XYZ Racing Street Advanced Coilovers — Mazda 626 1993-1997

The fourth-generation 626 (GE chassis, MA18 family) is one of those mid-90s Japanese saloons that owners hang onto for a reason: a willing chassis, decent weight distribution, and a front strut layout that responds well to proper damping once the tired OE struts have given up. Thirty years on, factory dampers on a surviving 626 are well past their useful life, and the chassis deserves better than another set of budget gas-shocks.

That is where the XYZ Racing Street Advanced sits. It is the fast-road specification in the XYZ catalogue for the 1993-1997 626 – a full coilover replacement engineered to bring the GE’s handling back to where it should have been from the showroom, with the ride-height and damping range to actually go further.

What this coilover does for your 1993-1997 Mazda 626

Drop the Street Advanced onto a GE 626 and the first thing you notice is the body-roll the soft factory geometry used to mask: gone. The 30-way damping adjuster lets you settle the front end firmly enough to keep the nose flat through a B-road sequence, without beating the car’s mid-90s NVH package into submission on the motorway. Height adjustment via the lower bracket – independent of spring preload – means you can lower the 626 a usable amount without pre-loading the spring or sacrificing shock travel. For an MA18 owner running 15s or 16s on tidy fitment, the ride-height windows is genuinely useful: stance without scraped sumps. Pillowball top mounts at the front sharpen turn-in compared to the rubber OE mount, which on a 30-year-old car will be perished anyway.

About the Street Advanced coilover

The Street Advanced is XYZ Racing’s fast-road kit, built around a 32mm monotube damper running pressurised gas to keep oil cavitation at bay during repeat compression cycles. Damping is adjusted via a single 30-way knob at the top of each strut that moves both bump and rebound on a matched curve – simpler than the separated bump/rebound systems further up the XYZ range, and the right call for an owner who wants to set the car up once and drive it. Springs are linear-rate, sized for road use rather than circuit work. The body is hard-anodised to resist corrosion through UK winters, and the locking collars are split to stop seizing – both points that matter more on a daily-driven classic than on a garage queen. Spring rates are matched to the GE 626’s kerb weight and front/rear bias.

Fitment for the Mazda 626 (1993-1997)

This kit is fitment-specific to the MA18-platform 626 built between 1993 and 1997 – the GE-generation saloon, hatchback and coupé. SKU XYZ-COIL-MA18-SA covers both front struts and rear damper-and-spring units as a full four-corner set.

What buyers also search for

• Mazda 626 GE coilover conversion for road and occasional track use
• 1993-1997 626 ride-height adjustment without pre-loading the spring
• MA18 chassis fast-road damping that survives UK winter roads
• Mazda 626 saloon and coupé suspension upgrade with adjustable damping
• Period-correct 626 lowering kit that keeps the car driveable daily

Pick the spec, top-mount and spring-rate options below to build yours.