A downside of a fancy car

[Koolau]

How do you like the Mazda? I might go that route next.

I had a Mazda GLC about 40 years ago...slick little five speed hatchback - loved that car.

My last Mazda lasted for 150K and 15 years (still running.) Lots of fit/finish issues and stuff breaking, though engine/trans were bullet proof. The car was assembled in the USA which could be an issue. YMMV

 

[captain3d]

On the other hand, washing a really dirty vehicle is one way to make it fancy (again?) without too much expense.

Unfortunately it has not rain recently so no free wash.

 

[Dtail]

Unfortunately it has not rain recently so no free wash.

There's a good LBYM comment.

 

[bobbyr]

It is nothing fancy. Mazda started focusing on the interior after 2016 so my Mazda 5 is hard plastic all around but its reliability rating is pretty good.

It is a small minivan with sliding rear doors but drives like a car with SUV-like seat height and lots of head room. 2015 is its last year in the US without the skyactiv stuff. I like it for its handling, its simplicity, and that it has traditional automatic transmission (CVT has a lot to improve). Good value (being an unpopular minivan) and practical (easy to live with) are what I really like about it.

Nowadays with turbochargers, super high compression ratio, and cylinder deactivation designs with lots of computers being more common in cars (none of them are good for engines' longevity), I can see me skip all those and go straight to electric vehicles after Mazda 5.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'll probably move to electric on my deathbed...slow to change

 

[bobbyr]

My last Mazda lasted for 150K and 15 years (still running.) Lots of fit/finish issues and stuff breaking, though engine/trans were bullet proof. The car was assembled in the USA which could be an issue. YMMV

I am not a fan of the shape of mazda these days. To me, the length of the front looks odd (too long). Small item, but might affect my choice. That being said, I liked my GLC so much I might have to test drive some Mazdas anyway.

I saw a Volvo s80 sedan parked on our street the other day that looked really nice. We've had volvos in our family in years past, I may have to test drive one.

My altima has 120k miles on it. I am 63. I've decided that I'll reload on a new vehicle when I start SS, which will be 66.8. I like the challenge of getting almost 4 more years out of the altima. It'll be ready for the pasture by then.

 

[2177V]

IMO. Everyone should have two cars. A practical car and a fun car. My practical car is a Astro or Safari van. Huge capacity inside to move furniture, take home Home Depot supplies and go camping after taking out the middle and rear seats. I use it like a truck and I also need it to tow my 3500 lbs cuddy boat to go fishing for 3 days and 2 nights on the water. I can never give my van up and a mini van is too small for me. Alas it is not fun to drive so my second car is always a sports car… mostly BMWs and corvettes. I buy used since I know how to fix them. My wife drives a BMW 330i and I had to sell my Corvette C5 a few years back so my next fun car will be a Corvette C8 when the prices are more reasonable. This is why I will never drive a self driving car simply because there is no joy in driving one.

 

[NW-Bound]

IMO. Everyone should have two cars. A practical car and a fun car...

We have 4 vehicles between the 2 of us. Three are practical, and the only fun vehicle is the class C motorhome. It's not expensive nor fancy, but it guzzles gasoline at a tune of 8mpg. Too bad it has not been taken out on a trip for 3 years. I don't do short trips, only several-thousand-mile ones.

 

[splitwdw]

IMO. Everyone should have two cars. A practical car and a fun car. My practical car is a Astro or Safari van. Huge capacity inside to move furniture, take home Home Depot supplies and go camping after taking out the middle and rear seats. I use it like a truck and I also need it to tow my 3500 lbs cuddy boat to go fishing for 3 days and 2 nights on the water. I can never give my van up and a mini van is too small for me. Alas it is not fun to drive so my second car is always a sports car… mostly BMWs and corvettes. I buy used since I know how to fix them. My wife drives a BMW 330i and I had to sell my Corvette C5 a few years back so my next fun car will be a Corvette C8 when the prices are more reasonable. This is why I will never drive a self driving car simply because there is no joy in driving one.

Base price for a 2021 C8 coupe without tax & dealer prep is a little under $61,000. I didn't get that many options this time and I had a long wait for my order. Don't know what the wait time is now.

 

[Dtail]

We will have 2 cars for the foreseeable future. I am away most mornings for 4 hours and she wants the ability to be able to go anywhere during this time.

 

[Koolau]

Base price for a 2021 C8 coupe without tax & dealer prep is a little under $61,000. I didn't get that many options this time and I had a long wait for my order. Don't know what the wait time is now.

My friend recently received his after a year and a half wait. YMMV

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My DB has Two Hail Damaged Cars. Both were damaged in Colorado in 2017, considered totaled by the Insurance Co. He kept the cars, and the Ins Co sent sizable checks (replacement $$ less salvage value). He replaced the glass that needed replacing, and since he owned the cars outright, invested the balance. I still don't know how to react when I see them.. it' got to be the weirdest Millionaire Next Door "flex" I know of!

I don't know that I would call it a "flex", but I would call it a brilliant decision!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

My last Mazda lasted for 150K and 15 years (still running.) Lots of fit/finish issues and stuff breaking, though engine/trans were bullet proof. The car was assembled in the USA which could be an issue. YMMV

I don't have much experience with Mazda cars but the folks I know who have owned them really liked them. I had a distant uncle that had a 929 and it was a pretty sweet ride. The best thing on that car? The center vents would oscillate! To this day I would LOVE to have that in my car.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Mazdas are ok, but I can't get past that big ugly happy face on the front of them.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Mazdas are ok, but I can't get past that big ugly happy face on the front of them.

Well, I think that is a problem across many brands these days. They are really good at designing very ugly cars. Lexus with the "clown" front façade is one of the worst offenders IMHO.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Well, I think that is a problem across many brands these days. They are really good at designing very ugly cars. Lexus with the "clown" front façade is one of the worst offenders IMHO.

That's an "evil clown" facade -- the worst kind.

 

[teetee]

Mazdas are ok, but I can't get past that big ugly happy face on the front of them.

If you are referring to the recent years of Mazda front grill, I think you ought to see the one 2 generations before that:

https://www.thecarconnection.com/photos/mazda_mazda5_2015

It looks like the Joker's face in the Batman movies.

Thankfully I never cared about how my transportation looks. That is probably why I don't understand more than half of the posts in this thread about having to park the car in nowhere to avoid it getting ding'ed.