bahaha

No really, those are stock wheels, and as far as I know there aren't even better wheels available as an option (aside from aftermarket). Mazda changed the wheel design for 2008.

I'm putting all the hassle behind me at this point. I'm not likely to be buying another new car for at least five years or so.

hey that's the paint color that mazda recalled due to peeling isn't it?

Consumer Reports just came out with an article that the Mazda 5 flips in tight corners.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Mazda5

I'm glad phatj is moving on, though I still think he's owed. In all honesty, if I were the dealer, even though the hassle wasn't my fault, I would have done something extra for the sake of goodwill. A free oil change in 3 months or something like that. I think if the dealer had done something like that, phatj wouldn't be posting about it to all of us.

Heartbreak City was their best album. Thoughts?

Not a real big fan of the Cars although I like a few of their songs....that album kind of annoys me based on the nonstop MTV airplay of You Might Think.

Good Times Roll is awesome, listen to it again

So my family wants a bigger car than the Honda Civic we have. We won’t be buying until this summer, but I went in to look at some cars this weekend and have been doing some very casual web surfing on the issue. Our absolute minimum is that we want to be able to have two car seats in a car fitting comfortably. I also had my heart set on MPG around 25 for city. I had tried to convince my wife that we might get away with a Prius/Camry which I found to be roomier than I thought, but it’s a non-starter with her and I’m not sure my heart’s in it either. That leaves us with mini-vans and smaller SUV’s (specifically we’re not going as large as a 4Runner or Explorer based on gas mileage and simply that we don’t need that big of a car).

Look, I can’t deny the utilitarian nature of minivans, but I find them ugly as sin and frankly an acknowledgement that I’m old. I think I could work past that part, but the mileage really does stink on most of them. So we’re kinda narrowing down to the smaller SUV’s. Rav4’s and CRV’s and the like. I’m not totally opposed to them, but I feel like the Rav4 is simply a “taller Corolla” (and a CRV would be a “taller Civic”.) First question: is that fair or is it roomier than that? So I got the idea that maybe we should be interested in the Hybrid Highlander. It’s definitely roomier than CRV and Rav4 type SUV’s and provides slightly higher MPG, especially in the city. Obviously though, it’s significantly more expensive. So here’s my question: what am I paying for? The cash simply won’t be made up on reduced gas costs, but I knew that going in. So I’ve narrowed it down to three other benefits, and I’d be curious to see if people had rough estimates of the significance of each benefit:

1. I’m helping the environment (am I? Would I be better off just getting a Rav and buying 5-8K worth of carbon credits. My wife would murder me, but hey, it’s for a good cause.

2. The smug sense of satisfaction I get will help me enjoy the smell of my own farts (South Park)

3.I’ll be an early adopter that will also help make things cheaper for the rest of you as this becomes more and more viable of a technology. I guess you could say I'm your hero.

What I’d really like to know is, at the end of the day, is the cost solely attributable to benefit 2 and hybrids don’t have the gas mileage/emission purity to really help the environment in a meaningful way.

I think Wired mag had an article this past year about how, in many cases (assuming you're not getting an H2 or something), buying a used non-hybrid is better for the environment than buying a new hybrid. Apparently the manufacturing process for the hybrid batteries is a bitch.


Edit, found an article that is the basic jist: http://www.wired.com/science/planeteart ... 09usedcars

If a new Prius were placed head-to-head with a used car, would the Prius win? Don't bet on it. Making a Prius consumes 113 million BTUs, according to sustainability engineer Pablo Päster. A single gallon of gas contains about 113,000 Btus, so Toyota's green wonder guzzles the equivalent of 1,000 gallons before it clocks its first mile. A used car, on the other hand, starts with a significant advantage: The first owner has already paid off its carbon debt. Buy a decade-old Toyota Tercel, which gets a respectable 35 mpg, and the Prius will have to drive 100,000 miles to catch up.

so they're saying a prius won't last 100K huh

Their batteries are supposed to last 150,000 miles, /bucky

Well, a couple hybrid SUVs still have tax credits attached to them, so that can help you out on the price. The Ford Escape 2WD credit for model year 2009 is 3K, for instance.

However, the credit is phased down each quarter if a certain number of vehicles are sold, so purchase before March 31st if possible.

More info is available here: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,, ... 32,00.html

No American cars for the 2sf's despite any evidence that they may be well made, thank you.

I did not create the above rule.

Communist

The Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner is actually a rebadged Mazda Tribute (which also qualifies for the tax credit).

The Tribute is a rebadged Escape

Anecdotally, a family friend has a Rav4. He took me, the Voxkids (booster and forward-facing carseat), and another mom, who is on the large side, to the shore last summer for a day trip. In addition to the people, we had chairs, gear (several bags), and a small cooler. The friends we met when we got there were amazed at what we had fit in it, and we were all very comfortable.

The other bonus to the Rav4 is the stow-away third row seats -- not available on all the models. We had VoxJr in one of the seats (they split 50-50), and the seat next him folded down, which made it possible to fit the chairs and stuff. The second row seats also move forward and back for optimum leg-room adjustment.

When we got there, we folded down the entire third row, and had a great platform for getting the kids changed, etc.

Prior to this we had taken another car trip -- BabyVox was under one, so this I'll note. We weren't able to fit a rear-facing carseat in the third row, without making it impossible to sit in the second row, even to put a four-year-old VoxJr there.

The third row is usable for short trips for adults, which you can't say for all third row seats -- it is as good as another friends Explorer's third-row. (The only difference being you can fit a carseat and two adults in the second row of an Explorer, not so for a Rav4).

We just bought a Mazda5, just like phatj (same color even, but ours is alas an automatic, as Mrs. Vulture doesn't like to shift her own gears). Also unlike phatj, we got to the dealer at 3, and drove off with our new vehicle by 6, so I'll say Moffit Mazda in Bossier City, LA wins for service.

Yeah, so I'm never going back to North Penn Mazda.

In addition to the saga chronicled above, for the last two weeks I've been dealing with a billing snafu. The original finance contract was written with a date of sale reflecting when we put down the deposit on the car, back on 2/27, rather than when we actually took delivery on 3/12. So we received our first bill on 3/25 with a due date of 3/27. We could have paid it then, but I wanted it right, so I called the dealer and they said they would write a new contract with the correct date of sale and cancel the original one. So I went in and signed the new contract on the evening of 3/25 and thought everything was hunky-dory.

Then early this week I started getting calls from an unrecognized number in the 713 area code on my cell phone. Unrecognized numbers aren't unusual for me (apparently my number was previously owned by someone of foreign descent with friends or business associates in various parts of the country), so I didn't answer, but then they finally called me at my work number and it was Chase Collections calling about my past due bill. I was pretty furious with the guy I spoke to which probably didn't help anything, but after I hung up on him, I called the dealer again, and their finance officer said that he had spoken to the Chase people last Friday about cancelling the old contract. He then referred me to the Chase Mazda Finance Dealer Customer Service line. I spoke to a very nice woman there who saw that there were two contracts in my name for the same purchase, which obviously isn't correct, and she supposedly placed the cancel order on the old one herself. So again, I thought everything was hunky-dory. We received and paid the new bill on Wednesday.

But I continued getting calls from the 713 number and I finally answered my phone this morning, and learned that apparently the cancel order hadn't gone through yet. The Collections agent I spoke with was able to confirm that there was an additional contract in my name with a due date of 4/11 but she referred me to Customer Service to find out about the cancellation of the old one. She also suggested I call the dealer again to ask them to follow up. I called NPM and left a message explaining the situation and my extreme frustration, then I called Chase Customer Service and spoke to someone who saw the two accounts, and confirmed that the new one was showing as paid for this month, and she could see the cancellation order for the old one but said that it could take 7 business days for a cancellation order to process. She said she put a hold on the old account to prevent further collections calls. (Why, I wonder, is it that a cancellation order does not automatically result in a hold being placed on collections calls?) Supposedly this will be resolved by the middle of next week. I asked about possible credit implications and was assured that delinquent payments are only reported to credit bureaus if payments are 30 days late, so it shouldn't be a problem. I think I should ask the dealer for a written letter to send to each of the three credit agencies just in case.

On a brighter note, I love the car. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone with a small family (1-2 kids) who's looking for an economical alternative to regular minivans.