Is Mazda Pickup (1998) Good?

[Upeksha Abeysekara]

Hi guys,
I'm interested to buying a Mazda 1998 pickup due to the unreachable prices of other brands. Please someone let me know the details such as spare parts availability, driving experience, maintenance...

Thanks

[Ripper]

Is this the B2500 model with the WL2.5 engine?

If so, it's a pretty decent truck. Body parts are a problem in securing...like doors, shells and stuff. Other parts are interchangeable so they can be secured.

The engine isn't the best, not a lot of power at top end and ratios are such you have to press the engine hard for highway level speeds.

Ride comfort, space, handling and all that is pretty good considering the age of the vehicle.

I have a 98 Ford Courier. Similar to the Mazda B2500 but body work is different. Had to dump the original motor after head getting shot once and the second occasion the crank and head both going bust. Had to fly down doors and some body parts from Australia as I couldn't source them in SL. Even there the parts are becoming a bit hard to find due to age of the vehicle. I'm running another engine, box and diffs now so power, speeds etc are all ok. But mods like that don't come cheap.

If you're a hands on guy with vehicles, know your way around and can ship down parts if needed, its not a bad buy.

If not, probably not the vehicle to move towards...

[iRage]

I suppose you are looking at the UN series B2500 ?

Simple truck...interior feels very basic...simply put together and simply built.

The WL2.5 came in two guises. The non-turbo one is under powered and you need to push it hard to do anything. The Turbo one is a little better.

The body part problem is going to persist as the car is not the most common. Mechanicals...well again...not going to be that common.

Driving experience....actually it is quite fun...the car is quite light so if you are in to doing crazy things like fliping the rear end and doing almost jumps off little humps and hammering it on dirt roads...it is quite fun....but put a load on it and try to do some work it is an annoyance.

Also...the rear door'is quite narrow and the rear seat takes up most of the opening space..so being a chubby guy I hated getting on and off in the rear.