For those seeking car technology returning from the days of yore, no luck. As far as I can tell, none of these has a manual trans option, although their auto trans may offer some sort of manual trans simulation mode. On the plus side, the Mazda 3 does come w/ a NA (no turbo) engine.
A cost-to-own for 10 years stat would be interesting to see for these vehicles. Taking into account purchase price, fuel and energy costs to drive, & repair and maintenance costs.
Another interesting finding,
BMW is at the top of the list for the ābest brandā. Jeep is at the bottom. Sort of difficult to compare a BMW to a Jeep though, apples & oranges.
Thereās an older, beat up, Jeep Cherokee parked up in an area I sometimes bicycle, with a for-sale-by-owner sign on it thatās attracting my attān ā¦ lol ā¦ it looks so forlorn, like a puppy w/big brown eyes wanting somebody to buy it.
I donāt think any of those would be on my list. I used to think the crosstrek until my nieceās husband bought one. We have not exactly heard good things about Toyota dealer service either.
The bad thing about CR is they donāt really do long term stats. Their data can be very skewed. Use is as ONE source but NOT THEE source. The Maverick has only been around for less than 2 years. Way too little data to get any idea how reliable itās going to be.
Consumer Reports collects its data from its subscribers. The people who subscribe to CR may or may not be representative of the general population. The people who subscribe to CR may drive their cars differently and maintain them differently than other segments of the general population. I subscribe to CR because I like to see what rich people buy. I fill out the CR questionnaire on my vehicles and household appiances every year. I doubt that I am typical of the population in general.
Back in the early 1960s when I needed a car, a mechanic I knew told me to stick with Chevrolets or Fords. His reasoning was that parts for Fords and Chevrolets were readily available and these cars were familiar to all mechanics and the problems with different models of Fords and Chevrolets were well known and there were fixes for these problems. I bought a 1955 Pontiac that was recommended by CR as a good buy as a used car and it was a disaster. The oil passages in the studs for the rocker arms would plug up and there was no cheap repair. The Chevy 6 and the Fords had the same problem, but bypass oil lines were available and could be installed without removing the cylinder head.
Back in 1965, I bought a Rambler. I had that car when I went back to school for the second round of graduate work. The town where the University was located did not have a Rambler dealer. Some parts my independent shop that took care of the Rambler had to have parts shipped in from a Rambler dealer 50 miles away, adding to the expense of repairs.
I replaced the Rambler with a Ford Maverick. The interior made a school bus seem luxurious and it rode like a wheelbarrow, but parts were readily available and the local discount drug store had Preparation-H available at a good price to take care of the problems of the wheelbarrow ride. I bought the Maverick used and it consumed one quart of oil every 300 miles. The local mechanics all knew the problem was caused by valve stem seals. The seals could be replaced without removing the cylinder head by injecting air into the cylinder to hod the valve in place when the keeper is removed to replace the seal. That reduced the oil consumption to 1200 miles a quart.
If my mechanic friend were alive today, he would probably tell me to stick with the Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic. Subaru, Mazda and Nissan are out because the dealerships are 60 miles away.
Weāve had three Mazda 3s. Theyāve all been great little cars with no serious issues, other than maintenance.
My local independent mechanic said they love Mazdas, in terms of their reliability, but they donāt keep a lot of parts for Mazdas (oil filters) because so few people drive them. But itās no problem to get parts.
Personally, I think Mazdas today are what Hondas used to be about 10 years ago.
Itās the 2.5 S Premium trim which is the top of the non-turbo models, Itās only offered with a manual transmission, Pricing is similar to the manual Civic Sport Touring hatchback at about $32.000 before discounts.
According to carcomplaints.com, the 2022 Maverick had 58 electrical complaints, 67 brake problems, and 29 engine problems recorded at NHTSA.gov. There are no complaints for the 2023 or 2024 model years. Still a bit early for the two latter MYs and the 2022 issues might be initial MY problems. As we all know, buying the first year of any vehicle is a crap shoot.
I hope that dealers donāt go back to imposing āADPā, but a booming market for new cars could lead to some short-term shortages, and dealers could once again become more greedy. Letās hope that they donāt return to the days of ADP.
bmw? ford?? tesla???
There is Prius but not Rav4 Hybrid, only Primeā¦
I remember many years ago, they published a list with geo prism being No.1 and Toyota Corolla - No. 19. Considering the fact that both were totally identical vehicles built at the same Toyota/gm joint venture factory Camo Automotive in Fremont, CAā¦ hardly a credible source.
I like truedelta.com. After my nearly 20 years in the field as an Automotive Mechanical Breakdown Inspector.
After I saw that list with weird Toyota vs geo ācomparisonā, I sent them an email asking for clarification. They - unexpectedly - responded that " we collect actual ownersā opinions". If that is true, it should be obvious even to a casual observer that gm owners have a lot lower expectations than Toyota and, therefore, their evaluation method is flawed at best and doesnāt reflect actual product quality. To that, they never responded. As expected.
Thus questionable source.
It depends whatās being compared. Even though the two cars are made at the same plant & mechanically similar, I expect they are not exactly the same. The options, the purchase prices and warranties all probably differ. And the Geo owners are using Chevy dealerships for servicing, while Toyota owners are using Toyota dealerships.
They were mechanically identical. Minor body styling differences was the only thing that set them apart. I tend to agree that chevy dealers are even less legitimate than Toyota but that doesnāt justify huge gap in evaluation. In any case, itās totally impossible that Toyota was A LOT worse than chevy.
Iāve heard several claims of CR giving widely different ratings to cars that are clones. While I have found differences, none were major. I have many years of their ācar issuesā, so if someone knows of a year with a big error, let me know, Iād like to see it.