Ford owning some of mazda....

[Tronix102]

This may be a really stupid question but I know I really want to buy a mazda 3 as in my other post I made, but is mazda a reliable car because ford owns some of it or is it gonna be a car thats gonna be in the shop all the time? I hope I dont offend anyone I just wanna make sure I make the right decision.

 

[mountjonas]

yes, ford owns controlling stake in mazda. no, the 3 is not a pos.

 

[TheDutchGun]

There cars are built in Japan. Only downside - Rusty rotors all the time.

 

[ayturv8]

Mountjonas

get off my lawn!!!!!(lol)

 

[ayturv8]

Florida

There cars are built in Japan. Only downside - Rusty rotors all the time.

Not if you live in florida. They get sandblasted all day

 

[Brian MP5T]

Ford makes most of the V6 engines...

Mazda makes the 4 Cyl...

Yer safe..

 

[Captain KRM P5]

ford owns a controlling stake in mazda, volvo, land rover, jaguar, and aston martin. the 3 shares some platform components with the focus and the smaller volvos but for the most part is a mazda designed and/or heavily influenced by mazda design. the car is assembled in japan with much of the parts originating there as well. the engines and transmissions are primarily mazda in origin and the 3 chassis is tuned to mazda's specifications.

in short, you have nothing to worry about. the 3 has been a very good car.

 

[ayturv8]

Mazda

Ford may own part of Mazda, but just think of the name "MAZDA" I bet that any four banger mazda will smoke any four banger ford.

 

[spike blue]

^^ you right!!!

 

[Tronix102]

thanks for the input

 

[1sty]

Its really hard to call any car make reliable or unreliable these days. It seems like its either totaly perfect for someone or a complete abotrion.

Although the Protege was a very well rated car for reliability my lx was terrible after 50,000 miles.

It was never ending repairs and even a blown engine at just over 55,000 miles. After that POS the wife and I rest much easier with a Pontiac in the drive way. We will never own a mazda again.

However, having been on this site since basicly day 1
<--- fourth member

i know these cars on the average are very relaible. Someones gonna get the friday car though.

 

[nondual]

ford owns a controlling stake in mazda, volvo, land rover, jaguar, and aston martin. the 3 shares some platform components with the focus and the smaller volvos but for the most part is a mazda designed and/or heavily influenced by mazda design. the car is assembled in japan with much of the parts originating there as well. the engines and transmissions are primarily mazda in origin and the 3 chassis is tuned to mazda's specifications.

in short, you have nothing to worry about. the 3 has been a very good car.

The 3 shares a platform with the small Volvo and the european Focus. It may seem like nitpicking, what causes the US Mazda3 to be such a better car than the US Focus is the fact that the US Mazda3 shares much of the chassis of the Volvo, which is a higher prestige brand with a better reputation to uphold. I have NO idea why Ford doesn't just make all the Focus the same as the European ones.

 

[ALIEN3T]

Ford may own part of Mazda, but just think of the name "MAZDA" I bet that any four banger mazda will smoke any four banger ford.

lol i will rmember that whan i race ,my 95 escort gt! lol
its all mazda except fo rhte body !lol

some ford aint bad, land rovers and jag are on the road more. and my escort only had problems from wear and time i mean i have 163,000 miles on it, engine went out at 140,000 cause my cai sucked up water, besides that it ran great. My f150, and my explorer well havent had ot be put in the shop and dont have cel lights or anythign! so i hope nit all are bad.


but on another note i have a ms3 and no problems whatsoever and love it!

 

[BSTD3]

ford owns a controlling stake in mazda, volvo, land rover, jaguar, and aston martin. the 3 shares some platform components with the focus and the smaller volvos but for the most part is a mazda designed and/or heavily influenced by mazda design. the car is assembled in japan with much of the parts originating there as well. the engines and transmissions are primarily mazda in origin and the 3 chassis is tuned to mazda's specifications.

in short, you have nothing to worry about. the 3 has been a very good car.

To add to Captian's posting above, Ford owns 36% of Mazda (just enough for the controlling stake). Just in case someone wanted to know what percentage.

 

[CTGrey02]

Ford quality is no where near as bad as the reputation they earned in the 70's and early 80's as being unreliable. They've come a long way and have leaned on company's all over the world to engineer their parts. I've owned 4 fords and other than my old 225k 5.0 (lets face it, thats some mileage) they've been nothing but reliable and fun cars.

 

[SwampAss]

Ford quality is no where near as bad as the reputation they earned in the 70's and early 80's as being unreliable. They've come a long way and have leaned on company's all over the world to engineer their parts. I've owned 4 fords and other than my old 225k 5.0 (lets face it, thats some mileage) they've been nothing but reliable and fun cars.

Just to echo CTGrey's sentiment. American car makers in general have made huge strides in the last 5-7 years to make a solid, dependable car that people want to buy.

 

[TheMAN]

ford owns a controlling stake in mazda, volvo, land rover, jaguar, and aston martin. the 3 shares some platform components with the focus and the smaller volvos but for the most part is a mazda designed and/or heavily influenced by mazda design. the car is assembled in japan with much of the parts originating there as well. the engines and transmissions are primarily mazda in origin and the 3 chassis is tuned to mazda's specifications.

in short, you have nothing to worry about. the 3 has been a very good car.

yes, ford owns a controlling stake of mazda, which means they have overall influence in mazda's use of underlying parts... the chassis is pretty much a ford chassis (based on the new focus), the suspension is also all ford (related to the chassis), even the engine (and its related components) is ford... the only thing mazda about that engine is the head design (although some euro fords use them now too)... how the engine mounts in that car is also ALL ford (which is why you don't see an engine mount by the radiator)... the only real mazda s*** on that car is the body panels and trims... even its electrical system is ford... the auto tranny is a ford too (manual one is mazda)

basically anything you don't see in that car is ford, which in general has been pretty reliable (except for some stupid parts failing such as evap related because they are cheaply made ford s*** but not catestrophic to the vehicle)

basically what it boils down to is the mazda3 is a "mazord"

 

[TheDutchGun]

Just to echo CTGrey's sentiment. American car makers in general have made huge strides in the last 5-7 years to make a solid, dependable car that people want to buy.

I agree completely and it isn't just because I have a Mustang. I just think Domestic automakers need to work on the styling of their compacts because most of them are not the most attractive cars ie. Calibre, Cobalt, Pursuit, Ion etc... If only Ford would make the North American Focus identical to the Euro Focus they'd be all set.

 

[CTGrey02]

If only Ford would make the North American Focus identical to the Euro Focus they'd be all set.

I doubt I'd be here if they did. Bastards.

 

[TheDutchGun]

I doubt I'd be here if they did. Bastards.

Yeah I definitely would have considered it as an option if it was in North America.

What kind of Supercharger do you have by the way? I'm thinking Kenne Bell for my car. I just want something I can fit under the stock hood as I have aspirations for building a sleeper.