Interesting. Did the S10's have the same engines as the S10 Blazers? My dad babied his Blazer but it threw a rod at 100k miles coming back from a campout. Ironically, the whole camping trip, we were joking with my best friends’ dad about his Ford truck (Found On Road Dead, etc...). You could imagine how smug he was…

Honestly, also potentially front splitter/pedestrian protection. In the US, we can have MASSIVE front splitters from the dealer while the EU can’t have almost any (from dealer). It doesn’t look that massive, but the corners could be out of compliance for the EU?

Fiesta ST’s for the win!!! Especially in bright colors :D

I feel like this photo is appropriate to share again. Granted, this Excursion is old and modern Expeditions are about that size now, so comparing the FiST next to a new Silverado would be comical.

Ha I actually used Huron River Dr to test drive my Mazda3 after buying it “sight unseen” (I facetimed my in-laws who test drove it for me). I’ve been to Hell too! My buddy and I pushed his Fiesta ST to “I can’t legally post this video” levels of fun. It’s just a 40 or so minute drive, so the motivation isn’t always…

Hey you were driving in my neck of the woods! I live off of Geddes over on Beck, but drive to downtown Ann Arbor almost weekly. We were at Gallup Park on Sunday (when it was warmer). I love pushing my car on the round-abouts since they’re basically the only “curve” around.

The wife of a family friend bought him his dream Camaro for his birthday a few years ago. The difference was that she was the breadwinner with a big figure job, researched for months about the specs he’d pick and then bought pre-owned to keep the costs relatively down.

So I guess, only do it when you’re 100% certain…

Love the color, but not the face. I see Predator with the way the black grille interfaces with the green vent outer.

Honestly, probably a fast manual sedan like the Audi S4, BMW M3, or Chevy SS. Has to be blue, has to be manual :D

The European Kuga is even happier (which this fascia made it to the states)

Actually, I was in the quality group for a few months when I started work... There is very much a lot of data supporting the first year premise. I found it very sad to see how bad the first year products were compared to the second or 3rd year products. It was across all carlines and many brands too (although some…

I feel your pain. It’s my family this time. The social costs are definitely real, especially with parents who have been known to hold small grudges for over a decade. It’s been an uncomfortable year with them already, so tensions are high. If we don’t go, there will be some very real repercussions...

My mental plan is to run my Mazda3 to the ground, giving me time to get a pre-owned convertible in the next 10, which would then be my daily and the Mazda3 would be my family car whenever I need to haul the kids. We’ll see what happens...

Yup. Can attest. I washed my car over the weekend and I specifically parked further away so that the sunset light would hit it. I then took a shot of it on my cell phone before walking into the store :D

I’ve seen that leather crumble issue on cars as young as 20k miles! What kind of cheap crap leather is Subaru using on that steering wheel?

Hahaha I literally laughed out loud reading that! That was a great image to start the day :D

First year cars (at least at most American OEMs) will always have the most amount of things go wrong, but thankfully, Mazda has been able to mitigate it with good engineering for manufacturing. It amazes me that Ford didn’t learn more from Mazda during their ownership since we still make mistakes that would never be…

My brother had an 06 (not sure on year) that he got from his ex in divorce settlements (she took the mercedes...). He had auto transmission issues around 130k before he sold it for a 370z 40th anniversary edition. Sounds like you had a really good one!

My wife’s Chevy Cruze is WAYYYYYYY worse with phone compatibility, so I’ll take my little Mazda quirks over hers every day of the week.

So... HVAC replaced (under warranty) twice, door card replaced, clutch cylinder replaced (stranded him in an intersection), another big thing that I can’t remember why (even though my Dad and I talked about it 2 days ago), passenger wing mirror, and a few fuses. All before 40k miles (I think he’s at 35k). Let’s just…