Ode to the Mazda

Which is not a weird little car. In fact our reader Jack commented recently on one:

And if you need to seat more than four people, a Mazda5 gets excellent gas mileage while seating 6. I speak from experience, having made more than 30mpg on my recent cross-southeast trip.

I can also speak with some experience about the Mazda. My first brand new-off-the-lot car was a 1972 Opel 1900. Bought it for about $2200. I liked it, but there is no doubt that we have much better choices in the small car range today.

And the Mazda brand is one of the best. My second brand new car was a 1989 Mercury Tracer (for $6700). Essentially it was a rebadged Mazda built in Mexico. I thought it was beautiful and it consistently got more than 35 mpg (no AC or automatic). My third brand new car was a 1995 Ford Escort - also a rebadged Mazda. Don't remember how much I paid, or where it was built. Compared to the little cars I had been driving, including one terminally weird French Simca*, the Escort seemed like a big sedan. It even had AC but otherwise was equipped with no other option other than cruise control. At the time I was naive enough to think I didn't need it. It had 98 hp, usually got 35 mpg and could haul itself up the mountain just fine.

The last time I bought a car I almost got a Mazda like the one my sister-in-law drives. But, after having had two of them I thought I should try something different so I got a Subaru. Except for the all-wheel drive which can come in handy up here in the high country, the Mazda is a better car. And all Mazdas are fun to drive.

Build quality is a bit worse than Toyota, a bit better than Nissan. The old Ford Festiva was a Korean built (Kia) Mazda design, sold as a Ford here, and as a Mazda in Europe. It was exactly the kind of car the Yaris is trying to be. I have a lot of respect for Mazda.

*with a dashboard of model airplane gray plastic, it had the most comfortable seats of any car I've ever owned. Plus a locking gas cap.

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