Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler New Car Hunting

If Rubbermaid made a car, it would look exactly like the Honda Element.

yeah, but put a set of spinners on the Element and you've got the bling bling all set.

BTW, I did see one at Valley Fair in San Jose w/ the spinners. Looked very odd, and I like those rims...

Mazda 3 looks good, but do they have the R&D dollars that Ford does? Japanese car makers are known to hide problems rather than issue recalls. My old Ford F150 gave me 100,000+ miles without breaking down once. Ditto for my dad's old F250 and current F350. Just based on my family's experiences with Fords I would trust that Focus before the Mazda.

Doesnt Ford own Mazda?

Yup, last I saw Ford owned 51% of Mazda,might be more now, hence all the Ford products in the mazda vehicles ie. 3.0L v6 in MPV and all the "Mazda" trucks. I believe the engines and transmissions in the Mazda line up is now Ford and the Body styling and suspension designs are Mazda engineered.

Well the Ford Focus set a modern day recall record just because Ford decided to sell the car well before it's engineering was completed. The new Focus is fine but I would't recommend the early models to anyone.

As for hiding defects:

DETROIT, Jan 22, 2004; Michael Ellis writing for Reuters reported that the city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Ford Motor Co. demanding that the automaker fix its Crown Victoria police cars, which have been involved in the deaths of at least 16 U.S. police officers.

On the other hand Ford's F150 is very well thought of. I think it's been Canadas best selling truck for decades. Just trying to point out that assuming all of Brand A's products are the best is rarely correct.

Buying a car is no different than buying speakers.
You want to get what's right for YOU, a good price and most importantly good customer service. That won't happen automatically, you have to do your homework.

Bought it. Picked up a white Mazda 3 hatchback last wednesday. So far this thing is a blast. Lots of grip, good power, comfortable seats. I really am going to have to watch the speed though. I guess it is the same with any new car, but I find that I'm going a lot faster than I was with a lot less effort from the car. I'm also making an effort to locate ways home that have at least a curve or two. There's 17 inch wheels and 50 series rubber from the factory and the feel from the wheel is tremendous. Lot's of fun. Going to be a nice car to sit in for the next 10 years or so. Lots of new buttons and switches to learn. Feel like I should send John a copy of my owners manual.

Don't worry, he'll find it himself. And then give you lots of page numbers.

Congrats on the car, btw.

good buy on the car Tinfoilhat. My gf just bought a 2 y.o. Protege. We were @ a couple of the Mazda dealers during her search and I really like the look of the 3. They make some great autos!

Nice choice, So where's the first road trip to? Dwight, Ont.?