Maybe the title should be, “Only One Left?” This 1988 Mazda 323 hatchback is a car that a lot of us either owned or saw every day on the roads, but they have mostly disappeared in the last couple of decades. This beautiful survivor is posted here on craigslist just east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and they’re asking $5,000, which equates to $3,273 U.S. dollars. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Jack M. for the tip! This one brings back a ton of memories for me.
My wife bought a new white 1988 Mazda 323, as base as it could possibly be, trading in her base model white 1978 Mazda GLC, right after college. Since neither of us had parents who paid for our college, we had tons of student loans, and her old GLC was dying, so she needed another inexpensive car. Sadly, after less than a decade, her 323 went away due to two blown head gaskets within six months of each other. I remember buying my future wife (girlfriend at the time) a set of “hub caps” at Bob Lewis Oldsmobile-Mazda in Duluth, MN, for $130. They really dressed up those otherwise boring steel rims.
Here’s her car in the fateful winter of 1996/1997, parked outside our horrible rental house 40 miles north of Fargo, ND, while I was going to college in Fargo. That was the big flood year for that area, if any of you remember that, when Grand Forks, ND flooded and then the downtown caught on fire. You can see the amount of snow they/we got in our little temporary town. It was so hard-packed that the town of 611 people had to use a big tractor with a snowblower on it to dig through the snow drifts. It was 80 below zero when I took that photo with the wind chill, believe it or not. Enough of that, back to this nice Mazda 323.
This car looks like a time capsule, even though it has 82,533 km (51,284 miles) on it. I don’t see a flaw inside or out. My wife’s car was a four-speed manual, and it really needed another gear. It was screaming on the highway at 60 mph, let alone on a 70 mph freeway, so I’m sure that didn’t help the head gasket issues. This one, as you can see, has a three-speed automatic. The sixth-generation Mazda Familia (323 here in North America) was made from 1985 through 1989, and this interior looks like new in the front, in the back, and even in the hatchback cargo area – not to mention under the cargo floor.
The engine is Mazda’s 1.6-liter SOHC fuel-injected inline-four with 84 horsepower and 90 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by the three-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels, the seller says this one is a fun and zippy little in-town driver, and that’s where they really shine, in my opinion. With no rust and looking basically like a new car, this one is a steal in 2026 money. Have any of you owned a Mazda 323 or similar base model 1980s hatchback?
How this gem avoided having 4x the miles and rust spots the size of Rhode Island is beyond me. Belongs in a Basic Transportation museum. Brings back a lot of memories of the stuff I used to knock around in back in the ’80’s. We just didn’t know any better. But I wouldn’t be embarrassed to show up in this one today.
Didn’t know any better? I’ll take this over any of the crap they’re making today, any day!
Slush box transmission but otherwise would need a timing belt change because of the mileage and it would last a long time
Neat find. And a neat little bit of history from Scotty too. That old photo of your wife’s Mazda made me laugh, that big snow blower looks like it’s coming right for it. It’s white and blends into snow 😆. That’s enough to make me a little nervous. I wish this were a 5 speed. But you know what? That automatically may very well have helped to preserve this little buggy. I enjoyed your write up Scotty. Thank you.
Would just love to pick this up, but it couldn’t be any farther away from me and still be in North America. This is really a gem.
This is the car Tarzan would drive. Tree-to-tree. I’ll show myself out, ….
We pronounce it “Trois-Deux-Trois” here fyi.
Of all strange trades, in the summer of 1985 I had made a deal with a Mazda dealership in Stockholm Sweden to trade my -73 Jensen Interceptor and get a -78 BMW 530i and a -83 Mazda 323. In a strange twist, once I had made it down to Stockholm both those cars had been sold so instead I got a -84 323 plus money. Then I almost instantly sold that 323 and took a -71 Audi 60 in trade. I came out financially good but the young ladies were not terribly impressed!
Anyone else curious about a flooded downtown on fire. “Smoke, on the water”, is this guy predictable, folks? As we merrily scroll along,,,,,,then a Mazda anything? Gotta be SG!
Some may disagree and will question someone with a flat iron to their head, but Mazda always seemed like in last place in the “Asian Invasion”. Ironically, being affiliated with Ford, I felt they were some of the best offerings. And you know darn well what killed the name, the rotary. It just started out on the wrong foot, and consumers, especially wary US ones, don’t forget easily. Don’t get me wrong, Mazda made excellent cars and trucks, just a tough sell in the US, is all. People need inexpensive cars today more than ever, this won’t be around long.
The survivors are base trim automatics because they were getting a car they only bought once. I’d love this.
How did the headlamps avoid getting clouded? — or, were these glass sealed beams? If they were, could we find replacements?
Scotty – LOL – my future wife also had an ’88 white 323 when we met. It became my winter car because the Z/28 could not move if there was a hint of snow on the ground. However that 323 with Michelin all seasons could get through anything – I was amazed. Hers was an automatic, so lacked any kind of driving excitement.
Hers lasted quite awhile – we handed it off to my brother and his wife who could not kill it with lack of any maintenance. It sat parked at my parent’s house until someone came by and offered them $200 for it.
Fun to drive car. Had a timing belt not a chain . With 110k on the odometer I decided to trade it in to avoid the fix. Wish I had the car back. At 80mph it would get a little squirrelly, but so what.
I had 5 Mazda vehicles ,they were all 3 year leases,never a problem,not the best on gas but great fit and finish.
That picture of North Dakota,i see why i see they snowbird here in AZ.Side note.my dad was born in Raliegh ND in 1916,population 9