My friend (2 of them actually) used to have a mazda 323 while I had a 97 lancer glxi. They both have 1.6 engines pero yung lancer gli 1.3 lang yata (not sure). Foremost complaint of my friend (with the 323), was that he thought he was consuming about 5 km/li which is comparable to the accord '94 I had while my lancer, automatic transmission, had 8-9km/li, city driving. My other friend na may 323 didn't really have any complaints with the consumption but I doubt if they really cared about it since medyo "can afford" sila (naka brand new civic sila ngayon). Both 323's were sold already.