chicagotribune.com's view

As for the car, the compact, front-wheel-drive 626 sedan boasts fresh new styling in the same model year that Mazda`s partner, Ford Motor Co., redid itscompact front-drive Tempo four-door sedan.

The Mazda and Ford cars bear a striking resemblance to one another, notunexpected, because Ford owns a large equity interest in Mazda. The two havebeen known to share ideas as well as parts and components, and now cars.

Both nameplates will flow from the plant at Flat Rock, Mich., where Mazda is building the MX-6 coupe version of the 626 along with the new Ford Probecoupe that comes out this spring.

The 626 4WS is offered only in white and only with automatictransmission, four-wheel antilock brakes (ABS) and turbocharged, 2.2-liter,12-valve, 4-cylinder engine. With the turbo boost, the 2.2`s horsepower rises to 145 from 110.

The automatic transmission has two modes-economy and power-and you choose either by pushing a dash button. In the economy mode, step on the accelerator and there`s a lag time until the power rush. In the power mode, there`s nolag, just steady acceleration.

When starting out on slick roads or maneuvering up or down a steep hill,you can lock the transmission in a “hold“ mode to stop the action of theautomatic speed change mechanism for better control.

The compact 626 is built on a 101.4-inch wheelbase and is 179.3 incheslong. Interior room is generous, especially in the rear seat, where the seatbacks fold together or separately to allow access to the trunk or more cargo- carrying capacity.

The car is not without irritants. The primary one is very slow windowdefogging capability front, side and rear. We were forced to lower the powerwindows several times for visibility, which brings up another problem. Theplastic power-window buttons push down to open but up to close. You wonderabout breaking the plastic buttons and having a window left open. It wouldseem women would complain about breaking nails.

But, of course, the best feature of this car is the four-wheel steeringand the fact that it provides superior parking ability, roadway mobility,stability and control.

Like the Prelude, the Mazda owner`s manual warns that four-wheel steering can have some drawbacks. If you park alongside a wall or too close to another car, you don`t want to put too much sideways effort into the wheel or youcould bump into the object nearby.

The 626 4WS caters to a different buyer than the Prelude 4WS model(Autos/Sept. 28). The Prelude is a sports coupe, the 626 a luxury sedan.Prelude is more for singles and couples, the 626 for families. It would havebeen interesting had Mazda put four-wheel steering in its RX-7 sports coupeand competed head-on with Honda.

Jordan insists there was no attempt to avoid the confrontation.

“We put four-wheel steering in the 626 and not the RX-7 because thetechnology wasn`t ready when the new RX-7 came out in 198 5, but it was for the626 for 1988,“ he said.

The four-wheel steering system is guaranteed for three years or 50,000miles. It requires some added consumer service. The system uses power-steeringfluid that needs periodic checking as well as a filter that needs changing at 30,000 miles.

The filter, Jordan said, would run about $12.

“If you can change a fuel injector, you can do this,“ he said, meaning, for most people, add a labor charge.

Base price of the 626 4WS turbo sedan is $17,149, about $3,000 more thana turbo sedan without it, but then ABS and automatic are included in the extra$3,000. About the only option you have to add is air conditioning at $797.