| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
The wifey has had a 2007 Silver Storm Metallic Honda Fit Sport for ten years and 145,000 miles. It has treated us well with the only repair over regular maintenance being coil pack replacements at around 100k. It's a great handling little car with more storage space than meets the eye. That said, it is otherwise cheap, bland, and underperforming. Her intention was to purchase a Subaru Crosstrek, but I urged her to check out the Mazda dealer across the street. The car she ultimately purchased instantly caught my eye...a 2017 Mazda3 GT. The Crosstrek was a smoother ride with less road and engine noise, has AWD and more ground clearance. I'll admit, it's a fun vehicle. That said, the Mazda offers more power, a more linear power delivery, better throttle response, superior performance and handling, better gas mileage, a much higher trim level, and more options and standard features at a much better price. Over the loan term the optioned-out Mazda saves us ~$5,000 dollars. She was briefly lured by the Subaru Impreza, but the dealer just couldn't make it happen. They pulled a switcheroo on a lesser optioned car in a different color claiming they were the same. No go. Still too expensive, less of a car, and the loan terms looked terrible in comparison. The wife, being a persuasive haggler, aided by some online research (their own website was their toughest competition), managed to talk them down $3600 from their initial "best" offer on the Mazda. I'm proud of her. She did good. It certainly helps that the 2018's are inbound, it was the end of the month, and we could live without it.  20170630_204603 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr I think that in the very least it could use some blacked out/aftermarket wheels...but that's just me.   | ||
| Buellish |
Manual or automatic? The Mazda3 has long been one of my favorite cars. A good friend in Tallahassee had an '88 323 GTX turbo all wheel drive.That car led me to buy my wife a 323. I was very close to Mazda3 purchase in 2008 when job loss put a stop to the deal. | ||
| Rick_a |
It's an auto. It's tough to find a manual these days. It has a "manual" mode with paddle shifters. I was a little bit in love with the previous Speed3. This manually aspirated 2.5L is a good compromise between the standard 2.0L and the old 2.3L turbo. This one has a six speed auto. The Subaru has a CVT with seven electronic pre set ratios. That irks me, for some reason. Fake gears, man. Not cool. The traditional auto certainly has a more direct feel. | ||
| 2003xb9r |
Good choice avoiding a CVT. After the experience I had on our previous car, I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole. Jatco Japan makes them for Nissan, Mitsubishi & Subaru. Lots of sad stories from burnt customers all over the world. | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
I bought a impreza back in october with the CVT for a cheap commuter. My round trip for work is 106 miles. I ride a bike as often as I can, but we have gotten a lot of rain and I dont like to show up to work, wet. I have put 15k miles on it in the last 8.5 months. I have been pleasently surprised by it. It was rated at 28/34 and I consistently get 37 (80% of my commute is interstate @ 80mph). Additionally, I have spoken in depth with 35 people who have this generation of cvt, 2/3rds of them have over 150K on them, and not one has had a problem. Obviously its not a speed demon but it's relatively quiet, rides good, and the price was right (It was a end of the year closeout and I got it for nearly 40% off MSRP). Plus, the few times we have had ice/snow it has handled the roads remarkably well, especially considering the lowrider that it is. (Message edited by cupcake_mike on July 02, 2017) (Message edited by cupcake_mike on July 02, 2017) | ||
| Rick_a |
Cupcake Mike, I did an informal poll online and everyone chose Subaru. They are decent cars. At similar price points Mazda outclasses it. Here in FL the AWD doesn't offer much. The rare prepared dirt road doesn't justify it. It was a toss up between the Crosstrek LTD, Mazda GT, and Impreza LTD. If she chose the Crosstrek I would've beat the crap out of it on dirt roads and prepared trails. If she chose the Impreza it would've been a disappointment, but it's her car. The Mazda has a higher trim level, a significant performance advantage, a more direct power delivery and driveline feel, and similar real world MPG figures. She sees it as a ten year investment and her reasoning is that she wasn't ready to step into another slow car when this was meant to be an upgrade. The Subarus are certainly smoother, quieter and look great...but there's no way I'd pay more for either one over the Mazda. In short, she went looking for the Crosstrek, I threw a wrench in the works showing her the Mazda, and she fell in love with the Impreza, but could not overcome its shortcomings. | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
I totally understand, if mazda (or nissan or vw, for that matter) would have given me a better deal I would likely be driving one of those now  I'm just saying that the impreza has pleasantly surprised me | ||
| Rick_a |
Sure. We've gotten to a point where it's hard to find a legitimately bad car. Ironically enough, it's some of the ultra luxury and exotic brands that have become known for regular reliability problems. It's all preference, and this one fits...it just needs gloss black rims. A car I've admired for a while is the Mini Cooper...specifically Clubman S. In comparison the Mazda has a better power/weight ratio and gets better fuel economy. The Minis are awful cool, though. I couldn't get her to test drive one, let alone look at one. | ||
| Court |
>>>We've gotten to a point where it's hard to find a legitimately bad car. I could not agree more. I've purchased 2 new cars in the last couple months and, in their own way, they both excel. Most impressive is the new Subaru Outback. This is the first Subaru I've owned and part of the appeal was seeing Subaru taking 5 of the top 10 4WD slots in a review. The car is a luxury tank and the Eye-Sight system is amazing. There really is some amazing stuff out there. For transmissions I'm giving the Porsche PDK the award. | ||
| Rick_a |
Yeah. I'm not so much into all the drivers aids assists and related gadgets. From my daily observations is doesn't seem to make people better drivers  Everyone I've spoken to who has or has had a Subaru has nothing but gushing admiration for it. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Our family has had at lest one Subaru since 1981-today. We now have three in the family. | ||
| Rick_a |
If I was shopping for myself I'd be along the lines of this in a 5.7L.  | ||
| Cycleaddict |
Subaru Forester is the wifes car. the CVT transmission gets all the power from the 175 hp motor to the road in a most efficient manner. the car is very responsive , and handles like a true "drivers" car . its got 4wd that acyually "works". not to mention all the multi star safety ratings .Subaru has been making the same good stuff for a long time . i really like that car. | ||
| Rick_a |
The only thing disappointing about the wife's car is the fuel mileage so far...20mpg. She says she's on the gas a lot  Can't blame her. | ||
| Rkc00 |
My wife has the Forester My son has the Outback My daughter has the Crosstrek | ||
| Court |
I was impressed with the incredible engineering after driving a 2001 Outback for a couple days. Even 16 years ago the thought and detail was evident. I started reading and studying. I was considering several vehicles including another Escape (I'd put 143,000 on mine in 42 months), the Porsche Macan and the Outback. Fact of the matter is . . . in my opinion . . the Outback is pretty much in a class by itself. When I saw that of the Top 10 4WD vehicles . . . Subaru held the top 5 slots . . . and the amazing ground clearance I was more impressed. Granted it looks like your Mother's 1963 station wagon . . . but it has about the same floor volume as the F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab I bought 2 weeks prior . . . it has better 4WD than the massive Ford and gets about triple the gas mileage. I went with the 3.6L motor and am getting roughly 28mpg having just turned over 11,000 miles in the first couple months. Big selling point was the dealer did a nice job. They made money, I got a fair deal. I was in the day before delivery and told the young man all the things I'd have added, had I ordered, that I intended to add . . trailer hitch and a short list of goodies totaling about $700. I arrive to collect the car the next day and damned if they aren't all installed . . gratis. Just got the first oil analysis back from Blackstone . . . fine and typical for the first oil change. All the normal "new" stuff . . . It'll get changed again in a couple of weeks when I am moving about again . . . sticking with the Amsoil Signature. . .and we'll see what we get. Anyway . . . I've reached that stage of my life where really functional stuff is really impressive. Now . . . if any one can find a snappy MGA . . the garage will be full. :-)  28 MPG  If you have to ask . . . . they do a credit check at the gas pump.  Gone . . . the vestiges of youth. | ||
| Court |
One of the reasons I went with Subaru . . . | ||
| Etennuly |
That is interesting Court. Wonder how that Ford would do on those tests? | ||
| Torquehd |
Wonder how that Ford would do on those tests? This video is a couple years old, not sure what Ford is running for limited slips these days. | ||
| Rick_a |
Aside from a lot of rain and the odd prepared dirt/gravel road, AWD has little to offer here. Her lowered Fit could handle it, albeit carefully at times. Some roads around here really suck. You really don't notice it until you've track prepped the suspension on your motorcycle or some idiot lowers your car. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Court The white outback is what my wife will get next | ||
| Court |
Come up and take this one out sometime . . . . it's a pretty amazing car. No buzzers, bells, stars or trumpets play when you drive it . . it's just capable, well engineered and I almost feel like I'm in a plane, with all the red cockpit lighting, when I drive at night. I spend a lot of time driving the Deerconic in the wee hours and the lighting excels. Rumor is that the 2018 will have an L.E.D. lighting option. I have the H.I.D. with SRF (steering responsive fog lamps). You're welcome to take it and play sometime . . . Hahahahaha . . it's not like I have to give you a driving test after all the miles we've logged ! I'm moving just a bit slow . . .new knee at 9:30am yesterday morning . . . but drove home from NYC and was at work early today. Medical science has come a LONG way. Sent Dr. a note this morning and told him that his humor was not lost on me. I noted some extra little white gauze patches . . seems he cleaned out some extra #4 shot while he was digging about . . . . so, in a sense, I've started a weight loss program. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Ha. See you soon | ||
| Kmbuell |
Court, good luck with the new knee. I've heard from several friends that it is positively life changing. Good to get that lead out too. How close to being unleaded now? I've got a buddy who has 78 bird shot pellets from his left knee to his ear. Not a good day. Take care, don't be mixing pain meds with bourbon. Kevin | ||
| Thumper74 |
Court, we spoke when you had a family friend kill the motor in their Subaru in Erie, PA. Great cars. As a tech, I love working on Subarus. They seem to be thought out in a way that makes working on them easier than most. Except for oil filters. Why? |
