So glad I no longer live in Portland. Worst drivers I have ever encountered personally.

Totally not an urban legend. The butter knife I used to start my early 80's Chevy truck would also start my friends early 80's Chevy truck. It was like some sort of magic master key.

CP if for no reason other then the fact that it doesn’t include either the M-Sport seats or the Comfort seats.

Sorry. I read the headline and immediately thought of:

It existed because my Dad, as much as he really wanted to buy a Cutlas Supreme couldn’t swing that so we ended up with a teal Corsica. The most telling thing about the Corsica is that my parents will keep a car until the wheels fall off...except the Corsica. My mom drove it for about 2 years and then it silently went…

Agreed. That makes it even more galling. When I bought my 3 I had an opportunity to buy a Protege 5 with the same mileage for half the price. I still kick myself over that one.

2004 Mazda 3 hatchback with a 5 speed. The car was pretty fun to drive but the overall quality of the car was sorely lacking. There is no way any car, much less a Japanese car, should be in line at the crusher with less then 100k on the odometer. This one gave up at 93k.

Couldn’t agree more. When our minivan finally gave up while we were on a road trip in November we limped it into a Nissan dealership and ended up driving home with a shiny new Pathfinder. I love the creature comforts but that damn CVT is horrible. I am actually very glad that we leased the dang thing so I will only…

Please do not misunderstand me. I bought the car as a commuter vehicle that wasn’t a civic or a corolla. In that regard it performed flawlessly. It was fun to drive; engaging, exciting, and the gear shift made the nest snick/snick I have ever experienced. Unfortunately it turned out to be about the least reliable…

“reliable and normal Mazda” Good for yo. I bought the Mazda to inject some of me into my daily driving. I hope it is not a harbinger of things to come as the dang thing just completely gave up the ghost at 93k.

Having lived in this part of the country I am not the least bit surprised. These guys live up in the woods, off the grid and only come into town to go to Walmart about once a month.

Great job Patrick! Even better your next article “Worst Interview Mistakes, and how to Recover From Them” is mostly written. Although, experience has taught me that it is really hard to recover from “Going for the kiss at the wrong time” in a job interview.

2004, first year they were made. Both 04 and 05's had the Junction Box Issue (they routed the A/C lines right over the junction box without a shield in place) and the earlier 2.3l engines have the oil issue. That includes both the 3 and the 6. The curious thing with the oil issue is that it just seems to disappear. It…

If your car is a Mazda3 I’m glad you enjoy it. I have found that I love how it looks and I love how it handles but I am seriously disappointed in the reliability of the dumb thing. I have had to replace the passenger junction box (not cheap) and now the thing eats 4 quarts of oil every 3,000 miles. All this from a car…

Agreed. On the first gen Mazda3 hatchbacks you have to partially disassemble the lower dash, drop out the Passenger Junction Box and then stand on your head just to get the dumb thing in there.

Agree whole heartedly. I had a 1995 quad Cab 1/2 ton 4x4 with the 5.9l. That stupid truck got 9mpg no matter what I was doing with it; towing, hauling 1/2 ton of sand in the bed, running empty, uphill, downhill... didn’t matter. 9mpg. I bought the truck just before gas went to $4/gallon the first time. Sold it when…

This must be a term of employment for all UofA employees. I went top grad school there and the dean of the business school never wore an undershirt either. I know the dude wasn’t making Sean Miller money but he was pulling in 6 figure money. He could afford it.

I agree that it was ahead of either of the other platforms but when your friends are running Apples or PC’s and you are the only one you have ever know that has an Amiga it makes it hard to really get into the movement. I did end up spending my paper route money on Marble Madness, and that was pretty cool, but other…

Curse you and curse your Amiga. My folks finally decide to buy a computer in the 80's. I asked for an Apple as that is what we had been using at school. We went to the place that sold Apple and instead came home with an Amiga 1000. The demo the guy showed us was impressive but my folks never actually bought any…

Try to find a minivan to park next to. I know that parking next to a bunch of greasy handed kids is less then ideal but with the slider it is impossible for them to ding your doors. Station wagons on the other hand (real wagons, Taurus or Sable wagons for example) are just asking for it. I never did get the monster…