I've had a regrettably excellent experience with my 2015 Mazda. Easily the most reliable machine I've owned.
Which is unfortunate because it's a soulless, joyless shitbox and I hate it. It just starts every single time, but it's not fun to drive. I see dozens of the exact same model on the road every day and they're all boring. The interior is fine, the handling is pretty good, the power is fine, fuel economy is fine. It's just okay all around. Except for the *five hundred dollar* alloy wheels, that really sucks. It's fine, it's boring, it gets me from A to B every time.
My prior car was the first one that I really enjoyed driving. It was fun, it had personality, it was a little car with a lot of pep in its step. It truly was a joy to drive. It burned all of the fluids and had plenty of mechanical problems, but I lovingly maintained everything I knew how to.
Honestly I'd take the fun troublesome car over the bland, boring box on wheels I'm stuck with now. At least troublesome is interesting.
This is exactly what I want in a car, unironically. I really dislike car culture. I think it is ruining America. This is like wanting a bus to be fun and exciting. Why are daily driver cars supposed to be fun? We are spending all our infrastructure money building and maintaining massive roads at the expense of everything else.
I think it’s just a matter of preference. Just like you might prefer to spend money and time on some other form of entertainment, some people who have to drive every day prefer to get some enjoyment out of it. Regardless of your judgement on “car culture”, it is enjoyment and happiness for that people nonetheless.
>I think it is ruining America.
This is not an America thing. And it’s not new. Many modern societies, ever since cars have been invented, have had this “car culture” you speak of.
One car (KIA) has electrical problems, probably the CAN bus. Parking shifter has to be overridden with a screwdriver to shift, the ABS sensor is on, and the cruise control doesn't disengage when I press the brake.
This car has a glove box of recalls letters Im going to have done when I finally have an appointment w/ the dealer.
The other one a VW, otherwise the "reliable one", had a radiator light turn on yesterday. Im praying it's just low coolant (it is low) and not a leak. It also has a dash light that wont go off complaining about the headlights (they're fine).
Genuinely never understood why anyone would buy a Kia or Hyundai product. Year after year after year there are constant problems and recalls. What drove you to buy one? (no pun intended)
Id gotten rear ended in a compact car when my newborn daughter was discharged from the hospital. Nothing happened, but I didn't like being the smallest participant in a crash with my little girl.
So I bought the biggest, heaviest car I could afford at the time.
Mechanically the car has been alright. Not great, but nothing big. But the electrical... what a shit show.
That's why I know it's low ;) In fact, after picking up some G12, I can even refill it myself!
But why is it low? Is it because the seals in the cap are getting old and slightly out gassing? Or is it because I have a hairline crack in a gasket that's about to be a catastrophic crack?
There's almost two orders of magnitude difference in price between those two repairs!
Honestly the engine handles the load just fine. It's not nearly as fast as the tiny 5-speed Ford focus I had before, but I wouldn't say it's slow either.
What engine do you have? A lot that I see for sale have 165bhp engines, which doesn’t sound under powered. Compare that with a lot of newer cars which have 1L 100bhp engines
Sounds a lot like my 2013 Subaru Forester. I often fantasize about getting a newer car but then I remember my car is paid off and has never let me down. It doesn't deserve me.
I slapped a sound system well tuned for the music im into into my 2013 civic which I have had since new, and that has given me at least 3 more years out of it after briefly toying with getting something else.
I've never been in one, but I'm sure that some of Mazda's other models are more fun.
It's just that the 6 was designed to be a mass produced commodity with no frills and no personality. It's designed for someone who only cares about getting from A to B every single time. That's not me, I don't find that satisfying, I have other priorities.
My 2016.5 (why did they call it that?) CX-5 is exactly my type of boring: It Just Works. Also, they backported CarPlay to it for a nominal installation charge, it has actual buttons for all essential functions, a nice scroll wheel I can use without looking, and the screen isn't obnoxiously big. Repair costs have been quite low, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop there (around 85k miles).
In a few years I'll start looking at Subarus most likely. The feel on the road is fantastic. I just hope they haven't slipped into the complexity/tech abyss that most manufacturers seem to have.
That is exactly why I bought a Mazda earlier this year. I wanted to upgrade to a larger car (since 2010 I have driven a 2 door Toyota Yaris it was getting to hard to manage without extra doors) wanted something plain, reliable that I could count on to "just work", I was torn between Toyota Corolla and Mazda 3. What ultimately titled the decision was the waiting period. Here in Australia the Toyota had an 8 month wait and the Mazda 3 had 10 week wait.
I could say similar for my mustang gt, it keeps ticking after 12 years and 250k miles, with nothing but maintenance. I do still enjoy driving it though. I am not a harsh driver though, tend to be a "speed-limit, stop for yellow" driver.
I’m absolutely not a car guy, and Mazdas are my perfect car :D We’ve got a 2008 mazda3 that is still running perfectly that we’re hoping to replace with a slightly larger CX-30 or PHEV equivalent once they sort out that product line.
They really do seem to just be super reliable and are taking over the “I’m not a car person” market.
Yeah, I think that's what it is. I was never a 'car guy' before, but my last car changed me. Now I have a 'not a car person' car and it's miserable.
Oh well, at least it will keep running until I can afford an EV. We'll probably still keep it around for long range trips because I really don't expect it to die for a long time. 140k miles and I'm certain I'll get at least another 100k out of it if I cared to.
Sure it does. The way a new car keeps value is a factor in how popular a car is. High demand for 10 year old models will influence how well new models sell.
It's e.g. the main reason why you'll wait months if you want to buy a new Volkswagen van, even though it is tens of thousands of dollars more expensive than similar vans. Much easier justifying buying a T7 when T5s with 100k miles still sell for more than other vans cost new.
This is why you buy both :) You have the fun car for when it's working and the reliable car as a fallback when the trouble starts up at the wrong moment.
'05 Ford Focus with a 5-speed manual. My first, and unfortunately last manual transmission. It had the sporty red trim interior and I replaced the CD changer with an android head unit and gave it a matching red theme.
Then I wrecked it, and the cops stole it by forcibly towing it to one of those scam tow yards that charge $500 a day. I had to bribe the guy at the yard just to get my personal belongings out of it.
huh, my 2014 Mazda 3 (manual 6 speed) I find quite fun to drive. It feels light, it's not some powerhouse but its immensely spritely. It feels like, given the constraints, the engineers were still trying to make something that feels good. Very different from Corollas or Civics that I've owned.
I actually bought the 2014 model rather than 2015 because I wanted the last year made in Japan, though I don't know how much of a difference this makes.
I have the 6 and it's a bit of a boat. Manual transmission would definitely make it more fun, but I got stuck with the 6-speed auto. Yeah it still has manual shifting but it's just not the same.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great ride and a great car. The only thing I don't like about it is that there's nothing to like.
It's the Brother laser printer of cars. It's fine, it's whatever. It does the thing, it'll do it for years and years and never bother you. But it's still a bland boring box with nothing to love except the fact that it works and only needs serviced every fifth year.
I bought CX-3 5 years ago and it's a really fun (and reliable) car to drive and I say that as someone who previously was daily driving a sporty roadster for many years :-) Unfortunately they stopped producing the CX-3 line and replaced it with CX-30 which is very similar, but I prefer the look of CX-3..
Which is unfortunate because it's a soulless, joyless shitbox and I hate it. It just starts every single time, but it's not fun to drive. I see dozens of the exact same model on the road every day and they're all boring. The interior is fine, the handling is pretty good, the power is fine, fuel economy is fine. It's just okay all around. Except for the *five hundred dollar* alloy wheels, that really sucks. It's fine, it's boring, it gets me from A to B every time.
My prior car was the first one that I really enjoyed driving. It was fun, it had personality, it was a little car with a lot of pep in its step. It truly was a joy to drive. It burned all of the fluids and had plenty of mechanical problems, but I lovingly maintained everything I knew how to.
Honestly I'd take the fun troublesome car over the bland, boring box on wheels I'm stuck with now. At least troublesome is interesting.