Yikes.
I've always thought of Mazda as having superior design/craftsmanship.
I'm wondering if the best Japanese vehicles are of the type that the Japanese themselves tend to drive. And that would be the smaller, four cylinder cars, not the bigger ones that try to compete with larger American and European cars. Very few people in Japan drive large luxury cars. With Mazda, the Mazda3 gets great reviews for both performance and reliability, and the Mazdaspeed3 even better reviews. That would probably be the Mazda I'd get if I were in the market.
Mercedes, at least in the USA, has also had a lot of problems in the past decade or two. Consumer Reports will document this - they've been less reliable than Ford, for example. Me, I've had practically no problems with my '99 Chrysler 300M. It was seeping some transmission fluid at the radiator, but tightening the hose clamps (did it myself) fixed that issue. It's always seeped a little engine oil from the rear main seal - I'm told that was an issue with the early ones that was fixed later on - but the dealer denied it was happening and I left it at that.
Oh, the hydraulic struts that support the trunk lid have pretty much lost most of their oomph. I haven't gotten around to replacing them yet - it's not a big deal for me. But I think I could find aftermarket ones that work as well or better than the stock ones (which predictably are a bit expensive for what they are).
The button for the rear trunk lock release on the dash kept on falling/popping out. I heated it up in some hot water and bent the hooks outward - hasn't happened since.
Then again, I have put only about 40,000 miles on the car in 10 years. I like to keep it fresh ;-).
I've always thought of Mazda as having superior design/craftsmanship.
I'm wondering if the best Japanese vehicles are of the type that the Japanese themselves tend to drive. And that would be the smaller, four cylinder cars, not the bigger ones that try to compete with larger American and European cars. Very few people in Japan drive large luxury cars. With Mazda, the Mazda3 gets great reviews for both performance and reliability, and the Mazdaspeed3 even better reviews. That would probably be the Mazda I'd get if I were in the market.
Mercedes, at least in the USA, has also had a lot of problems in the past decade or two. Consumer Reports will document this - they've been less reliable than Ford, for example. Me, I've had practically no problems with my '99 Chrysler 300M. It was seeping some transmission fluid at the radiator, but tightening the hose clamps (did it myself) fixed that issue. It's always seeped a little engine oil from the rear main seal - I'm told that was an issue with the early ones that was fixed later on - but the dealer denied it was happening and I left it at that.
Oh, the hydraulic struts that support the trunk lid have pretty much lost most of their oomph. I haven't gotten around to replacing them yet - it's not a big deal for me. But I think I could find aftermarket ones that work as well or better than the stock ones (which predictably are a bit expensive for what they are).
The button for the rear trunk lock release on the dash kept on falling/popping out. I heated it up in some hot water and bent the hooks outward - hasn't happened since.
Then again, I have put only about 40,000 miles on the car in 10 years. I like to keep it fresh ;-).
