Mazda’s new (and first) 626 that arrived for 1979 was a pleasant surprise in a number of ways. Unlike the rotary-engine RX-3 and RX-4 it replaced , the 626’s styling was cleaner and its suspension and steering were significantly better. Did these offset the loss of the zingy rotary engine for a rather prosaic 2 liter piston four? The answer is yes, inasmuch as the 626 was such a better all-round car. And contrary to what might be expected, it wasn’t actually much slower than the RX-4, never mind its engine being vastly more durable. The new 626 was a genuine enthusiast’s car as well as a rugged one.
My older son Ted had a red sedan just like this coupe I found recently in Portland, and he would very much agree with that. As would CC’s Jim Klein who had one as his first car.
And they weren’t the only ones. Road and Track tested one and raved about it, calling it a “Driver’s delight”.
Every so often a new car arrives at the R&T editorial offices that evokes unanimous enthusiasm; the Honda Accord, BMW 528i and the Mazda RX-7 are three that come to mind. It has happened again, this time with the coupe version of Mazda’s third new car in two years: the 626.
I had good company as I remember feeling quite enthusiastic myself at the time. It was all-too obvious that the rotary era for mainstream Mazda sedans and coupes was ending and the new 626 made that transition very painless. The RX-7/8 would carry the rotary banner by itself for decades to come, where it actually made the most sense: in a light sports car.
The new 626 had quite decent aerodynamic numbers for the time (Cd 0.39), and its design and styling details were at a very high level for Japan, which had gone a bit overboard with its styling excesses in the 1970s. This especially applies to the coupe, whose greenhouse was a visual delight; airy, clean and well proportioned.
The 4-door sedan didn’t come off quite as well (this is a non-US post-facelift version); the greenhouse just isn’t as attractive and airy as the coupe, but then that’s what coupes are, or should be all about. Still, it was a decent looking sedan.
The interior also deserves high praise, with comfortable and well-adjustable front seats and the fabrics. This coupe is a Luxury edition, which has a higher level of upholstery and a few other tidbits than the base version, and of course has an automatic (3 speed Jaytco). The sporty four-spoke steering wheel is the same as the one used in the RX-7. It’s not the only thing it shared with the beloved RX-7, like aspects of the suspension and steering, which of course explains why the 626 acquitted itself well in those areas.
The interior had all sorts of handy little storage areas, something the Japanese had a knack for. Marie Kondo would have approved. Not surprisingly, the back seat was a bit cozy. For that matter, the sedan was none too generous back there either, but that was a bit of a penalty for having RWD. But the rear seat backs had a 40/60 split and flipped down, making the 626 very ski-friendly.
Looking at that dashboard gives me the willies as I had to take the one in my son’s car totally apart to replace the heater core. This was in the pre-Youtube era and I had to just plunge in. Brain surgery…not my specialty, but it all worked again after I got it back together again.
As to what was under the hood, it was a very classic hemi-head inline four, a direct development of the 1500cc version first seen in the exceptionally attractive Luce from 1966. We have one of Don Andreina’s superb deep dives on the Luce’s styling origins at Bertone, where it started out be an Alfa Romeo. I bring it up not just because of its engine but also in that it seems quite obvious that Mazda was eager to get back to the fundamental goodness and clean lines of the Luce’s styling in the new 626. That was a laudable goal and one fulfilled reasonably well, even if it wasn’t quite to the Luce’s high standards for its time.
I use and donate to Wikipedia, and they are a rare exception to the widespread decline in the web, but naturally they don’t always get it right. They claim that the 1.8 and 2.0L VC/MAF engines as used in the 626 were “all new in 1975”. I’ve always known them to be direct descendants of the 1,490cc UB engine in the 1966 Luce 1500, which was increased to 1.6 L in 1970, and then to 1.8 and ultimately to 2.0 L. The image above on the left is from a Luce 1500, it all-too obviously has almost the exact same valve cover and other key visible features as the 2.0 as used in the 626 (right). This was not “all new” in 1975. In fact, it’s quite obvious that the 2.0 was intrinsically a somewhat older design.
When it was designed in the early sixties, this aluminum hemi-head SOHC four—that happens to look a bit like the classic BMW four—Mazda obviously did not foresee it being expanded much in displacement, hence the rather limited the bore spacing which required rather heroic increases in its stroke in order to expand displacement. The original 1500 had a 78 mm (3.07″) bore and stroke. The 2.0 had only a slight increase in bore to 80 mm (3.15″) but the stroke was increased all the way to 98 mm (3.86″) which made it very undersquare. That explains its fat low-end torque characteristics as well as its somewhat limited peak power output, 80 net hp at a rather modest 4500 rpm. So yes, this engine had lots of grunt down low (105 lb.ft @2500 rpm), and R&T noted that for maximum acceleration runs, shifting was best done at 5,750 rpm instead of 6,000 (redline). Quite the contrast to the rev-happy, torque-poor Mazda rotaries. These tough fours were also used in the Mazda-built Ford Courier pickup as well as Mazda’s own.
Performance was quite decent for the times, with R&T measuring the 0-60 sprint at 10.7 seconds and the 1/4 mile 18.3 @75.5 mph. Brisk enough to keep up with the likes of a Toyota Celica and to easily outrun a Honda Accord (0-60 in 13.8 secs.). Quicker too than the four-barrel V8 four-speed manual 1979 Pontiac GP that we posted here the other day. As a point of comparison, R&T’s test of a 1974 RX-4 yielded a 0-60 time of 9.7 seconds and a 1976 Cosmo rotary managed it in 11.2 seconds, slower than the 626.
I bought this red Luxury edition sedan from the Saint Vinny’s donation lot for a couple of hundred bucks. This was back in 2003 or so, when older son Ted was in college and also had a part time job working in a group home for adults with developmental disabilities. It needed one or two minor things and then I taught Ted how to drive a stick shift. He was soon exploring the limits of what a stick shift RWD car is capable of, which fortunately wasn’t all that much due to the limitations of 80 hp. But yes, he enjoyed driving.
One day I was up in my upstairs office which looks down on the little cottage in the lot behind our house where he lived. I looked at the Mazda and suddenly wondered if Ted had been keeping an eye on the engine oil level. I went down, popped the hood and pulled out the dipstick: totally dry. It took three quarts to get it back to “full”; total capacity was four quarts. No apparent impact.
The 626’s improved handling was largely the result of ditching the previous leaf spring suspended ear axle for a four link coils sprung live axle controlled laterally by a Panhard rod. The coils themselves were variable rate, and the shocks were gas-type, and there was an anti-roll bar (on the coupe, not the sedan). The front suspension, also very similar to the one on the RX-7, was via the increasingly common struts and an anti-roll bar. Mazda worked hard on this set up, to achieve a balance between ride and handling.
R&T took their coupe on an extended drive down California’s coastal Hwy1, and were most happy with the results. It was balanced, handled transitions well, and you can throw the car around with confidence. Yes, I’m sure Ted and Jim would agree with that.
Brakes were the typical front disc/rear drum combination, and they received a “very good” rating by R&T. Ultimately that’s what did in Ted’s 626. He told me one day that the brakes were very noisy and didn’t work well. I pulled off the front wheels and the discs had deep grooves from where the steel of the pads or calipers had become the friction material: steel-on-steel. I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it and so I co-signed a note on a red stripper Ford Focus (no a/c and manual windows). It was a stick too, and was that ever a fun car to drive.
If it had been a coupe, I might have been more motivated to fix it and keep it on the road. And in retrospect, it was a bad decision to not fix it and have him buy that Focus, as it didn’t have a happy ending. But it’s nice to know someone has found and or kept this coupe in such nice condition all these decades. It’s an exceptionally fine looking car for the times, certainly one of the best to come out of Japan. Mazda was entering a new era with this and the GLC (Familia/323), RX-7 and the 626. This generation would be fairly short-lived, as it was replaced by the all-new FWD 626 in 1983. And yes, that really did have an “all-new” engine, and yes that too was a terrific car. The Germans took a particular shine to Mazda’s 626, and it was the best selling Japanese car there for some time. It’s not hard to see why, and its sterling reliability was icing on the cake.
Related CC reading:
COAL: 1979 Mazda 626 Coupe – The First Of Forty-Five Cars And Bikes by Jim Klein
Automotive History: 1966 Mazda Luce, Bertone And The Alfa That Wasn’t by Don Andreina
These Mazda 626 two door pillarless hardtops were ‘unique’ down under in Australia, being one very few genuine pillarless hardtops sold, in any significant numbers, to Australians. From memory they were only ever offered with manual gear boxes but their good looks and lack of that ugly ‘B’ pillar ensured their popularity.
The Australian examples of cause had the steering wheel on the ‘RIGHT’ side.
I remember the Car and Driver road test of 1979 also being enthusiastic. They wrote it was what to buy when tour dealer is out of RX-7s. I was impressed. Alas, I was 11 and not in the market.
It would be interesting to see Mazda doing a updated version of the 626 in RWD format (with optionnal AWD system for those living in the Snow Belt) going against the Accord and Camry.
Oh Snap. I didn’t know these were RWD. I had an 85 626LX (fwd), so I just assumed that’s what the 626 was.
Didn’t search one out, my aunt had one she was selling, and offered it to me on installments, so.. yeah, as a broke 21 yo, I took er up on it.
Was a pretty decent car, but I eventually sold it and bought a 1980 F150 (RWD, 300 auto). Which I then sold to move to Florida. (Which didn’t last- after 2 months, came back to NE, but that’s another story for another time). Wish I still had the truck though.
Carry on.
This is/was a great car, and one on my short affordable list for my first new car in 1981. I went with the then-new Corolla Sport coupe (my memory is hazy, but I think it had to do with overall MSRP and availability), but this would have been absolutely acceptable and probably more fun to drive.
Funny you should mention the oil level on your son’s 626…a week after I got married my wife’s 1993 MX-6’s engine blew because it was bone dry of oil. It never occurred to me to check it because I figured her dad had that covered until the wedding but that was silly of me to assume. Duh. That of course led to our “love it/hate it” Volvo S70 episode…
I much enjoyed my experience with my ’79 coupe and you are certainly correct as far as me “throwing” it around. Sideways fun was no more than a little moisture and cheap rear tires away! Looking back I suppose it was fairly well balanced and light, and those torquey 80 horses had no problem keeping up with my friend’s 100hp 1980 Datsun 200SX on the roads to Zuma Beach…
My Dad had bought it used in around 1983 and then I bought it off him in 1985 as a freshly minted licensee, it lasted me through the rest of high school and my first year in college, and then of course my ever-roving eye latched on to something else and it was time for the 626 to go with around 120k miles on it.
The red one you found curbside appears to be in excellent condition, more befitting the average sighting of one circa 1990 rather than when you saw it recently. An excellent and nowadays extremely rare vehicle, certainly in coupe form.
Zuma Beach, now that is a name I haven’t heard of in a long time. Last at that beach the summer of 1967.
I may have found your sunglasses there during the summer of ’86! The north end of Zuma, across the highway from Trancas Market (how i recall the name aof that place I do not know) was our spot…
In about 1979, I had two colleagues with Fiat 124’s, one a coupe and one a Spider. The coupe owner soon replaced his with a 626. A four door if I recall correctly. I thought it was an odd move at first, but he really liked the car. Not long afterwards, the Spider owner came to work one day in a Celica. Not all Japanese conquests were with domestic car owners.
“The Germans took a particular shine to Mazda’s 626, and it was the best selling Japanese car there for some time.” I think for some years, the Mazda 626 has been even the best-selling imported car in Germany.
On a Friday evening in 1984 I hitchhiked from Penrith to North London- 300 miles- in three and a quarter hours, half the journey in one of these. That would be physically impossible today in any road vehicle. And yes, it did feel solid and safe (unlike the Honda Accord my girlfriend had been given by her car dealer father, but that’s another story). Progress doesn’t always mean going forward.
I have had the good fortune to have driven the first generation Mazda 626. While it wasn’t especially fast, the long stroke motor put out good low end torque. What really impressed me was the quality of the interior. The materials were first rate and the fit and finish perfect.
The performance figures quoted here are for the ’79 model, not the ’81. I bought an ’81 coupe new and it was the slowest, most boring car I ever owned apart my first car, a ’55 VW. And today I’d rather have the VW than this slug.
0-60 in 10.7? Not the ’81. Try 17.3 with a quarter-mile time of 20.5 at 65 mph (Car and Driver test). You’re not going to be outrunning much of anything at stoplights, let alone challenging Celicas. Top speed was 91 mph.
The car mags were enthusiastic about the ’79 even with just 80 hp, hyping it as a cut-price BMW 320i. But new smog regs kicked in for the ’81s and they had just 74 hp. C/D noted that the regs “sapped all the life out of the engine above the 4500 rpm power peak” adding “The net result of this lack of oomph is that you always seem to be whipping the poor engine into a froth just to stay ahead of traffic — never mind playing boy racer.” That was certainly my experience.
Nice looking car, but the performance was so lacking I traded mine in for a new Rx-7 after just one year of ownership. Definitely not “a driver’s delight” for this driver.
The roofline is straight from the VW Type 34 Karmann Ghia.
My first new car was a 1980 626 coupe; it was some sort of special tenth anniversary model with unique red paint and tweed-like upholstery with a striped pattern. Transmission was an exotic-to-me 5-speed gearbox. It also had power outside mirrors and was my first car with A/C. The seats were very comfortable. A nice feature was folding rear seat backs, adding considerable cargo flexibility.
The car drove quite well, with great steering feel and good handling. I’d take issue with it being quick… it was adequate but that was about it.
With good snow tires (anyone recall Metzler Alpins?) it was fine in snow, getting around stuck FWD cars lacking snows with ease.
When our first child was on the way we traded it in for a 1982 Accord sedan. The Honda dealer gave us way too much in the trade, perhaps thinking of the inflated values they were getting for tenth anniversary Accords. It sat on their lot for months. I steered my new college grad sister-in-law to it and she drove a very hard bargain, finally picking it up for $3500 (they gave me $5200 in the trade). She drove it for several years.
Thanks for this piece, very nostalgic for me.
Nice post, Paul.
I feel like Mazda kind of nailed styling for about 15 years, and that this car and the first-generation RX-7 were the kickoff.
I really should do a blog post on these cars. So far, I’ve only written about third-generation 1983 626.
Good car, some of my friends had 626’s back in the day and they seldom needed work. They were around for a long time in So. Cal. where rust wasn’t an issue.
Working in Munich in 1985, the FWD 626 was my second company car. The freight forwarding agency I worked for had been leasing VWs or Audis from the almost next door dealer, so they gave me an Audi 80 with the 1600 cc engine when I arrived. It was fine, but when the lease ended the boss said there was some disagreement with the dealer, and that I was free to chose something else. A coworker said his neighbor loved his new Mazda 626 hatchback. Checking it out, found it had lots more features than the bare bones Audi, like split folding rear seats, and the driver’s seat with adjustable lumbar support and bolsters. Only thing wrong was that fancy seat gave me lower back pain, which the simple seat in the Audi did not. Decided that the seat was designed for the average Japanese male, not Caucasian.