xjokerz

Seeing as how a Model 3 doesn't require oil changes, it would be the Mazda3... lol

SW17LS

I havent heard any negative stories about reliability from any of the people I know with Mazdas...

Yes, I obviously meant Mazda 3 lol

mmarshall

OK, good point. That one briefly got past me.

mmarshall

Piston engine Mazdas have generally been average or better in reliability. Rotary RX-8s have had several issues in the engine, primarily with oil-use and the rotary-tip seals, which have a tendency to wear rapidly....they are comparable to piston rings in a conventional engine. They naturally use a lot of oil because that is part of the rotary-combustion process.

xjokerz

I know a guy I went to school with and he has a 2011 Mazda3 with nearly 350k miles. The transmission is on its last legs and the engine burns all kinds of oil but they has gone this long, which is an achievement for a Mazda. Hell, any car really, Toyota included.

SW17LS

Yeah his Mazda 3 had a hard life too...

Lwerewolf

I wasn't talking about rotary Mazdas, they get a free pass for very obvious reasons

Anyways, I guess I'll have to look up whether their -G engines are as finicky as others have led me to believe - or if it's just a general reaction of "oh high comp + DI = must be trash".

"All kinds of oil"... have you tried bunker oil? :P

geko29

I don't get the hate for this thing. I drove a SE Wagon (I think it was actually a 2004 also) for a number of years in a previous job. It was a great little car. Reasonably peppy engine, very good handling, comfortable ride, very roomy for its size.

Striker223

It's not bad, I just drove it post repair and it's okay. Large inside for the exterior size as you mentioned but my god the handling is BAD, thing has insane body roll and no resistance to road irregularities or undulations. You just get tossed around like crazy at only 60-70 over moderately difficult surfaces lol! Turn in is vague, mid corner is not easily adjusted at all and steering has no feedback or weighting change.....you can 4 wheel slide the car though but the breakaway is choppy.

Engine is pleasant, I was expecting a far more annoying tone but it was nice and didn't have much vibration for what it was. The road vibrations and noise are so loud the engine is not an issue in that respect.



It did fight me in every way possible, inner bushing sleeves where rusted solid to the bolts so the power of the sun was used to get everything apart. Literally everything required torch and extra steps as shown above. Arms had to be cut off entirely to allow access

SW17LS

No hate for it here...its just a crummy old little car

mmarshall

While we're all entitled to our views, geko has a point. While obviously not the equal of a Corolla or Civic in build-quality, it was a reasonably good subcompact, and sold in good numbers. It had a generally good reputation until Ford put in that junk dual-clutch transmission that was nothing but trouble from Day One.

xjokerz

LOL

Says the guy that drove the LS400 as a teenager and continued driving high quality Lexus sedans until he switched things up to an S-Class.

SW17LS

Well the LS400 wasn't mine lol.

Theres nothing wrong with cheap, old cars they're just not anything to get excited about...

Striker223

I would say that this is better than a civic from the same year, civics sound and feel cheaper IMO. Less substantial and honestly have more issues with engine/trans than these with more difficult packaging to work on, I have no reason to defend either but that's just coming from working on 7th gen civic and these.




Wife picked up this oil for me ultra cheap, $.85 each quart so I have the oil change covered for under $10 now. Once I have all fluids changed the ford will be ready to go to sale.

mmarshall

Civics at one time were virtually bulletproof and assembled like Swiss Watches. You're correct that there has been some recent deterioration in them, but I also think that some of what you call "sounding" cheaper might just be the fact that sound-insulation has never been a strong Civic asset, even decades ago.



Hard to find oil at that price nowadays. I couldn't use oil like that, though....GM now requires full-synthetic for turbos.