Thoughts for an SUV for the wife
11-11-16, 06:18 PM
#61
Lexus Champion
11-11-16, 06:36 PM
#62
Lexus Fanatic
11-12-16, 10:09 PM
#63
I'm not sold on the idea of a turbocharged 4 cyliner engine in a big, heavy vehicle like the CX-9 to start with. This car is 4300lbs to start with. Load it up with 6-7 people and their luggage, you're looking at an extra 1000-1500lbs you're lugging around, so its more like 5300lbs. With that little 4 cylinder turbo, you're going to be constantly in boost to carry the weight around. These 4 cylinder turbo engines are good at tricking the EPA test, because the EPA tests at very light throttle, off boost, with nobody in the car. When the engine is on boost, your MPG sucks, but you get the power you need to move the car and payload around. Plus those little 4 cylinder engines have to work a lot harder than an naturally aspirated V6 or V8 that makes similar power, I'm kind of dubious of their long term reliability.
11-13-16, 04:23 AM
#64
The pursuit of F
I'm not sold on the idea of a turbocharged 4 cyliner engine in a big, heavy vehicle like the CX-9 to start with. This car is 4300lbs to start with. Load it up with 6-7 people and their luggage, you're looking at an extra 1000-1500lbs you're lugging around, so its more like 5300lbs. With that little 4 cylinder turbo, you're going to be constantly in boost to carry the weight around. These 4 cylinder turbo engines are good at tricking the EPA test, because the EPA tests at very light throttle, off boost, with nobody in the car. When the engine is on boost, your MPG sucks, but you get the power you need to move the car and payload around. Plus those little 4 cylinder engines have to work a lot harder than an naturally aspirated V6 or V8 that makes similar power, I'm kind of dubious of their long term reliability.
Agree. The 2L Turbo in our NX needs to lug around 4000 lbs and when driven leisurely (negative boost), can get a decent up to 23 MPG city. But, when driven a little more lively (0-4 psi boost) which I'd say is "Normal" driving, it easily dips to around 20 MPG, and in a more "spirited" fashion equivalent to about 40% throttle (6-10 psi boost), it goes down further quickly to about 18 MPG. Flooring it would use all the available boost up to 17 psi but never paid attention to the MPGs as I rarely do it.
SW15LS. In my entourage of family and friends, two have owned Mazdas. An '08 Mazda6 and an '05 Mazda3 GT. Granted this is a few years back, but both had major issues with their 2.3L 4-cyl engines needing repair and one full replacement all below 50k miles. In addition, rust has plagued these cars at the time but at least this appears to not be an issue any longer. I'm still weary of long-term reliability with the Mazda engines. Lease OK, but not to own (yet).
Last edited by corradoMR2; 11-13-16 at 04:32 AM.
11-13-16, 05:06 AM
#65
Lexus Fanatic
I have one cousin who had a 2009 Mazda 3 to 165,000 miles without any issues at all. Believe it or not...on the original brakes even. Oil changes and tires, that's all he did to it. Have another cousin that had 130,000 miles, no problem. Have a coworker that had a 2008 until 120k, no issues. My brother in law has. A 2014 that's been great. I wouldn't worry about it at all.
11-13-16, 08:24 AM
#66
Lexus Fanatic
I'm not sold on the idea of a turbocharged 4 cyliner engine in a big, heavy vehicle like the CX-9 to start with. This car is 4300lbs to start with. Load it up with 6-7 people and their luggage, you're looking at an extra 1000-1500lbs you're lugging around, so its more like 5300lbs. With that little 4 cylinder turbo, you're going to be constantly in boost to carry the weight around. These 4 cylinder turbo engines are good at tricking the EPA test, because the EPA tests at very light throttle, off boost, with nobody in the car. When the engine is on boost, your MPG sucks, but you get the power you need to move the car and payload around. Plus those little 4 cylinder engines have to work a lot harder than an naturally aspirated V6 or V8 that makes similar power, I'm kind of dubious of their long term reliability.
Moving 6-7 people on reg basis will require at minimum a full size body on frame SUV.
11-13-16, 09:42 AM
#68
Lexus Fanatic
If you are considering a CX-9 and you are constantly lugging around 6-7 people (which I doubt anyone will or can) and you have all their luggage (which I doubt can be included with 6-7 people) then you clearly have the wrong idea and choice in an SUV. We don't even need to discuss the engine choice of the CX-9
Moving 6-7 people on reg basis will require at minimum a full size body on frame SUV.
Moving 6-7 people on reg basis will require at minimum a full size body on frame SUV.
11-13-16, 02:01 PM
#69
Lexus Fanatic
Not necessarily. Some of these 3 row crossovers are pretty space efficient when it comes to people, some of them almost similar to a minivan. Taking 6-7 people in one of these would require a luggage solution on the roof rack, where you may be able to get all their stuff in the back of like a Suburban...but its not as difficult as you would think.
11-13-16, 02:15 PM
#70
Lexus Fanatic
These 4 cylinder turbo engines are good at tricking the EPA test, because the EPA tests at very light throttle, off boost, with nobody in the car. When the engine is on boost, your MPG sucks, but you get the power you need to move the car and payload around. Plus those little 4 cylinder engines have to work a lot harder than an naturally aspirated V6 or V8 that makes similar power, I'm kind of dubious of their long term reliability.
11-13-16, 02:23 PM
#71
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
I have 3 Mazda dealers within my vicinity, 2 of them are pretty horrible in terms of reputation to deal with and that does play a factor with vehicle ownership, though I suspect that would only be for warranty/major repair issues.
11-13-16, 05:47 PM
#72
Lexus Fanatic
11-13-16, 06:43 PM
#73
Lexus Fanatic
Although Buick as a whole ranks high in overall reliability, as with many manufacturers, Buicks can vary significantly from one model to the next in reliability. Veranos and Encores, for example, have been well above average (partly due to their largely Opel-derived hardware), while some versions of the LaCrosse and Enclave have only been average...they are more traditional GM in their design. One other factor that helps a number of Buicks, regardless of model, is that, with the possible exception of the slow-selling, sport-sedan Regal GS, Buicks, in general, are not driven hard, which cuts down on the amount of potential wear and strain on the vehicle and its parts....retired people generally don't go around drag-racing or canyon-carving LOL.
11-13-16, 06:52 PM
#74
Lexus Fanatic
There's a difference between being reliable and aging well.
11-13-16, 08:06 PM
#75
Yeah I know, but something like a V8 Tahoe, the engine doesn't have to work nearly as hard to move the load around like a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine would. I think that was my main point, tiny engine in a big, heavy car means its going to be working a lot harder than a bigger displacement engine with more cylinders. Which makes me dubious about the long term reliability of complex 4 cylinder engines in big SUV's like the Mazda CX-9 and Volvo XC90