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88' Mazda 626 turbo with four wheel steering

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Craiger56@aol.com

In Reply to: What are you driving? posted by Eldragon on February 5, 2006 at 17:04:14:

I was a Mazda technician at Almaden Mazda in 1988 when these came out.
If you wanted a 626 with four wheel steering it had to be white, it had to be an automatic, it had to be a turbo, and it couldn't have a sunroof, if other words they were all identical.
There's just five degrees of steering at the rear, the front and rear wheels steer opposite directions below 22 mph for 'forklift' like parking, and above 22 mph the front and rear wheels steer in the same direction for enhanced handling at speed.
Four wheel steering is a useful option on a front wheel drive car because with CV joints at the front, available steering angle is compromised, limited by the CV joints.
The funny thing is they couldn't give these cars away! People would say things like "I'd be afraid it'd screw up and get me killed" etc.
Honda and Mitsubishi also tried it at the time.
It's been a great car, has 180k miles and I intend to keep it going as long as possible.

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Re: 88' Mazda 626 turbo with four wheel steering - Eldragon 11:12:38 05/08/06 (1)
And being a tech you'll probably make it up to 300K. The only thing is possible transmission trouble, like with my car. If it was stick, I wouldn't worry about it. Good Luck!
- Thanks.. - Craiger56@aol.com 19:03:05 05/08/06 (0)
  and yes, a trans failure would very likely be the end of my Mazda, easily costing more than the car is worth.
  I've been changing the trans fluid, just what will drain out, with every oil change (Mobil 1) every 10k miles, and keeping my fingers crossed.
  I'm also concerned with eventual exhaust valve erosion causing a minor misfire at idle, just enough to fail a CA smog check. This is taking many old cars off the road.
  But until then I'm getting to work on the cheep.

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