There are times in your life when you need a cheap car to get around. And then there are times in your life when you just feel like having a cheap car around to do dumb stuff with. And since I finally gave up on the whole classic-car-ownership thing, I find myself wanting a cheap dumb-stuff car. Today, we’re going to look at a couple of likely candidates that are geographically a long way from me, but in my price range, and right up my alley. I hope you like at least one of them, too.
Yesterday we looked at two vehicles with Isuzu badges that weren’t built by Isuzu. I figured the Oasis minivan might win, owing to its rock-solid Honda lineage, and I was right. Not too many of you were impressed by the rebadged Chevy Trailblazer, especially for more money.
I’m with you. I don’t have any real use for a minivan, but I have even less use for a trouble-prone 2WD SUV. That Ascender wasn’t what I wanted to feature anyway. I tried really hard to find a first-generation Honda Passport instead, which is an Isuzu Rodeo with a Honda badge, but I couldn’t find one for sale in the time I had to look. It would have made a more fun comparison, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
A few years ago, right before COVID hit, I was commuting to work in my big green Chevy truck every day, getting 13 miles to the gallon and hating the gap between first and second gear in heavy traffic. So I went looking for something dirt-cheap that got better mileage. What I found, after a long search, was a five-speed manual 1995 Toyota Corolla sedan with a quarter-million miles on it, for just $500. It ran well, but looked like absolute hell. I sold it after I inherited my dad’s Chrysler, because I didn’t really need another car. But now looking back, I miss that dumb little thing. It didn’t have a straight piece of sheetmetal left on the body, and it always smelled a little like burning oil due to a leaky valve cover gasket I never fixed, but it got great mileage, and it reminded me how much fun you can have with a car you don’t give a crap about. You can’t find cars like that for $500 anymore, but these two are cut from the same cloth, and are not much more expensive. And I find myself drawn to both of them. Let’s see which one you prefer.
1989 Mazda 323 SE – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Spokane, WA
Odometer reading: 260,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
This is one of those cars that has gone by many names over the years. In Japan, it was known as the Familia across all its generations, but here in the US it was originally called the GLC, for “Great Little Car.” From 1990-2003, it was the Mazda Protege. But for a few years in between there, it received the same numeric model designation it carried in Europe: 323. Whatever you want to call it, it is indeed a great little car, and one I’ve long been fond of.
The switchover from GLC to 323 in 1986 brought with it a big improvement: standard electronic fuel injection. This was a big deal when a lot of compact cars still struggled with carburetors. Personally, I think I might be done with carburetors altogether; I just don’t see a reason to put up with the hassle anymore. There’s no hassle here; the seller says this car runs “perfect.” They don’t say much else, though, so there may be some maintenance to catch up on. But at this price, you can afford to do some stuff.
It’s as grubby and threadbare as you’d expect inside, but it just looks like age-related wear, not abuse. And as is typical for an economy car from the late ’80s, there aren’t a lot of options on it. It does have air conditioning, but there’s no telling whether it works. I’d guess not, but that $500 Toyota I bought had great A/C, so who knows?
The outside is, let’s say, pre-distressed. It has dings and dents all over, and a pretty good whack in the right front fender. And I can’t tell if it didn’t come with a right-side mirror, or if it’s broken off. But it isn’t rusty, and it has what looks like a new set of snow tires on it, perfect for rallycross shenanigans. Or, you know, snow.
1993 Subaru Impreza – $1,200
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter OHC flat 4, five-speed manual, AWD
Location: Hillsboro, OR
Odometer reading: 285,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Subaru Impreza has a long and distinguished resume as a rally car, especially in its WRX trim. The vast majority of Imprezas were much tamer machines, like this one, but the bones are all still there: all-wheel-drive (optional until 1996), a flat-four engine for a low center of gravity, and light weight. This makes low-level Imprezas popular choices for Gambler-type go-fast-on-dirt events, and in fact, the seller of this car calls it a “Gambler special” in the ad.
What this Impreza does lack compared to a WRX is power. The standard Impreza engine for the first few years was a 1.8 liter flat 4, making just 110 horsepower. It’s plenty for commuting, but it won’t win any races. This one is all-wheel-drive, and it has a manual transmission, so you can still live out your rally fantasies at a slower pace. The seller sings the praises of its mechanical condition, saying it “drives great” and “shifts perfect,” which is impressive considering that it has a shit-ton of miles on it. It’s also a reminder that Subaru’s reputation for toughness didn’t used to be all hat and no cattle.
It looks about how you’d expect it to inside. It’s worn and dirty, and the airbag is blown and taped back shut. The seller doesn’t say how that happened, but it’s worth asking about. If nothing else, I guess it’s a good excuse to put an aftermarket steering wheel in it. The seller makes a point of saying the heater works, which I assume means the air conditioning doesn’t?
It looks like hell outside. It doesn’t look like it has been washed since Firefly was on the air, which doesn’t help. The missing gas cap cover is something I’ve seen before on Imprezas; I get the feeling they’re especially fragile. Now that I look more closely, I see what might be grease pencil marks from a junkyard on one front fender, so it may have been crashed and repaired with junkyard parts the same color. The title is clean, though.
I don’t know why, but cars like these sound like a lot more fun to me than a “nice” classic these days. Maybe because I spent nine years admiring that MGB GT in my garage rather than putting miles on it. I have plenty of model cars I can admire; when it comes to the real thing, I’d rather have something I can have some fun with. And since my budget is a shoestring at the best of times, ugly and cheap but runs great is where it’s at. Either of these would do nicely. Which one would you pick?
On my way home from work in Sacramento, CA I pass by a shop called United Carburetors: “Specialists in Carburetor Rebuilds”. I can’t help but wonder how these folks are staying in business? Is there that much demand from the enthusiast market/classic collector market that they actually can survive? Maybe I’ll stop in one day just to say hi. Oh, and I voted for the Mazda. I like Imprezas, but I dunno about that one.
I bet if the Subaru owner spent $10 at a car wash it’d be an easier sell. This ain’t Mecum but Jesus, at least put SOME effort in.
My vote is for the Mazda mainly because it seems to be in better overall condition.
The both look methed out from methed out places. I guess the old saying any car that runs is worth $1k is true. I’ve seen junk yard cars in better condition then that Subaru. Mazda just because it looks slightly less terrible. Maybe it’s a meth head in recovery vs a current user.
What part of the Mazda looks “methed out?” Do meth heads clean vehicles and install new tires on what appear to be new steel wheels? You must be from somewhere with those premium meth heads I’ve read about but never witnessed.
Yeah, it’s an old car, it’s dented and dinged, but someone’s given plenty of shits about it.
The car in general. I’ve witnessed a level of meth head that cleans very well in the south. Its sort of intermediate meth head. Before the fall and they go toward other thing.
Well, this made me think of Spokane in the 90’s since I lived there in that era, then promptly left. This is just for FYI to show how bad the problem got there (see below) I was never close to this aspect of it as referenced in the news; but at some points in my party days there, I could tell I was too close for comfort to the hard drugs…which I never wanted any part of. That was when I got away from that scene and eventually moved away from there. Of course, that can happen anywhere so I can’t just blame the city (there are a lot of good things about that area too)…but probably wouldn’t live there again. I have too many bad and sad memories there.
I have no opinion on this subject pertaining to these cars/any cars (I picked the Mazda!) Outside of that, I always liked that a lot of people there have kept a whole wide variety of cars running for a very long time- from the mundane to very interesting and everything in between. There are quite a bit of car enthusiasts who love keeping their vehicles going there (of course, that applies anywhere)
These are just excerpts from a random news article from back then that I found online:
“Toxic high poisons a region” Feb. 7, 2001
-At least half the local meth is cooked by amateur chemists
-The number of Spokane County meth addicts treated in publicly funded clinics rose nearly 2,200 percent between 1993 and 1999, from 22 to 503.
-Children are found in nearly half of Spokane’s busted meth labs, severely neglected, living in squalor, and their health in grave danger.
-There were more arrests in Spokane County for meth during 1999 than for cocaine, crack and heroin combined.
There is some comedian that is always talking about being from a meth town in Iowa. Sort of amusing. Especially the garages blowing up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u72q7tD9s0M
Lots of decent places meth adjacent. I’ve had a house in a meth town not sure I would go though that again. I recall a few building and trailers exploding. My uncle lived down the street in the same town kept having this one meth girl end up in his truck. She was past the cleaning phase just sort of dead in the eyes. Like a zombie. Sometimes she would lock her self in his shed or shop and end up detoxing. Strange situation. I heard a buddies friend ended up basically locking her in a bathroom for a few weeks to get her clean then married her. Just more strange situation.
I went to town near by to look at an RV trailer once. Very strange interaction. Guy had taken all his propane tanker and chained them up in shed because “meth heads like to cook you know what I mean” he looked like a former partaker and I just looked at the RV from the outside inside was trashed. Probably where someone was doing the cooking. Sketchy old photos on a listing gets people looking I guess.
Even if old Subies didn’t have a reputation for leaking head gaskets, I’d still pick the Mazda. Assuming the A/C works and it runs well enough to pass smog testing here in CA, I’d absolutely use this as a daily, and laugh at all the wannabe influencers bankrupting their retirements by leasing Range Rovers.
I’d probably take the Mazda too, but this engine isn’t a head gasket engine
I didn’t know that… thanks Peter. I still want the Mazda. 🙂
I’ve had both a 323 (Tracer) and a GC Subi wagon, fair weather the 323 100%, great little car (oh that was a different Mazda).. If the GC was a 2 door, it would probably sell for 4 or 5X that $1200..
Mazda, for sure. Subarus have never been on my radar, I don’t know why. The Mazda seller shows some self respect with their presentation. It actually looks charming. The Subaru seller would give meth to your daughter.
Gah, you’re so right! Well spotted! Leave your daughter at home when you go look at the Subie.
323! Yay! These are definitely my kind of cars; my cheapest car ever was $100 TOTAL! Really, it was $75 since the junkyard (Spalding’s Pull and Save in SpoCompton Valley) gave me $25 for it after I drove it for 6 months. It was running/driving when I bought it and hardly took anything to run. It was a dark green 76 Audi wagon. (Now, I consider any Audi=big $/unreliable) Later, I had an 84 Jetta 5spd and that was a blast to drive. For a long time though, I have much preferred Hondas (#1 most reliable to me) for dailies; and like and want to get Mopars and awesome humongous land yachts w/ big ol V8’s for fun (still like a wide variety of cars though)
This one was easy, since I like Mazda way better than…Subaru. Mazdas are way more reliable in general. Subaru sucks, ha ha…and this one looks like trash on the outside, plus a blown airbag? (not that I give a damn, I’d still drive it; but the 323 is still a million times better). Shout out to the Mazda in SpoCompton! (ha ha) Used to live in that ghetto city long ago; they do love their awesome classic cars and beaters w/ heaters like this and keep them running for a long time.
You don’t need A/C in the long winter there anyway, or just open the windows for once in your life and floor it (I’ve never had A/C work in any of my shitboxes, outside of my daily; and even that stopped working years ago…and it’s really hot here)
For those who don’t know how to pronounce it, it’s Spo-KAN (not KANE) It’s actually an interesting Native American Indian name (that’s what those who were here first are called; for those who forgot) I used to go to one of the Indian Reservations in that region and get fireworks, etc (ha ha) for cheap since no tax…it was awesome!
I don’t know where you live now. I live in Tacoma, parts of which are referred to as Tacompton. Maybe that’s a Washington thing to self-deprecate your (actually charming) town. I’ve spent several weeks on projects in Spokane, and I found plenty to like about it. They feel like sister cities separated only by the Cascades and 300 miles of fairly boring 300 miles of I-90. The weather is less extreme here out west. Per the usual Puget Sound mentality, my condo doesn’t have AC, but it’s usually only miserable a few days per summer. I worked in TV news at one point in Cleveland, OH, and a male anchor pronounced it with the KANE. That and Or-eh-GONE. Gaaah!
I’m with you on the car choice. That Mazda looks like fun. I’ve ridden in a couple of pretty old Subies and was surprised how competent and tight they still seemed with frameless windows at well over 150K miles. But I can’t imagine putting 285K in that Subaru. Taped up airbag. Stay classy! Stick a radio in that Mazda and call it good.
My son and his wife have a ’24 CX-5 and a ’25 Outback, so I’ll maybe live long enough to see which one holds up better.
Oh hey how’s it goin? Yeah, we talked not that long ago (I think it was about A/C in cars?) Anyway, my wife and I live halfway across the country from there; but yeah, the nickname was more of a joke and just fun to say…at the same time, I’d say it still has 50% truth to it to me personally…just because I have way too many bad and sad memories there; and even though a lot of it was of my own doing (trouble w/ the law + my party scene days) and out of my control (sad personal loss) it’s still not the city’s fault so yes, I don’t need to blame the city. I actually try to look at it in the opposite perspective since I think some people forget that location is only 1 of many factors in making the best of things in general.
“It’s not where you live, it’s what you make of it”
I still think location is one of the bigger factors though.
Also, there are actually quite a few things I still like about the area + still had a ton of great memories there that counter the bad ones. For a long time, there was such a negative atmosphere there and then years ago some place started selling shirts that said “Spokane doesn’t suck” It has improved in a lot of ways and it’s a great area to visit. The Pacific Northwest is so beautiful and is still my favorite region of the country by far! I still remember the summers there had perfect weather; and actually enjoyed a lot of the overcast cooler days in the winter.
Yeah, have been to a concert in Tacoma before… and a bunch of them at the Gorge in George, WA. That is one amazing outdoor festival venue. I actually don’t think one bit of that 5hr drive between the 2 cities is boring but that’s all perspective. It would be very interesting and fun in that Mazda! (yup, I’d put in my JVC single DIN stereo that I still have)
Cleveland? I would say “Cleveland rocks! Cleveland rocks!” ha ha…but never been there; I only like it because Bone Thugs n’ Harmony are from there and that’s my favorite rap group ever! (mostly like metal/rock though)
Enough about me…great to see you on The Autopian all the time!
I personally like the term I heard in Canada – First Nations. Truthful and discriptive.
The problem with the label Native American is no humans are native to the Americas.
I also saw and heard references to Aboriginal People while I was doing a project for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Winnipeg. Up until then the only reference to aboriginal I had heard had been in Australia.
The Mazda has brand new tires all round. If the current owner is willing to dump that much into a vehicle at this end of the market they will have kept on top of the maintenance.
It’s an absolute no-brainer. I wouldn’t want anything to do with that Subaru unless it was free, and even then I’d have to think about it.
Nice catch.
Man, I spent my whole life working so that I’d never have to own another car like one of these again. Not that I’ve worked myself into Rolls Royces or anything, these are two overly shitty boxes. So this is really a “neither” day for me as I just can’t imagine any circumstance in which I’d drive either of them. Picked Subaru as I could hypothetically have fun on some fire roads around here (although I doubt I’d actually do that).
See I was thinking they are on the nice side of shitbox. They are are lacking the full perforation rust holes so common to the class in my native Michigan. I owned two cars that you could see the outside through body. Just watch the road go by.
I am also glad to have put $100 and $200 cars behind me.
That’s looking on the bright side – nothing wrong with that!
Fun fact: I bought an ’88 323, same spec as this but white with a blue interior, off ebay in 2005 for $40.
It had a bad engine, but I had a good Miata engine to swap. Ended up selling the Miata off and then the 323 for $150 in scrap. Good times.
I vastly prefer an Impreza, but this spec sucks with AWD, sedan, the smaller engine (though they didn’t get the 2.2 until later), and it’s trashed. Mazda, but purely for the better condition.
This. I loved the 90s Impreza, especially the 2.5RS coupe I had, but this one is just a raw pile of junk. The Mazda wins simply by not looking like it will constantly smell of mildew and rodent droppings.
I’m sure the Mazda is a fine car but having owned a similar vintage Impreza, the Brighton version in fact, those things are near indestructable. Picked up for dirt cheap to save on gas and it just worked. Put tons of miles on it and never let me down.
Sorta laughed at this, because while it may be “just 110,” it’s still a lot more than the Mazda is putting out.
I had a Mazda 626. Neither the 626 nor 323 made triple-digit horsepower unless you got one of the rare turbos; in stock form, everything in the late 80’s available in North America in the 626 or 323 nameplate was putting out between 80 and 90 horsepower.
The Mazda seems like a good deal at that price. The Subie is ready for offroad work, but it’ll have to be cheaper. It’s already pre-crashed, so it wouldn’t be worth trying to fix up, just spray paint and run into the ground.
Which Super-Cheap Fun Machine Would You Gamble On?
You kind of lost me at “fun.” I could see these cars being fun, but only if your idea of fun is smoking the schmutz deposited throughout the interior to see if it is meth residue or just regular dirt. Meth roulette has to be someone’s idea of a good time, right?
The Mazda is the obvious winner here given the difference in condition. It seems like a solid deal.
As for the Subaru, I am trying to avoid yelling “overpriced!!” since most cars featured in shitbox showdown are not being advertised as bargains, but this is a $500 car in 2026. Honestly, I think you could have bought this exact car for $500 when you were looking for cheap wheels in the pre-COVID era.
The Subaru having a clean title tells me the crash didn’t get reported. At this price point though it doesn’t really matter as long as it tracks straight-ish. The Mazda seems like a safer bet so it gets my vote today. Anything that runs for $1,500 today is going to have problems however.
I’m very much anti-Subaru, but in this instance, I’d go with that precisely because it has build potential and AWD from the factory. FWD hatches aren’t my style.
The Mazda is clearly the intelligent choice for cheap transportation for someone who is cash-strapped. So I’ll leave it for someone in need and take the Subie. Aftermarket support should be way more expansive to turn it into a stupid, little, fun, off-roady, rally wannabe.
I’ve always dug those little Mazdas, so that’s the winner today, although it would be more of a clinch if it wasn’t for that completely effed front fender. The Subaru might just need a good wash and perhaps a new front clip to be more respectable, but that deployed airbag is no bueno here in PA – I’d have to get it replaced and that’s probably more expensive to do than the price of the car.
Mazda today.
Dad had one and the stick made it fun to drive under the badge of “its more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow”.
Chewed through a few too many front tires to my dad’s taste…wonder how that happened…
You know I was leaning toward the Subie right until that photo from the right rear angle. Ooofff! I could have used the AWD. But that look and the questions about the crash history and the airbag (is there one?) just ruin it, even for a cheap beater.
I’ll go with the Mazda for a little more cash and keep the snow tires while getting another cheap set of rims for the other seasons. I remember I was still in school when these cars were new so either they look dated or I do.
I wonder how many cans of spray paint it will take to turn that Impreza World Rally Blue?
These cars seem ready for the wrecking yard. But in today’s economy, they must be saved.
The 323 seems to be in great condition, why junk it?
The Subaru is in worse condition, but it’s not that bad once you look past all the dirt and faded paint. It wouldn’t take much to repair it assuming it really does “run and drive well”.
I had a buddy who got a 323 hatchback after totalling a very mint bright orange Comet. Both were fun for a freshman in high school to ride around in.
The Mazda is clearly in better condition, so that’s the car that gets my vote.