I don’t see the point in them either, but that is one of if not THE hottest market segment in vehicles right now: Chevy Trax, Buick Encore, CX-3, etc.
A lot of older people buy them, due in large part (IMHO) to the elevated seating position above a normal sedan, good outward visibility, decent MPG’s, many have AWD, and that transitioning in and out of these is neither a climb upwards like into a larger SUV or truck, nor a climb down like into a sedan. The seating is about hip height so you just kinda slide on in there.
I have a Mazda 2, a model which doesn’t seem to be available in the States. That said, after 9 years and 83,000 km, literally nothing has gone wrong, on no more that regular scheduled maintenance.
The CX-3 has attracted a bit of attention from me - it looks like it’d be a good compromise size for me, if I wanted a bit more* cargo size. As I’ve stuffed a clothes dryer in the back of my 2, I don’t really see the need to spend the extra money next time around. Still, it’s a tidy little vehicle, and if you think you’ll regularly need more cargo space, give it a look.
Still, I have to stress: always try the car on first! I first sat in my 2 those years ago, and everything fell instantly to hand. I’m a six-footer, and I’m quite comfortable in the driver’s seat.
Higher speeds? Well, as you might guess, I do the vast majority of my driving in town, so not much chance to drive more than 60kph. Still, I’ve had it on the open road, and put it up to 150kph with no problems - it felt quite composed.
Subaru BRZ is a Toyota 86 (and previously, Scion FR-S). Only Subaru without AWD. Mazda CX-9 was basically a Ford until the 2016 model year, now it’s its own thing.
Funny how that comes full circle. The (older) Fusion and Edge, although “Ford” designs, were actually created by Mazda back when Ford owned enough of Mazda to matter. It’s probably more accurate to say that the Fusion and Edge were basically Madzas (specifically the Mazda 6), rather than the other way around.
(Current Fusion is evolved from Ford of Europe, and Edge has evolved away, too.)
I will pass on the warranty offer. So reliability is a must. I don’t drive everyday mostly in town but I do a lot of rural driving and 85 to 95 plus is normal around here.
My husband is disabled so I make a lot of trips to Austin.
I must have good curve traction and outstanding bet and go!
Lets talk about deer I hit one at least every year or year and a half.
When you have really bad wrecks they are high speed so safety is of it most importance.
I’m a woman and I don’t want to get taken…
I’m all ears for tips. I won’t be tradinding in my old Honda because it still runs like a sewing machine.
Hey!! Thank y’all for your tips and expertise its greatly appreciated!
I hit a deer in my '91 Mazda Protege. It was the summer of '94, mid-afternoon, on I-43 in eastern Wisconsin. I could see the deer from a half-mile off, standing in the median of the Interstate. When I got to about 50 yards away from her, she started across the road, and I hit her at about 60 mph.
She hit directly on the front bumper, rolled up the hood, then hit the “A pillar” between the windshield and the passenger-side window, which threw her off the car. The passenger side of the windshield was spiderwebbed, the hood was now concave, but the front bumper was in good shape (and this was before airbags were mandatory, so there had been no airbag to go off). I was completely unhurt.
A Wisconsin state trooper arrived on the scene. He and I inspected the car, and he noted that the radiator was undamaged, and certified that I could drive the car, if I taped up the windshield on the passenger side (since it was sagging). I drove the car a mile up the road to an exit, went to a truck stop, vacuumed up the glass shards, and used duct tape to secure the windshield, then drove the remaining 100 miles home.
The auto body shop needed a week to rebuild the car’s front end, but they were able to do so, and I drove the car for another 7 years. That was one tough little car.
Yeah but all with expensive repair bills and not great reliability track records long term. They’re also expensive to buy unless you go back a few more years.
OP: you hit a deer almost every year to year and a half? That sounds…insanely unlucky.
As would the Subaru Outback or Forester. I’ve driven both and if you want handling room, reliability, and AWD they really should be on your short list. I really liked the sight lines on the forester although I would spring for the XT or XT trimline for more go-go.
I’ve had a Mazda 3 from 2004 and now 2014. I went into the used car shop originally to buy a Honda or Toyota, and just fell in love with the Mazda 3. The first one went 130,000 miles before I sold it to buy a 2014 model. The 2004 model had nothing but routine maintenance done on it. Loved the car–lot of fun to drive, especially at that price point (I’ve only done the manual transmission version, but my cousin has the auto one and that’s great, too.) The new one has very good mileage by American standards. I average 32 miles per gallon of city and highway driving (my driving is probably split about 2/3 city, 1/3 highway miles.) On the highway, I average about 42. That’s a lot more fuel efficient than the 2004 model, where I averaged about 27 mpg and topped off at 33 on the highway (but more typically around 31.)
I love the car. I suggest putting it through its paces on a test drive and see what you feel about it. I like the interior, the control layouts, pretty much everything about it. I’m not a hard-core car guy, though, but I do like a car that I feel comfortable in and has a bit of oomph to it.
They’re not in A6 Avant/ M3 wagon territory but I didn’t have any issues with the Forester ripping though the corners on the Malahat on Vancouver Island including a fairly violent swerve to avoid a tree branch on a blind corner and I have a Legacy Wagon as my daily driver and it’s lots of fun in the winter months!