's got two of these, both of which are 1.5L models, both have spoilers on the back & are from 1998 but with different prefix letter numberplates. The oldest of the two which is an LXI just like this but in red rather than maroon is an R reg vehicle while the 2nd vehicle which is one of the rarer Intrigue models is an S reg. The LXI my family has almost had from new being aquired in Aug 1998 at 4 months old (the previous owner wrote the car off in a cat D accident) and following repairs has been a good runner ever since. Purchased originaly for my father he then gave it to my mother and after I aquired my driving licence in 2012 and a short period of sharing the car, after she got given a 1999 VW golf cabriolet I got given the car. Only last October (2019) did it return to the road following 4 years of storage from 2015, this being due to a core plug failure at Ribblehead Viaduct while I was out filming for UA-cam. The storage period alongside replacement of the core plug included a full repaint and removing dents alongside other necessary repairs (for it's age there is no rust on it at all). It's only recently passed 80,000 miles on the clock. The Intrigue meanwhile was aquired in Jun 2015 originaly as a spares donor but was in too good condition to break up so was kept on the road being my replacement for the LXI following the core plug failure at Ribblehead and remained on the road until last October when it failed an MOT owing to corrosion in the four corners and a corroded brake pipe. The future of the vehicle is unknown at present but it's likely to become a donor vehicle now unless a major restoration can be undertook.
I bought myself a 1.8 Executive after 3 years of searching. Fantastic car. Great cruiser on the motorway, and very chuckable on a B road. Not to mention the engine singing beyond 7k rpm when you plant your foot. I plan to mod mine when I have the mechanical components all sorted
Actually they are on the correct side for RHD, but the UK at some point decided to change to Euro, probably because LHD euro manufacturers were never going to bother changing that for a small market like the UK. Heck they probably expected the UK to switch to driving on the other side of the road at some point. Anyway, Japan and Australia still have the indicators on the right where they are supposed to be.
In a right hand drive car such as the one you have the indicator stalk SHOULD be on the right. Try indicating with the stalk on the left and change gears...it's fine if you have 2 left hands but many people don't.
My dad owned a 98 323f BA for almost twenty years. It never broke down and rarely had any problems. The only major Problem with these is rust. Certain spots just love to rot away. Other than that I loved that car and he did as well. It's got lots of charme, it's comfy, it looks cool and even the 1.5 liter engine sounds good. In the end he had to give it away since his family kept growing and the car just became too small. Also the Spoiler fell off and it began having a few rust issues. Thanks for the review I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for your comment! They're great little cars. Rust can certainly be an issue (mostly around the front of the rear wheel arches) but it's pretty easy to fix if you catch it early. That's sort of a Mazda tradition, isn't it!
Pause at 0:50 owner of the car must drive it on Gran Turismo 2 as well. Sticker of the track Mid-field Raceway on the left on the boot lid. Lantis 323f is in both Gt1 and Gt2
I would not say the 1.5 was sluggish to be honest..It was quiet nippy I found .even when I had a set of 16" TSWs under my one. Basicly it could stay with any other car with the same size engine like a Civic LSi . It actually felt it had more than 90Bhp and it could certainly crack 0 to 60 mph quicker than 11.9..I would say 10 flat easy. On a final note ..it was a very reliable car and looked away ahead off its time back in the mid 90s.
@@christopherjohnston6343 I know them 1.5s found in the JDM MX3s( Autozam az3) and BG 323Fs had around 115 BHP. Mine was the BA 323F Euro spec. The BA would have been called the Lantis in Japan. My Euro spec was the 90HP.
I still got mine, bought nearly 10 years ago. 1997 1800 post facelift with AC and all electrics windows and mirrors. Near 300.000 and still going it getting the maintenance when needed. From march it only drove 2 times around the block because it’s not our daily anymore we use the mazda 3 BK now. Fun car with the dual Sebring exhaust sporty but not extremely loud
Mazda is dynamic as for 1.5 and 90s constructions, has short gears. I've had this car for 3 years, and it's trouble-free. Plus, it doesn't smoke much on the road. At 80-90km/h I went down to 6.7 litres of petrol. The disadvantage is certainly the poor visibility from behind
Thank you for your comment. Yes, rear visibility is quite poor - especially during wet weather when a great deal of spray from the tyres is thrown up behind you.
I've also had an issue with visibility through the rear window, but after I removed the bulky spoiler from mine, it got so much more better. Best of all, it still looks sexy without it. The only issue that I can't really get over even after a year is the large turning circle. It makes parking this thing a living hell and 8 times out of 10 I have to reverse out of my spot to adjust alignment/spacing if the parking lot's roads aren't wide enough to park it in one turn! I wish there was a way to increase that darn radius...
My friend has the 1.8 version I believe. Came with the auto gearbox. Seating position was pretty low and yeah, the seats were great. Very nice and grippy, and pretty comfy. The only issue my friend has had with it was having the gearbox kill itself
The V6 version is the one to get. Decent amount of torque, revs to the moon, and sounds fantastic! The euro version is a bit anemic compared to the JDM version, but is probably a bit more efficient (the JDM version is thirsty!)
old mazdas are one of the cheapest and easiest cars to maintain and theyre also extremely relaible. as i was a kid my father used to have a mazda 626. after 230k kilometers the only things he had to change were brakes, timing belts, spark plugs, motor oil. you know the usual stuff. not even once he had to deal with engine problems, blown shocks or ripped drive shaft boots. the only thing that might stop you is rust. until the second generation of the mazda 6 they had been notorius to rust and it shows on most of the old mazdas sadly
I owned a 1.8 manual. Good little car but not sporty. 113hp 1.8l engine provides good mid range punch for this class of car but thrashy and weak at high revs. Fuel economy pretty good at 7L/100kms on open road
I disagree with most of what you said. Yes the 1.5 is quite sluggish although compared to alot of other cars around the time and even today it's not that bad. It is most definitely a sporty car compared to alot of other cars in the same segment. That's the whole point of the F models! (it is NOT a sports car though). If you had the 2.0 V6 then it would definitely have quite a spring in it's step and an amazing soundtrack.
Correction those wiper stalks and indicators are right because its a RIGHT hand drive car UK cars are terrible for having left hand drive indicators and wiper stalks everyone thinks this is right but it isn't the reason for it is European car makers make alot of lhd cars across europe and the UK just gets the same is the reason behind this but if it was in a right way every rhd car would have the correct rhd controls
Right. I guess the placing doesn’t matter as much in an automatic, but in a manual it makes a lot more sense to have the headlight/indicator control on the right in a right hand drive car.
It's not a 4 door MX-5.. because you've got a 1.5L, But also the entire car is heavier than the NA Miata. Also.. your trim level makes no sense to me. The GX trim level (which your door panels are, which is also what the 3doors version was equiped with) is supposed to have cupholders in front of the shifter. The GLX trim level doesn't have cupholders, which is even weirder because it's supposed to be the Grand Luxury trim. But your entire dashboard is a GLX trim version, but you have GX door panels. Wot?
My biggest peeve is the frameless window allowed water to drip on the window switches, shorting out the passenger side controls. Also, the window mechanism has fallen apart, so much so it may be easier for me to replace the entire door than try to fit another mechanism. There are a few slight leaks to be dealt with, the air conditioning doesn't work and I just replaced the transmission. I still like it though!
Great little car, cheap to maintain and easy to service. Still have my 1997 323 Astina hardtop 1.8 ltr auto as a daily beater driver. Done 207,000 with no mechanical problems, only one rocker cover gasket replacement.
I have one of these, i've struggled with the headlights too. Ended up installing an HID kit in the low beams, visibility at night is amazing now.
This car is amazing, new cars cant be live 23 years, everything is working on car, mazda, old mazdas:👍
Thank you for your comment. They're great little cars - I never had a problem with it in the few years I owned it. In fact, a few tiny things even fixed themselves!
I got one 4 years ago.. An older lady drove it to the shops only.. Has low ks felt new since it was a garage queen.. Its a great run around and great dynamics.. Holds the road very well.. Shape looks great and is noticeable in the sea of the same. For me a great little work horse that corners extremely well
put a small spoiler and this thing looks perfect
Iv got two of these cars and both have spoilers on them.
And a v6 gt front splitter :)
a Mazdaspeed whale tail would be perfect
Really like the pacing on this video. Felt like more than 4 minutes, but in a good way.
I had the 97’ estoril blue version nearly/0 years ago now. It was very unique in its design back then and the drive around town was incredible. Great video mate, brought back alot of fun memories.
My family's got two of these, both of which are 1.5L models, both have spoilers on the back & are from 1998 but with different prefix letter numberplates. The oldest of the two which is an LXI just like this but in red rather than maroon is an R reg vehicle while the 2nd vehicle which is one of the rarer Intrigue models is an S reg. The LXI my family has almost had from new being aquired in Aug 1998 at 4 months old (the previous owner wrote the car off in a cat D accident) and following repairs has been a good runner ever since. Purchased originaly for my father he then gave it to my mother and after I aquired my driving licence in 2012 and a short period of sharing the car, after she got given a 1999 VW golf cabriolet I got given the car.
Only last October (2019) did it return to the road following 4 years of storage from 2015, this being due to a core plug failure at Ribblehead Viaduct while I was out filming for UA-cam. The storage period alongside replacement of the core plug included a full repaint and removing dents alongside other necessary repairs (for it's age there is no rust on it at all). It's only recently passed 80,000 miles on the clock. The Intrigue meanwhile was aquired in Jun 2015 originaly as a spares donor but was in too good condition to break up so was kept on the road being my replacement for the LXI following the core plug failure at Ribblehead and remained on the road until last October when it failed an MOT owing to corrosion in the four corners and a corroded brake pipe. The future of the vehicle is unknown at present but it's likely to become a donor vehicle now unless a major restoration can be undertook.
Fun fact, Mazda 323F from 97 actually has cup holders
I bought myself a 1.8 Executive after 3 years of searching. Fantastic car. Great cruiser on the motorway, and very chuckable on a B road. Not to mention the engine singing beyond 7k rpm when you plant your foot. I plan to mod mine when I have the mechanical components all sorted
Is there any speed regulator on these beauty?
@@TwoCho No, it's a 90s economy car. Of course not. Fastest I've been in mine is 128 mph
Actually they are on the correct side for RHD, but the UK at some point decided to change to Euro, probably because LHD euro manufacturers were never going to bother changing that for a small market like the UK. Heck they probably expected the UK to switch to driving on the other side of the road at some point. Anyway, Japan and Australia still have the indicators on the right where they are supposed to be.
In a right hand drive car such as the one you have the indicator stalk SHOULD be on the right. Try indicating with the stalk on the left and change gears...it's fine if you have 2 left hands but many people don't.
It's normal for english cars to come with left hand indication. It's not as hard as you make out.
My actually all time favorite Mazda. Looks great, even today.
this car is amazing..i have this car now ..i never had a problem in 22 yers ..great car i tell you
My dad owned a 98 323f BA for almost twenty years. It never broke down and rarely had any problems. The only major Problem with these is rust. Certain spots just love to rot away.
Other than that I loved that car and he did as well. It's got lots of charme, it's comfy, it looks cool and even the 1.5 liter engine sounds good. In the end he had to give it away since his family kept growing and the car just became too small. Also the Spoiler fell off and it began having a few rust issues.
Thanks for the review I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for your comment! They're great little cars. Rust can certainly be an issue (mostly around the front of the rear wheel arches) but it's pretty easy to fix if you catch it early. That's sort of a Mazda tradition, isn't it!
@@NicholasLettevanOostvoorne Yeah, that's right :D
Let me guess, bottoms of the doors and rear wheel arches? Those are whats rusting away in mine.
I would argue having the indicator on the right is way nicer.
Pause at 0:50 owner of the car must drive it on Gran Turismo 2 as well. Sticker of the track Mid-field Raceway on the left on the boot lid. Lantis 323f is in both Gt1 and Gt2
Best car i ever had, never let me down
I would not say the 1.5 was sluggish to be honest..It was quiet nippy I found .even when I had a set of 16" TSWs under my one. Basicly it could stay with any other car with the same size engine like a Civic LSi . It actually felt it had more than 90Bhp and it could certainly crack 0 to 60 mph quicker than 11.9..I would say 10 flat easy. On a final note ..it was a very reliable car and looked away ahead off its time back in the mid 90s.
Japanese spec 1.5s were more powerful so you might have had one of these?
@@christopherjohnston6343 I know them 1.5s found in the JDM MX3s( Autozam az3) and BG 323Fs had around 115 BHP.
Mine was the BA 323F Euro spec. The BA would have been called the Lantis in Japan. My Euro spec was the 90HP.
My grandma has one of those, its gone about 300000 km, its still in almost perfect condition!
I still got mine, bought nearly 10 years ago.
1997 1800 post facelift with AC and all electrics windows and mirrors.
Near 300.000 and still going it getting the maintenance when needed.
From march it only drove 2 times around the block because it’s not our daily anymore we use the mazda 3 BK now.
Fun car with the dual Sebring exhaust sporty but not extremely loud
Mazda is dynamic as for 1.5 and 90s constructions, has short gears. I've had this car for 3 years, and it's trouble-free. Plus, it doesn't smoke much on the road. At 80-90km/h I went down to 6.7 litres of petrol. The disadvantage is certainly the poor visibility from behind
Thank you for your comment. Yes, rear visibility is quite poor - especially during wet weather when a great deal of spray from the tyres is thrown up behind you.
I've also had an issue with visibility through the rear window, but after I removed the bulky spoiler from mine, it got so much more better. Best of all, it still looks sexy without it. The only issue that I can't really get over even after a year is the large turning circle. It makes parking this thing a living hell and 8 times out of 10 I have to reverse out of my spot to adjust alignment/spacing if the parking lot's roads aren't wide enough to park it in one turn! I wish there was a way to increase that darn radius...
My friend has the 1.8 version I believe. Came with the auto gearbox. Seating position was pretty low and yeah, the seats were great. Very nice and grippy, and pretty comfy.
The only issue my friend has had with it was having the gearbox kill itself
I wonder how sporty it is with an engine that isn't the extra small engine.
You left the frameless door.. its quiet cool
This car is the old one, for example in mine (1997) i can put my coffee xD
we got them here in New Zealand as used Japanese imports, as a Mazda Lantis. Ive got a 1.8L one. We also got them with a 2L V6.
The V6 version is the one to get. Decent amount of torque, revs to the moon, and sounds fantastic! The euro version is a bit anemic compared to the JDM version, but is probably a bit more efficient (the JDM version is thirsty!)
old mazdas are one of the cheapest and easiest cars to maintain and theyre also extremely relaible. as i was a kid my father used to have a mazda 626. after 230k kilometers the only things he had to change were brakes, timing belts, spark plugs, motor oil. you know the usual stuff. not even once he had to deal with engine problems, blown shocks or ripped drive shaft boots. the only thing that might stop you is rust. until the second generation of the mazda 6 they had been notorius to rust and it shows on most of the old mazdas sadly
My dad had a green one of these great little car never let him down he said
Did those 6 CD changers come standard with these cars? They look super cool especially for a 90s car and I cannot find any information on it
I owned a 1.8 manual. Good little car but not sporty. 113hp 1.8l engine provides good mid range punch for this class of car but thrashy and weak at high revs. Fuel economy pretty good at 7L/100kms on open road
I disagree with most of what you said. Yes the 1.5 is quite sluggish although compared to alot of other cars around the time and even today it's not that bad. It is most definitely a sporty car compared to alot of other cars in the same segment. That's the whole point of the F models! (it is NOT a sports car though). If you had the 2.0 V6 then it would definitely have quite a spring in it's step and an amazing soundtrack.
I liked the video.
Please what is the type of Headlights?
H1?
H4?
H7?
I want to upgrade to Led Headlights and remove the old one.
BA1452 MAZDA 323F 1996 the model.
Which type of Led is working with?
H?
H1 or H4 or H7 or H11?
Mazda is a silent warrior
rx 7 wasn't quiet at all LoL
I loved this video!
These cars had superb brakes as well.
Great review!
Thank you, much appreciated!
That was a good review.. nice job
I really want to import one of these to the United States
love it Nick!
Thanks mate! At this rate, I'll have the MR2 video done by 2030!
Correction those wiper stalks and indicators are right because its a RIGHT hand drive car UK cars are terrible for having left hand drive indicators and wiper stalks everyone thinks this is right but it isn't the reason for it is European car makers make alot of lhd cars across europe and the UK just gets the same is the reason behind this but if it was in a right way every rhd car would have the correct rhd controls
Right. I guess the placing doesn’t matter as much in an automatic, but in a manual it makes a lot more sense to have the headlight/indicator control on the right in a right hand drive car.
Nice review 👍
Wait the 1.6 wasn't sold there? We don't have the 1.5 and 2.0 tho.
Mazda 323f hb incelemesi istiyoruz
Bought it few days ago with 1 goal - KLZE swap
Mateo watson is that you ? Lol great review
It's not a 4 door MX-5.. because you've got a 1.5L, But also the entire car is heavier than the NA Miata.
Also.. your trim level makes no sense to me.
The GX trim level (which your door panels are, which is also what the 3doors version was equiped with) is supposed to have cupholders in front of the shifter.
The GLX trim level doesn't have cupholders, which is even weirder because it's supposed to be the Grand Luxury trim.
But your entire dashboard is a GLX trim version, but you have GX door panels.
Wot?
Wait, my aerial's supposed to be electric?
You could literally cut the 0-60 time in half with a KLZE swapped V6 in there.
Please need the modol
If u want to Fix your problem with the rubbish awful light output, Get Some Boslla Led's like i did for mine 323F u will thank me later :)
I drove this car, an automatic version
My biggest peeve is the frameless window allowed water to drip on the window switches, shorting out the passenger side controls. Also, the window mechanism has fallen apart, so much so it may be easier for me to replace the entire door than try to fit another mechanism. There are a few slight leaks to be dealt with, the air conditioning doesn't work and I just replaced the transmission. I still like it though!
45 MPG? Yeah, but only if you just let it idle till it's out of gas lol
Back when cars were reliable & beautifully sculptured unlike the utter crap out there today!
Lo tienes muy bonito
Mazda kvalitetno auto i dobro.
Yeah good luck finding the 2.0
Mazda RX 6.5
gg
i put a hole in my friends mazda 323f while drunk. where can i get a rear right side panel 😂
i prefer the pop up headlights one
Can you slow speak? Please. BEcause, ı dont understand anything.
I googled “what is a hipster?” And you popped up lol 😂…….. there are way to many hipsters 🤢
How much
Hi
Who came here from carwow
Car who? 😉
Car wow
They are are famous car buying site they have 4 million subs and they are subbed to ur channel