Beth speaks like she's in a hostage video.

I wish modern cars would go back to the great looking durable cloth interiors like this. This looks more luxurious to me than leather. I also miss the simplicity of cars from this generation.

In Australia we used to call 323s the Mazda Tarzan. ‘Tree to Tree’ - geddit? 😉

0:00 I used to love the station wagon 323, I found it both handsome and handy back in the 80's, how big cars have grown!

"You owe me an 18 second car." - D. Torreto

My wife’s 1st new car it was the hatchback with manual, it would spin the tires.

A 323 Hatchback was my first new car. Loved it. Drove it for almost 10 years and near 100,000 miles before I sold it. Never gave me any trouble.

As a current Mazda owner I would trade in my car in a millisecond if Mazda brought a wagon model back to the US.

Our neighbor had a wagon version. She said she bought it so that she could drive it around with her three Standard Poodles and it was easy on her back to load and unload her golf clubs. It was garage kept its whole life and meticulously maintained and 20 years later it looked as good as the day she bought it. When she passed away her nephew inherited it and it had only accumulated 50,000 MI and within a couple of weeks, he took a roundabout at speed and encountered black ice spun wrapping it around a telephone pole!

I remember that car like it was yesterday! My father was a MAZDA Salesman in the early 80s, and bought himself the 4dr & bought my sister the 3dr hatch.. because she was headed off to college. Today between me & my son, we have a CX5, CX9 and CX30 (all turbo models) ...and love them all🦾🦾🦾

In 1987 you paid $6,700 to get a Mazda with IRS. Today you pay $40,000 and get a torsion beam.

I think that was the gentlest anyone rowed through the gears on one of these reviews!

I bought a brand new 1986 323 hatchback and drove it for 3 years, bought another in 1989, and I've been buying Mazdas (and other brands, to be fair) ever since. Great driving dynamics in almost every Mazda, particularly once you replaced the skinny and hard OEM155/80R13s with some decent Pirelli 175/70R13s.

I absolutely adore these retro review vids. As a massive car guy, it's SO cool to see how far cars have come.

That banter in the beginning NEVER gets old 😂

My grandma had one. It was brown, 2 door manual, and she only drove it on Sundays. Her daily was a 2 door Hyundai excel, manual

Where's our modern day version of this sensible little hatchback!?!?! I love it!

I really like that wagon. This car was so good, they used it to underpin the new early 90s Escort/Tracer. And it stayed that way until they were discontinued & got replaced by the Focus.

The early days of Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. My girlfriend had one of these with an automatic, not a bad ride at all. The Mercury Tracer hatchback version was also roomy for its size. Side note, there is a blue Protege 5 that rides past my neighborhood from time to time.

88 323 lx headers , cai, exhaust, tokico ,eibach , 185 bfg on 14's. That's what I had. I miss it bad.

Wow, Beth, that's a hairstyle to put Cindi Lauper to shame.

My Aunt Donna had a blue 1986 323 sedan back in the day, & I must say that it WAS quite a fine little car.

Well this brings back memories! When I 17 years old & in grade 12 during 2003, my dad bought me a 1989 Mazda 323 wagon for $200. The car had a broken 5th gear but otherwise functioned well & had working air conditioning. It was my 1st experience with manual transmission. In June that year, a white GMC van side-swiped me while changing lanes. Insurance determined the other driver to be at fault, but then I was served a small-claims court appearance; the other driver was suing for the $700 deductible they had to pay for their car repairs. Through the support of my dad & presenting evidence (mostly using model toy cars to reenact that collision) the judge determined it to be 40% my fault & 60% theirs. Fortunately I didn't have to pay any of the deductible though. In the end, my Mazda 323 wagon was written off & insurance gave me something like $2,105 if I recall correctly. I bought my dream car with that money: 1985 Pontiac Fiero 2M4 for $2,200.

2:09 John: THERE'S A CLEAR, IF STILL INCOMPLETE SET OF GAUGES. LOL

I had one of these for a bit in high school. I remember smoking a dude who went to my school who had a Beretta GTZ. Less than half the horsepower and pizza-cutter tires and still beat him handily. Mazda always makes decent-handling cars.

Reasonable size, decent fuel economy, sufficient equipment, Japanese reliability - 1980s and 1990s was the time when cars made sense. Not anymore.

That was my first car, I picked it up in 1989. I had the GT model (Not AWD GTX) that came out in 1988. It still looked good with larger factory wheels. I don’t recall if it had any other GT features. But I loved it. Had the 5 speed version.

Ive owned 2 1989 323 Hatchbacks with 4 speeds and a 89 mercury tracer HB with 5 speed. I paid 650, 250, and 215 dollars respectively. All were my only vehicle and drove all more than a year. Great cars and super cheap to own and work on

I had an '86 sedan in Sunbeam Silver, my 1st new car. It was a fun little car to drive, I don't remember the tires being as skinny as in the video though.

I would love to have the 323 wagon. It would make a great first car.

I want that wagon! The 1980s were full of dependable little cars like this. Unfortunately, they rusted out in 3 seconds and folded like a beer can in a crash.

We only had the sedan and hatch in Australia. We also had a carburettor version of the 1.6 litre engine in the cheaper mainstream models,the fuel injected engine was used in the more premium versions. The wagon body was used by Ford with the Laser, which was a version of the 323, that was assembled by Ford in it's Australian (Sydney) factory and used Mazda mechanicals.

My godmother had a 1988 323 SE sedan in the Sahara beige color back in the mid 1990s.

Had a gray 88 4door 323 in like 1998. Paid 350.00 for it at auto auction. Wouldnt mind having it now as a daily. Solid reliable daily driver econo box.

I had an 86 323 SE- red, two door hatchback, 5 speed, a/c. Got it used with 60k miles but it still felt and drove like new. I upgraded the wheels/tires (626 turbo wheels). It was a great car. My shifter was very slick.. so maybe they got a bad one? In 99 I found a 90 323 SE 5 speed with 60k miles (again.. lol). Great condition but the single stage white paint was starting to powder. I did even more mods to that one. I miss when you could get a great little car like that for cheap used.

Had a 4 door version...stick shift. Traded it at 250,000 plus kms....Found out later it was still going at over 400,000 km...Mazda make amazing cars....My 2 favs...Volvos and Mazda.....had 4 of each...Love seeing what was, compared to the computers of today...ye can keep them.

I had a 2002 Mazda Protege, which was the successor to the 323. It was reliable and fun to drive.

When passenger cars like this did not have passenger side door mirrors or came as an option.

Ok who was the Mazda bean cutter who said to the Mazda engineer’s “ Absolutely no right mirror, we have to be financially competitive in the NOrth American market” I can imagine the engineering team rolling their eyes. How much can a mirror be?

I had a 323 sedan with a manual and later a Protege with a manual. Loved both cars extremely fun to drive given their price.

Great cars. My first new car was a 1989 323 hatchback.

Later dropped the last to numbers becoming the mazda 6 and mazda 3 😂

We bought a new '88 Mercury Tracer ...the Mexican build quality was subpar to the Japanese built Mazda 323 that is was based on.

The perfect-looking small, compact wagon in the mid-1980s. I’m not sure there was a better-looking one.

The first car I bought was a used 1988 4-door Mercury Tracer hatchback (derived from the 323). It was a good little car, although it had some issues (failed alternator, bad wheel bearing) while I owned it. It didn't hold a candle to my second car, a used 1993 Nissan Sentra 5MT.

Really good cars...bought and sold quite a few of these in the late 90's really reliable & nice to drive.

I had one for a few years which I raced in the SCCA regionals -- inspired by the Team Highball Mazda 323s in IMSA. The car definitely punched above it's weight, but was hindered by limited wheel options (a 4.5" bolt pattern) which left me under-tire'd, and my limited budget. But a strong engine for the class, great suspension and great brakes. The only thing that beat the Highball Mazdas was the 16-valved first generation Acura Integra -- a significantly more competitive package.

My favorite car while growing up. Hella underrated.

87 HB base, no A/C nothing was my first new car. Very reliable, easy to service and I loved the fuel injection. It did like to eat exhaust systems. Could also change the timing belt from go to wiping wrenches in 35 min, easy. I put a clutch in it and that was the biggest anything it ever had. Also the 0-60 time here seems slow; this car was peppy as hell. God I miss simple, reliable, MADE In JAPAN hatchbacks!

I dated a girl in college who had a base hatchback. It was fairly new at the time and a nice little car. It seemed a step up over many of its rivals…Save the Honda Civic

“Great Little Car”, it still is.

I’ve seen just one or two Mercury Tracer wagons, which are similar to the 323 wagon tested here, on the road in my time.

They replaced Beth with an animatronic.

We need a honest cheap 5 spd runabout with just AC for about 15k, cheapest car right now is the Nissan versa with horrific cvt.

My first car! Was great college and 20s car. Was very durable until 300k and then everything went wrong at same time……

2:30 those kicks!!

To think this is what eventually became simply the Mazda 3. And to this day the car has retained and improved on the original 323 sporty spirit.

One mirror feels weird. Competitors had 2 mirrors by then like Ford Escort, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, VW Golf.

This is my first car 1987 Mazda 323 3 door hatchback

I beat the shit out of a 5spd one for years. Not much broke on it. Impressive considering it had over 300 000km. Great little car. Rust in peace now. I should have rustproofed it to keep it longer.

1987-1989 was Ford Laser, Mazda 323, Mercury Tracer,

3:09 the tires pealing hehehe

thanks Beth, now get out of my face.

The Mazda Protege replaced this car in the 1990s through the early 2000s.

Future note to self …. If appearing on tv , don’t wear your lawn cutting sneakers

11.1 0-60! That was fast for a subcompact car back in the day

Somebody get that guy some new Nike’s before his next video shoot! The dirty Nikes are almost as funny as Beth’s hostage video voice!

I think that the 11.1 could have been about 1 second lower had the driver not had burned out the tires on the start.

Don't recall seeing too many 323 wagons.

Amazing that that car shared its chassis with the Ford Escort from the 80s. Yet the 323 was a premium car compared to the Escort.

Amazing Mazda.

This car looks similar to a Subaru inside and out but i still really love this car of course I also like Subarus

Plenty on the road still!!

We had these pos in Australia never see them around now also badged as a Ford meteor hatch was a Ford laser as well

Should've called it the 313

This was my first car when I got to my first military base , bought with 135k for $900 bucks and still strong for a few years afterwards which I trade it in for a lousy brand new Ford GT mustang , those were good times with my buddies in Vegas like the hangover movie in that little car

Wow a tire shredding 82 hp engine

Thanks.... Wait, Beth?

I would rather drive one of these than any modern crossover garbage

Eait this car is a station wagon im a big fan of wagon this car looked great in the ♥️

By Mazdas logic it should have been called the 313

I'll take the wagon with an optional right hand mirror and larger wheels and tires please

No street address. Just Owings Mills, MD 21117. Same for Wall $treet Week.

Flush lamps as a novelty in 1986? Loool, so Murrican.

Maybe with a 323 GTX.

The Mazda 323 was not an exciting car, my drivers ed teacher had one in the late 1980s. Still, it was competent in just about any way even though contemporary Civics and Corollas outsold it handily. It did everything a small car was supposed to do, it was economical, comfy and very reliable. Basic transportation like this doesn't really exist in 2024. I was never a fan of the orange/red backlit dials and gauges, it looked less pleasing to me than the more common soft white or light green. Thankfully all later Mazdas shifted away from this.

Mazda 323 Mazda 626 They Were Good Car There Were Replaced With Mazda 3 & Mazda 6.

Needs a tachometer really bad for this car with a 5 speed manual

I'm not a Mazda hater at all and really liked some of the later 3-series - but what a piece of garbage this is. And its so ugly. And that interior is awful. Shows how far Mazda has come (well until what, 10-15 years ago or so when it started to revert back to garbage).

Comfortable front seats? Hell no!

Crown Jewel of the Zoroastrian Fleet

Beth knows how silly she is going to look when the internet is invented.

Blame the US for the YEN to USD exchange rate disruption... AKA: Plaza Accord

Yeahhhh babyyyy Pump those nikes ❤❤

textbook example of how HQ and local sales can get the bread stale, with staff ballparkly on good intentions. Sales Buds Fox tell Europe and Holland, and idunno, Greece? dig the car.. if only it were bigger. Also. Like Golf it should corner better. Much more important if HQ just wants the P in Swot (nothing else matters) somebody should have told somebody, to sell a car, one needs a established relationship. Now in EU plenty dealers but happy customers? Here we pay for repairs remember? So the first rwd 323 resembled ..everybody, had some issues but it was cheap. Some interior aspects were..interesting, prone to cute, but not..feline..yet. The second resembled Ford escort a lot, meaning it was almost cloned. Japan has no history with three in it, or proverb, and ..well the message just did not land. This one has nothing that s notable any size shape or form, steering was too heavy, highly accessorized Japan used to have was er gonoff, 15 glx didn t even have rev counter, interior grey with grey. Sedan appears big but trunk is small. Land organisation HQ is the weirdest in such saga. Plenty of memos. Plenty emails , as such new at the time 3.11 is behind it (and Psion 3c in some cases..but all the wrong results. Hey fellas, soon airplanes wiill be Chinese (yuch omg why oh why)

It drove well, rusted a lot, and consumed oil. All in all, not the best Mazda ever, in my opinion.

Markups? 😂

10,000 women agree...it will not fit Will Chamberlin

Imagine getting in a crash with this tin can😂

Look a that woman's hair. Damn