Doesn't the Mazda 3 compete with the Civic and the Mazda 2 compete with the Fit?
pasghetticode
pasghetticode
Or invest more money building more rotaries :).
Yeah, but that's kind of my point. The price isn't the reason why people aren't buying these cars, since in the real world they're undercutting the competitors by quite a bit. All the other stuff you mentioned is on point: size, practicality, historically unreliable brand, etc.
There's reliability, and then there's also durability. The Mazda's I've owned in the past may have kept running, but all sorts of small things would start going. Power windows, windshield wipers, interior plastics cracking, etc.
I think part of the issue is that the FoST has been canabalizing the sales of the FiST because the FoST can be had for less money than the FiST. You'd have to really want a smaller car in order to buy a FiST over a FoST.
The problem is most people buy a car to get from point A to point B with little fuss. Mazda, for as good of a drivers car it is, don't tend to age very well, and aren't as cheap and easy to maintain and repair than Toyotas. It'd be great if everyone enjoyed driving and would buy more dynamic cars, but the reality is…
I see at least a half dozen every day here in California on my drive to work.
That's interesting. Over here I see almost as many A5s as I do Priuses (which is to say, a lot).
In reality the base $22.5K models were going for closer to $17K at dealerships trying to move these. Similar to how the Focus ST is having a hard time and is going for under $20K these days for a base model. Comparing MSRP prices is kind of unrealistic based on true market values.
I toyed with the idea of getting one. They're actually really cheap in the real world; asking price for the base Abarth models were about $17K last year when I was looking at them. Dealerships weren't able to move these at all because of how niche the market was for these cars.
I'm seeing a lot more now that the Abarth model has an auto version. There weren't a whole lot of guys that were buying the Abarth, and the lack of a manual kept it out of reach of a wide swath of the female market. But now that there's an auto version, a lot of females here in LA have been gobbling these up.
Just curious, which empirical evidence are you referencing? I haven't really seen any studies that didn't have Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus at the top of the list.
Back in 2009 when I was looking to buy one, my local dealership in San Jose had a dozen or so sitting on their lots. Asking price for the base GSR model (not even negotiated down) was $28.5K. Based on how desperate they were to move those, I probably could have gotten it for $28.5K OTD on a car that stickers for $34K.
A 6th gear in the manual, a hatchback option, rear folding seats in the sedan, a bigger trunk, and a company who's status in the US isn't up in the air.
666 = Number of the Beast (aka the Devil)
The problem is as you get older, more often than not you'll start becoming disposable if you stick around in a programming gig. Whether it's fair or not, when layoffs come around the first to get trimmed are the older folks in lower positions who tend to get paid more than their younger counterparts. Not only that but…
Does this mean the Charger Hellcat gets a 11/10 in the value department because it has all of the above and 2 additional doors?
Minidisc?