1987 Mazda 626

The federal record supplied begins with the 1990 model year, so the 1987 Mazda 626 predates the earliest comparable year-by-year data and cannot be directly plotted against the generation’s complaint curve. Across the recorded 1990–2003 arc, complaints start at a relatively modest 55 in 1990, climb sharply to a peak of 518 in 1995, then taper steadily to just 9 by 2003, while recalls, investigations, and TSBs rise through the mid-to-late 1990s before declining after 2000. Because 1987 sits before this documented arc, it implies the car likely predates the highest-volume federal reporting period for this generation, though the dataset does not establish whether that means fewer inherent issues or simply older, less-reported vehicles. For the 1987 model specifically, the top complaint areas are the Electrical System with 18 reports, Seat Belts with 8, Vehicle Speed Control with 3, and Power Train with 2, plus 5 crash-related and 1 fire-related complaint; the data does not specify root causes for any of these. Those counts are comparatively low in absolute terms, but the absence of year-by-year federal context for 1987 leaves less visibility into how the car aged relative to later models. Verdict: a well-maintained 1987 626 can be a viable purchase given its modest complaint footprint, but it is a higher-risk “buy with eyes open” choice because the provided record offers no trend data for that exact year.