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Hi everyone. I just want to introduce myself, my name is Doug and I live in St. Catharines Ontario. I am happy to have found this site.

I currently own four Mazda 323 hatchbacks, two are running and two are parts cars. I have a stripped down version that I drive to work (rear seats/trim removed) and I usually average around 36MPG. The same car also doubles as a "truck" for hauling loads to the dump when I do my home renovations.

I am always on the lookout for more Mazda 323 cars, they are usually for sale for cheap, I have paid $300 for two of them and $750 for the one I drive.

I am also interested in the Swift/Metro 3-cylinder cars.

I was looking through some old car magazines from the 80s and the fuel economy of those old cars is way better on average than anything currently available. Where are the next generation 323, Festiva, Tercel, Swift/Metro etc.? Why does everyone feel they need a bigger vehicle? A lot of times I hear young couples saying they need an SUV in order to haul their kids and all their accesories such as strollers around. When I was a kid we had a Renault LeCar and a VW Beetle, we got around just fine.

I look forward to interacting on this site. Thanks for listening!

Hi Doug - I have relatives in your neck of the woods (NOTL). Lovely area.

My oldest brother's first brand new car was a 1988 323 hatch, with a manual crank sunroof and 5-speed. (Maybe more correctly it was his second new car, since the first one he bought fell off (!) the lift in the dealership garage while they were doing pre-delivery work. So they ordered him another one.)

What year(s) are your hatchbacks? (He asks, with only his own interests in mind...) I don't suppose one of them happens to have a set of 13 inch alloy rims with the round circle pattern? Somewhat like this style (except this is the RX7 14 inch version, I think):

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:...BF3-37-192.jpg

I've been keeping my eyes open for a set, since they're among the rare 13 inch alloys that will fit the Metro/Firefly bolt pattern.

Feel free to add your daily driver to the "EM Garage" so we can easily find its details, and you can start tracking your fuel economy (if you want).

Anyway, welcome to the site! - Darin.

Hey! Thanks for stopping by. It's nice to get a good international contingent, rather than just the silly US, :)

Ever thought of taking one of those shells and building an ev? :turtle:

My hatchbacks are 1990, 1992, 1992, and 1995. Unfortunately I do not have those rims. My friend had those rims on his '87 but that car went to the scrapyard 5 years ago.

I really like my Mazdas, they all have over 250,000 km on them. They are easy to fix if something breaks down and are very simple, fun transportation.

I will have to add my car to the EM garage.

SVOboy: I have been thinking about making an EV. I have been trying to read up on them and I do have a spare car.....

You should check out metrompg's conversion thread in the EV section, in that case, :)

ramblindoug -

Welcome to EM! It looks like you may become the local 323 expert, ;) .

CarloSW2