Good morning! We’re going to kick off this week with a couple of cars I found on the Facebook Underappreciated Survivors page. They’re both uncommon cars these days anyway, but these two up the rarity factor by not being ordinary sedans.
I made you choose which one of Friday’s finalists you would be willing to drive for a year, and you picked the least interesting one of the lot. I guess I can’t blame you. That Mitsubishi Galant does look like a nice, comfortable car, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be reliable.
Placing myself in the same scenario, I have to think about what I’m most likely to need a car for in the coming year, and that’s probably going to involve a lot of home improvement. Only one of these would work well to haul stuff home from the lumber yard, and that’s the Mazda truck, which you all put in last place. If I were strictly choosing one for my own amusement, it would be a toss-up between the Toyota and the Mustang. But if I follow the same “I have to drive only this for a year” rule as I set down for all of you, I have to take the truck.
When I was younger, I used to love looking through car brochures, and I assume I’m not alone. My dad and I would go to the Chicago Auto Show every year, and I’d come home with a bag full of brochures, and pore over them for the next several weeks. I always enjoyed trying to spot the different variations of each car on the road, though some styles seemed impossible to find in the wild. These two are a bit newer than my brochure-reading days, but I have a feeling they would be easier to find in a brochure than in a parking lot. Let’s check them out.
1990 Mazda 626 LX Touring Sedan – $1,400
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Acworth, GA
Odometer reading: 320,000 miles
Operational status: “Runs and drives” is all it says
The few sedans that are left on the market have one thing in common: they should be hatchbacks. Those tiny mail-slot trunk openings don’t do anyone any good. Why not just make the rear window open up with the trunk lid, like Mazda did way back in the ’80s? Mazda calls this car the 626 Touring Sedan, but anyone else would call it a hatchback.
Whatever you want to call it, it’s a very well-made car that is capable of racking up some serious miles. This one has 320,000 on it already, and it’s still rolling along. The seller says it has new CV axles and a new battery to help it on its way, for what that’s worth. At this price, “runs and drives” is probably good enough.
I’m pleasantly surprised by how well the interior has held up, with that many miles. It’s a two-owner car, both owners in the same family, and clearly, they treated it well. It’s not torn up or even worn out inside. It does have those silly automatic seat belts, but at this price, I think I’d be willing to put up with them.
It’s not too bad outside, either, except for a couple of cracked light lenses and some bad spots in the paint. Being a Georgia car, it shouldn’t have any rust to speak of. Rock Auto has a replacement for the front side marker/turn signal, but you’ll have to scour junkyards for a taillight, or put up with red patch tape.
1996 (?) Mitsubishi Diamante Wagon – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 3.0 liter OHC V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Stuart, FL
Odometer reading: 166,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Mitsubishi Diamante is one of those cars I tend to forget exists, until I see one. And until I saw this ad, I had completely forgotten there was ever a station wagon. But I think the seller might be mistaken about one thing: as far as I can tell, there was no Diamante station wagon in 1996. Since it’s clearly a first-generation Diamante, it must be a 1995 model.
Like so many Mitsubishis from this era, this one is powered by a 6G72 3.0 liter V6. It’s mounted transversely, driving the front wheels through a four-speed automatic. It’s in good mechanical condition, according to the seller, and at only 166,000 miles, it should have plenty of life left.
The inside of this car has seen better days. The leather is cracked and worn, and it looks like part of the headliner is missing. The dash has some scuffs and what looks like tape residue stuck to it. But the seller says the air conditioning works, as do the power windows, so it’s not all bad.
Curiously, this one has a cracked taillight in the same place as the Mazda, and you’re even less likely to find a replacement for this one. It looks like it has already been taped up at least once. Apart from that, it just looks like a tired old car.
The rarity of these two cars is not much more than a curiosity at this point. Neither one is going to be a collector’s item. But they’re cheap, functional, and known-reliable models that you could certainly get your money’s worth out of. It’s all a matter of which one looks better to you.
As much as I loathe automatic seatbelts and love wagons… That Mazda is just nicer and cheaper. Plus manual.
Oh shit. I guess the station wagon has indeed become an uncommon body style.
How did we get here? How did we let them rob us of the best body style? Even worse, they took our station wagons (and all other body styles, apparently) and gave us an endless stream of oversized and overpriced SUVs instead. Automakers are the fucking worst.
CAFE standards and other federal shenanigans. Automakers simply built what they could get away with by law, and figured out that they could repackage the same features that people liked in station wagons in SUVs and pickups. America has always wanted large rear wheel drive transportation – the feds just made so many options for that illegal.
When an entire industry “inexplicably” abandons a popular type of product, your first instinct should not be to criticize them, but to take a moment to ask, “Did the gubmint have a hand in this?” About nine times out of ten, it’s precisely why.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-compact-trucks-and-station-wagons/
While I’d love a beater wagon, I remember the Diamante as feeling heavy and numb, and the state of that interior looks depressing. The 626 was a pleasant driver, especially with a 5-speed, and I’ll risk the high mileage because it looks like someone at least gave a shit about it.
As much as I like wagons, I spend more time inside the car, and the inside of the Mazda just looks like a better place to be. Plus there’s the manual transmission. I’d take a manual over a slush-box any day of the week.
I’d normally go with a wagon every time, but the interior of the Mazda is just so much nicer than the Diamante and it’s a stick. The mileage could end up being a problem, but I’ll take the chance that the 626 still has enough life left in it to be worth $1400.
At first I was like Wagon? But despite having half the miles it is in like double worse shape. So better car, better price
Mitsubishi wagon come on. I think it’s been 25 years since I’ve seen one. Not sure about plenty of life on one of those but it’s possible I guess. Still probably decently solid enough to get a $400 engine out of something when it blows in 20k. Or just buy the engine and trans while they are still around to keep the thing running..
I thought that 626 notchback was the coolest car when it was first introduced in 1983. My mom took me along to the Mazda dealer to see if she could swing one as an upgrade to our lowly ’81 GLC wagon. But it was too expensive and the dealers weren’t budging on the price since it was a brand-new model.
But as a current Mitsubishi driver and wagon coveter, I’d have to go with the Diamante. I would just replace the seats or buy some decent covers.
Mitsubishi for me due to it NOT having those mouse motor seat belts, less mileage and wagon practicality.
I wonder if you can just remove the automatic seat belts and bolt in an aftermarket set without too much fuss?
I’ll take whichever one doesn’t miserably fail a compression test
Normally I would take the wagon but that diamante has got to be difficult to get parts for. It’s amazing that it’s still on the road. Don’t remember the last time I saw even a sedan, much less a wagon.
Normally, a Japanese station wagon, especially a somewhat swanky one like this, would be my obvious choice. However: I can’t remember the last time I saw a Mitsubishi Diamante in the wild, but it’s been even longer than that since I saw one that was not trailing a plume of blue blow-by oil smoke.
I’ll take the Mazda.
Pretty sure these wagons were made in Australia by Mitsubishi in the old Chrysler factory.
The “Mitsu(bitch)i” (I’ve always loved that nickname) is more interesting…too bad it’s not stick. I’ve always liked how these look like they have more substance; it’s just the look of the body style from the front. Sort of like the Toyota Cressida; they always looked like a sort of “beefier” Camry
I lived during the era when these wagons were new and always found them very handsome and uncommon. I think with a careful strategy either car could be spruced up and made to look imperfectly great, but I picked the Diamante for the lower miles. That engine isn’t a personal fave, but it’s issues are known. There are surprisingly well-fitting and inexpensive seat covers out there now.
I am biased being a Mazda guy, that’s how I voted and this one being manual with a much cleaner interior is the one I would take. But apples to apples (if the Mazda was auto) I would lean towards the Diamante for being a wagon
Obviously, I am wagon man to the core, with 2/5ths of my fleet being long-roofs. But in this pairing, stickshift and condition trump the extra space. I’ve owned my share of hatches too – not AS useful, but still pretty damned useful.
Any car that isn’t a wagon should be a hatchback. Agreed. And in this case, I’ll take the hatchback for the transmission, even though I know that this era of Mazda will literally melt into a pile of rust from one new england winter.
Tough choice. I’m going stick shift Mazda for the price and the transmission. I bet I could get at least a year out of it.
This was a tough call, but I wen’t for the lower mileage Diamante. Todays build would entail:
Exterior refresh, to get it as shiny as it’ll be. A fresh set of gaskets and fluids for the engine, transmission, brakes cooling etc.
Interior cleanup for the seats, I bet there are lots of options out there that might work, worst case I find a used set of BRIDE seats or something ridiculous.
Coil overs, and a nice set of period correct Enkie wheels, embrace the JDM Wagon VIP build life.
So I’d basically ruin the car.
If you want to ruin it more, here is where I tell you that the Diamante shared a lot of platform architecture with the 3000GT. Do what you will with that information.
I figured there was a lot of generation overlap with other Mitsu products.
I was thinking to somehow “Evo-ize” it. But that bit of knowledge leans MY vote hard to Mitsu!
I mean it’s not a clean Mercedes 190e you’re planning to dump cocaine all over so you’re not really ruining it.
Oh no! I was on vacation last week so I didn’t read the 190 story until now, that went well off the rails IMO.
This is why we can’t have nice things.. Like tastefully modified Diamante wagons.
Tough one today. There’s a whitr Diamante wagon in this area that showed up to the TriangleRAD Trunk or Treat a few years ago dressed up to look like the Ectomobile. It was pretty awesome. I’m sort of ambivalent on the 6G72. Yes it will eat heasgaskets, but parts are so easy to come by due to the engine’s use in practically the entire lineups of Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth. I a side note, I always found it curious how closely the 6G resembles the VG30E visually.
As for the Mazda, the mileage is a bit eyebrow-raising, but it is a stick and when the engine does give up there are several good swap options. I e always been a sucker for a 5-door hatch and that interior is kind of amazing.
It’s the Mazda for me.
I actually liked the 1st and 2nd gen Diamante styling when new. I still kind of dig it. though it looks a lot less BMW than I felt like it did in person back then. I really wish the AWD and 3.5 V6 variants were imported to the US, but I am not sure it would have helped sales that much. I just know I want a Japanese spec AWD/AWS 30R-SE Hardtop, I think 1995 would have been the last year for that. Surely it might be strange though if that was the last of the hardtop sedans.
Wife had an 87 or 88 Mazda 626 sedan that was reliable little car in an era where people didn’t obsess about enough cargo to haul a load of mulch once a year or enough clearance for impromptu off roading, um never.
On the other hand, the Diamante managed to get name-checked in rap song – although I can’t remember the name of the song or artist now.
I’m voting Mazda because it stayed in the family (always a good sign for a car) and the Three Diamonds owner likely has the wrong model year (always a bad sign for a car).
I believe the Diamante is Aussie-built.
You believe correctly.
Indeed sir. Made by my relatives in the old Chrysler factory that my high school fed workers to. They even made these wagons for the Japanese market so build quality had to be a bit higher than normal.
I like 90s Mitsubishis, and I love wagons. But a stickshift Mazda? And it’s cheaper?
I have to choose the Mazda.
Hello, Wagon Lyfe? One order of sheepskin seat covers, please — stat!