"Your Mazda is nothing but an expensive Ford."

[LTSmash]

This is what I was told by an AutoZone employee when I went in to buy a new set of spark plugs. First words out of his mouth too. I say, "Hi, I need some spark plugs for an 03 Mazda Protege." Without even a "hello" I get that response.

I know that Ford has a stake in Mazda but are some of the models identical to each other?

[henk4]

Perhaps he could have said: Your Mazda is nothing but a better Ford? Ford reduced its share in Mazda from 33 to 13% in late 2008

[2ndclasscitizen]

I know that Ford has a stake in Mazda but are some of the models identical to each other?

Yes, since the 80's.

[crisis]

Had a Mazda 6 as a company car. Unimpressed other than the Bose sound system. And even that was a poor second to the after market one I got in my Landcruiser.

[Matra et Alpine]

Isn't the Mustang built in the shared plant that they built ?
So your Ford "performance car" is a Mazda(ish) might be the response
Mazda provided a LOT of small car tech to Ford USA who preferred to ignore the successful European car designs in favour of cheaper to produce/sell cars ?

Sounds a typical red-beck response you guys seem to enjoy all the time

It's a good Japanese manufacturer and arguably BETTER once away from Fords controlling stake. The 6 in Europe is a good car - personally I'd go for it over a Mondeao any day - and not fair Crisis ANY after market is going to be better by virtue of it was a personal choice and you spend more on it that an OEM does -- even when it's Bose

The 3 MPS is one of my favourite stealth cars. Looks like you're driving the wife's sprog-transport but kicks ass when you floor it and handles superbly

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Every report I've ever read about the 3MPS indicates it's an understeering pig.

[Matra et Alpine]

Depends on how you drive it I guess.
GO into corners faster than you used to because the cars faster and YES it will
BUT, feel the front wheel grip and use it appropriately and it's nearly as good as the Focus RS and £5K (in the UK) less.

I suspect "every report" might be from RWD lovers who haven't adopted FWD driving styles EVERY FWD understeers ... it usually comes about by haveing too high a entry speed thinking RWD

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Most of these reports have been from fairly trusted Australian magazines (wheels and TGA, in particular). It's just a small part of trying to push exhorbitant amounts of power through the turning wheels.

The 3MPS is a great value car, no doubt. But it's somewhat lairy compared to some of the ones you are mentioning. In a straight line it's unbeatable in it's class, but there are some control issues that perhaps the testers felt were handled better in another car, most often the Golf GTi. Which, granted it much more expensive.

And I should make the small point the the Focus XR5 Turbo is perhaps a more appropriate competitor, which can be had for ~ $3k less in Australia at the moment

[fpv_gtho]

Your Protege is a mostly Mazda developed car also shared with Ford as a badge engineered vehicle for other markets. Dont know what America got it as, but we had it here as a Laser. There's been other models in past years that have also had a similar relationship, the 626 and locally marketed Telstar were the same and theyve shared small pickups and utility vans in the past as well.

A few years ago Ford started leading development though, and the first truly shared cars were the C2 Focus and 2nd gen Mazda3, which were also shared with Volvo. The new 2 and Fiesta are also shared tech and America used the CD3 platform from the Mazda6 for the Fusion. I'm not certain but i'd imagine Mazda will have a product based on Ford's new global light commercial platform too. The next generation Mondeo and Mazda6 will be on the same platform as well.

[Matra et Alpine]

Golf Gti is not in the same class as the MPS or the Focus RS.
It's an overweight dinosaur. Sorry any mag that put the current GTi in with the crop of new hot hatchbacks liek the Clio, Megane, 3 MPS, Focus RS etc should be ignored (imho)

The XR5, sounds like the old Focus ST available elsewhere. Is it ? Was it sold alongside the ST adn the newer RS ??
The current gen RS in Europe is the fastest of the pack - straight line and handling.

You hit it right on the head IB4R, pushing power throguh the front wheels which means the driver HAS to modulate and plan cornering. Not jsut mash it in, anchor up and mash it out -- " the RWD way " Most times when I see "understering pig" then it's the drivers styel adn he/she needs educated on getting the most. It's like an RWD review complaining that on harsh turn in the rear breaks away.... yep, that's what happens when you dont' trail brake

[fpv_gtho]

The XR5 is just the local badging we give to the Focus ST, without the 3 tiered specification levels the UK get and subsequently its own unique spec sheet. We've got the Falcon XR line so they adopted that for the Fiesta ST and Focus ST, but our Mondeo XR5 is just your Mondeo Titanium optioned with the 2.5 Duratec.

[Ferrer]

Not all Mazdas have Ford parts in them though, the MX-5 and RX-8 are pretty much bespoke.

As for front wheel drive cars understeering, yes they do more than rear wheel drive ones, but if you enter a corner too fast even a rear wheel drive will understeer.

And Matra, the GTI is a perfectly capable hot hatch.

[roosterjuicer]

I think the ford fusion is the mazda 6 right??? I know the Ranger was rebadged as the mazda b series small pickups, and i know the Probe was redone as a small 2 door mazda.

I dont think, for the most part, that Mazda and ford do a lot of rebadges or share a ton of technology like say Ford and Mercury or Ford and Lincoln do.

Overall, I think the guy at autozone is a retard. arent fords and mazdas pretty similarly priced for similar models anyway?

Had he said "your mazda is nothing but an ugly ford" he probably would have still been wrong, but slightly more correct :^)

[csl177]

The Ford/Mazda connection was generally a positive, correct?

Tut, tut, LTSmash... you are an upstanding, product purchasing customer; a smack-talking AutoZone employee is on the bottom of the food chain. Here's the correct response:

"Hi, I need some spark plugs for an 03 Mazda Protege."

"Your Mazda is nothing but an expensive Ford."

"And your rude greeting is nothing but a minor annoyance. Get the spark plugs, Capt. Obvious."

That's the polite response. You could've said "Yeah, well yer mom's nothing but a cheap hooah" or "Maybe, but your GF likes the back seat of it" or some other snappy example of dozens but taking the high road is always better.

[cmcpokey]

im in agreement with you CSL, it was a positive for both companies for a long time. it kept mazda in solvency, and it gave ford a excellent small platform development team. both companies ripped of each other's platforms, such as the B series pickup/ranger and the mx-6/probe, without causing too many badge engineering issues.