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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2001. - 2003.
C - Small family car
sedan, 4 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2000. - 2007.
C - Small family car
sedan, 4 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4365 mm
1705 mm
1410 mm
416 liters
416 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4480 mm
1695 mm
1480 mm
430 liters
430 liters
50 liters
2001 Mazda 323
2000 Mitsubishi Lancer

Engine

Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1324 cc
75 hp
110 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Mitsubishi
1.3 4G13 HP
Petrol
4 - Inline, 3 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1298 cc
82 hp
120 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1050 kg
15.3 s
162 km/h
9.5 l/100km
6.2 l/100km
7.4 l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1240 kg
13.7 s
171 km/h
8.5 l/100km
5.3 l/100km
6.5 l/100km
155 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

1000 EUR
Price from
1400 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the small family car segment and utilize the same 4-door sedan body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Mazda-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 75hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 12-valves 82hp engine designed by Mitsubishi.

Safety

The fact that the Mitsubishi got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, doesn't actually do much for it, as it's still a lousy 2-star coffin on wheels. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, Lancer offers a considerable difference of 18% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Mazda does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Mazda with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Mitsubishi badge with 4.6 out of 5. Independent research findings rank 323 as average reliability-wise, and Lancer is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as 323 rank it on average as 4.5 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Mitsubishi is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.6 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 171 kilometers per hour, 9km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Lancer, averaging around 6.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (43 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 14% difference compared to 323.


Verdict

Mazda appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Lancer offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Mitsubishi being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Mitsubishi. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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