Welcome to my buyers guide, for legal reasons i'm not giving advice on buying a car but putting into words my experience of buying and owning a Xedos 6 and if any of it helps it will have been worth while.

I delayed writing this part of the website because I thought I needed to own my 1996 Xedos 6, 2.0 V6 for a while before I felt I was qualified to do so.

Early 2002, I had sold my 205BHP Celica GT4 Carlos Sainz (it was just costing to much to own), I have brought all the papers and mags with cars for sale and was looking for my new car. There wasn't one particular car I was looking for but it had to be fast, economical, reliable and cheap to own. I know what your thinking, we would all like a car like that but they don't exist, wrong and I only found it by luck.

I had spent hours looking through the ads and had giving up for that week, I was watching TV when my wife says "this looks like a smart car",,,,,,,,"what is it?" I ask, "A Mazda Xedos" she replies. I knew what they were but didn't know a thing about them but I did like the look of it so went on the internet to see what I could find out. I spent an hour or two reading everything I could find out about them and was so impressed by what I read, I rang the seller and arranged to see the car.

When ringing a seller I always ask the same questions,
1/ How long have you owned the car? this will tell you a lot, the longer the better and beware of anything under a year or wonder what has made them sell it so quick.
2/ Has the car had any accidents that they know of? this will put them on the spot and you normally will get a honest answer, if they say yes make the repair your first check to see how well it was done, walk away from bad repairs.
3/ Has the car a service history? if it hasn't got some sort of service record I would leave it, first cars need to be serviced and second you will have no way of confirming the mileage.
4/ Has the timing belt been changed? They need changing every 60,000 miles and don't break this rule.

Straight after arranging the view, I logged on to http://www.hpicheck.com and for £12.00 I have a full check done on the car, it confirms the owners words, no record of serious accident damage, no mileage records and no finance owning, I can't recommend this check enough, this is my number 1 buyers guide piece of advise.

The next day we travelled the 50 miles to a private seller, the first thing I notice was how dirty the car was, it was in Satalite Blue, a dark metalic blue that shows every single mark and I soon realized that this colour will be very hard to keep clean. I check the bodywork first making sure all the panels are the same colour and that they all have the same gaps between them, remember the bodywork is probably the most important part to check, because it will be the most expensive part to repair if it's not right and you want your new car to look good, don't you. Once happy with the body I move onto the mechanics.

I get on my hands and knees and go around the car starting at the front and looking underneath for major oil leaks, then check the CV boots for splits and all looks well everywhere else. Then go to the sides, look under the sills for damage, big rocks, high kerbs or bad jacking up of the car can cause damage that can rust in no time and this also goes for the back of the car. Check tyre wear, make sure its even, this will confirm the car is driving straight.

Now lift the bonnet. Hopefully the engine is cold, start her up and listen for any noises, a light tapping is nothing to worry about as this is only the hydraulic tappets which is normal on this engine and should disappear as the unit warms up. If they don't stop or there were any knocking noices, walk away. Also when starting, ask a friend to stand at the rear and look for blue smoke as this will tell if there is wear in the cylinder head, again, walk away if there is, I will keep saying this because unless you are buying the car very cheap because of a known fault you don't want to be caught with big bills straight after purchase as most major repairs on a Xedos will be big bills. The engine when warm should be very quite and very smooth, when sitting in the car you should barely be able to hear it, if this is all ok now take her for a drive.

The car should drive like the engine, smooth and quite, it should feel quick and rev up to the red line easy. Turn full lock to the left and right and listen for clicking from the drive shafts, there shouldn't be any.

When you arrive back and you are happy with the car, ask to see all the paperwork and service history for the car. Check that any old MOT's tie up with the mileage and the address you are buying the car from is the same address as on the log book. When you are happy with this make your offer, take her home and enjoy one of the best cars you will ever own.

Now I have'nt obviously gone into everything, you must decide for yourself and if your not sure take a mechanic friend or even get the AA or RAC to check the car for you. This buyers guide is just about what I did to buy my car and now I can tell you, I have had the car a year now and haven't had to spend one penny on her, not one penny except petrol. She does 30+ to the gallon, everybody says what a nice car it is to travel in and there're rare, most drivers will tell you when you actually see another Xedos you nearly wave to them it's such a rare occasion. The Xedos is a fantastic 4 door saloon car that looks great, goes great and if you look in the Owners Cars section you will see just how good they can look with a new set of wheels and a bit of tinkering.

Now below I have listed a few of the things people have had go wrong, this is not saying these are common faults, it's just saying that these things have been known to go wrong so it's worth checking.

Rear calipers on pre 95 cars tend to sieze and I believe Mazda were charging labour only to replace them. I have also heard from people with later cars suffering siezed calipers on the front as well.

Rear anti rollbar droplink's will be picked up by good Mazda garages as worn and will need changing.

Automatic gearboxes have caused a few people problems. This can often be solved by changing the oil & filters but buying one with a bad box could be very expensive so check all is working well.

Engines that have high miles (130,000+) can start to smoke, this is normally caused by worn valves guides, not the end of the world but remember this is a 24 valve engine so again not cheap to fix.

Corrosion around the door mirror supports, this is not rust but corrosion causing the paint to flake. This is caused by the material used to make these brackets and can easily be touched in.

Noisey tappets during warm up. This isn't a problem but is annoying. I know someone who used STP engine flush and then a good oil and it completely stopped, I will be trying this on mine soon and will let you know.

Well thats it, if I hear of anything else that could be of help I will add it but in the mean time if you do go out and buy yourself a Xedos i'm sure you won't regret it, they are one great car.