Wham bang! Now what?

[JPSmit]

Sorry to hear, though glad you are OK.

I did not have any good luck with my Mazda 6 - nor my extended family with their respective Mazdas. That said, it had a 5 speed and was a hoot to drive!

We were in Florida recently and had an Accord - there were a couple of quirks (mostly I think because it was rental spec) but a very comfortable car to drive.

I keep thinking personally about an SUV (and Ford & Chevy are certainly going at it full bore) However, when I bought my Kia Soul (which I love though admittedly a bit tinny on a long drive) I compared gas mileage at this site: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbsSelect

My next choice was a Hyundai Tucson - the smallest they offer and for the Kia they estimated $5000 in gas savings over 5 years vs. the Hyundai. Gas is much much cheaper in the USofA but I don't believe the price of oil will stay as cheap as it is - and even if it does I can think of a lot more things I would rather do than pour it in the gas tank of a car.

So, on a quick comparison, a Sante Fe would use $2500 more gas and a Tahoe $3500 more over 5 years than a Mazda 6 with a 6 speed.

 

[65_BRG_Sprite]

Have a 3 5-door, love it.

 

[Jerry]

You should look at the Prius. Can't knock 45 mpg. Long trips it is too noisy on the freeway but great around town and shorter trips. We are on our second one. I totalled the first after 10 years.

Jerry

 

[Gliderman8]

Thanks Don. I was lucky.

 

[Gliderman8]

JP- What year was your Mazda 6?

 

[PAUL161]

SUV vs Sedan? That's largely down to personal choice. For me, having owned both, I'd opt for the SUV just for the added - utility. Nothing wrong with a good sedan, but I really have come to love the extra space and functionality of my SUV. Have had my Hyundai Santa Fe for over 11 years and nearing 300k miles. I added a tow kit so I can tow a small utility trailer (for taking stuff to the dump) or even a small camper trailer. Also can fold down the rear seats for added in-car storage - that's come in handy multiple times. EVen with all this, the small v-6 gets 24+ MPG on the freeway.
I also like that I sit just a little higher and feel like I have better visibility than in a sedan.

My sister had a Santa Fe for 8 or 9 years and loved it, but recently she bought a new Hyundai sedan, really a nice car and she likes it better than the SUV! Says it is a dream to drive, very comfortable.

This is an ad but same car.

View attachment 56885

 

[JPSmit]

JP- What year was your Mazda 6?

IIRC 2004 - rear wheel wells rusted like crazy and engine blew at 250,000km. Mine was the sports wagon - not sure if they even make it any more

 

[Gliderman8]

IIRC 2004 - rear wheel wells rusted like crazy and engine blew at 250,000km. Mine was the sports wagon - not sure if they even make it any more

Thanks for that info. After checking the US Gov. NHSTA website there have been no registered complaints nor recalls on the 2018 Mazda 6. I'm not rushing into anything... just weighing my options. If it were warmer out I'd be riding one of these:

 

[JPSmit]

Can't blame you for that. I might add to all of this (vis a vis old tyme scooters) that everything gets bigger with time. I think almost every "smaller" version - Corolla/ Mazda 3/ Elantra - are all the size that Camrys/ Accords & Sonatas were not to very long ago.

 

[NutmegCT]

Can't blame you for that. I might add to all of this (vis a vis old tyme scooters) that everything gets bigger with time. I think almost every "smaller" version - Corolla/ Mazda 3/ Elantra - are all the size that Camrys/ Accords & Sonatas were not to very long ago.

Ain't it the truth!

Remember what happened to the original Ford Thunderbird? or the original Mustang?

This tendency continued into the computer world, with "software bloat"!

 

[Gliderman8]

Can't blame you for that. I might add to all of this (vis a vis old tyme scooters) that everything gets bigger with time. I think almost every "smaller" version - Corolla/ Mazda 3/ Elantra - are all the size that Camrys/ Accords & Sonatas were not to very long ago.

Agree, agree EXCEPT for the Mini Cooper. Now we have the Clubman which is not so mini.
This car seems to be growing.

 

[Gliderman8]

Have a 3 5-door, love it.

I drove one last week. Rear seating is pretty tight.

 

[JPSmit]

Ain't it the truth!

Remember what happened to the original Ford Thunderbird? or the original Mustang?

This tendency continued into the computer world, with "software bloat"!

and of course "driver bloat"

 

[GregW]

Can't blame you for that. I might add to all of this (vis a vis old tyme scooters) that everything gets bigger with time.

The only auto I recall that got smaller with each model was the Hummer. If they had kept going, I had joked that the H7 would be the size of a MINI.

 

[JPSmit]

The only auto I recall that got smaller with each model was the Hummer. If they had kept going, I had joked that the H7 would be the size of a MINI.

:thumbsup:

 

[Gliderman8]

Looks more like a Bummer.

 

[pdplot]

What is that? It looks like what would happen if you left a Suzuki and a Hummer in a garage overnight.

 

[JPSmit]

What is that? It looks like what would happen if you left a Suzuki and a Hummer in a garage overnight.

some kind of a kit car - just grabbed it off the net - there was a similar one elsewhere that was the same size and look but electric

 

[catfood]

I suspect that manual boxes will be fewer and fewer as time goes on. I recently got a used manual BMW 3 series GT (diesel -approx 60 miles per UK gallon) however the auto gets more mpg but I couldn't convince myself I was old enough for an auto yet!

 

[Basil]

I suspect that manual boxes will be fewer and fewer as time goes on. I recently got a used manual BMW 3 series GT (diesel -approx 60 miles per UK gallon) however the auto gets more mpg but I couldn't convince myself I was old enough for an auto yet!

It used to be that you had to pay extra to get auto trans. When I bought my Corvette I had to pay extra for manual!