Chevy has notoriously weak body panels. The 3.6 they’re throwing in everything has issues with the cylinder deactivation system. The 4 bangers are made in Korea from Daewoo. They also have weird electrical issues, usually due to the 2 battery system. Certain ones shipped with features built in but not wired up and functional (heated seats). They have to retrofit newer models with features from older ones (heated wheel in the tahoes must be retrofitted from 21 or older models), no blind zone either on the tahoes which is strange for a new vehicle in it’s class.
Ford had engine fire recalls on most of their trucks and large SUVs. Transmission issues plagued Fords as well if you bought automatic like 90% of Americans. 1.0 EcoSport had a dogshit motor. The only two Ford products worth buying are a Mustang or a Ford Edge if you’re a mainstream consumer. I consider the raptor and enthusiast truck
Dodge/Chrysler has been consistent, but consistently mid. Transmission issues in all the trucks. Most of the SUVs like the compass and Cherokee run a fiat 4 cylinder. The 5.7 hemi gets only marginally better performance than the 3.6 pentastar. The 6.4 and 5.7 have lifter issues. The 3.6 had some minor misfire issues in the Pacificas. Some of the new jeep wranglers are a 2.0 turbo. It helps when you design the same vehicle since 2013.
Post COVID cars worth buying
Anything Toyota/Lexus if you want the best all around
Anything Mazda that’s naturally aspirated, or turbo if you care about your car maintenance.
Anything Hyundai/Kia that has a Korean motor (1.6t) and you maintain your car. The American made motors for Hyundai are terrible.
Altima and 4 cylinder rogue is fine. 6 cylinder maxima and Murano is fine. CVT isn’t as bad as it used to be. I don’t trust the 3 cylinder turbo.
Subaru is mid, the fa24 is good. The FB25 is mid and have issues after 100k if maintenance isn’t done and PCV isn’t maintained. The CVT is okay. The wrx 6 speed is mid. The STI is discountinued but had the best transmission. If you like expensive projects, go with any performance Subaru, and spend 3-4k on an STi drivetrain, it’ll bolt up 9 times out of 10
Honda 1.5t has head gasket issues. The 2.0 is great, but they’re not really using it much. The civic SI is mid and gets outperformaned by a Jetta.
Volkswagens are great if you maintain your car well. I have a controversial argument that the ea888 2.0t is the best all around 4 cylinder, even the k series.
Luxury brands like Audi, bmw, Mercedes and the such aren’t great for a mainstream consumer. Enthusiasts that do research will buy them anyway. For the average person, they’re too expensive to maintain, and the luxury features people seek can be attained in a Signature trim Mazda for a fraction of the price.
I’m autistic, I work around cars every day, and I really really like cars.
Outside of regular oil changes, I’d say spark plugs at 75-90k. I would flush coolant at 100k, then every 60k. Check your belts and hoses at 95-110k. Check your brake and fuel lines at 100k. Air filter every other oil change. If you ever take your intercooler off, check for oil blow by. A little bit won’t kill it. If at or under a quarter tank, don’t go full throttle to reduce strain on the fuel pump.
Transmission fluid flush at 90-100k with the filter. At 75k is when I would make it a habit to check oil every time at the gas pump if you think of it. Modern cars can burn oil per spec at higher mileages.
The turbo should be fine if you keep your oil and coolant maintained. If you just use it as a daily driver, you shouldn’t need to touch anything else until it breaks. An upgraded fuel pump can be insurance, but not necessary.
At higher mileages (120k+), you might start seeing signs of worn suspension and worn bushings. But if they aren’t wobbling and aren’t broken and you don’t mind the ride, it’ll be fine. But replacing bushings would make the ride good as new
Man Chrysler products suck so bad! The only American brand next to Tesla would never buy. I’m a car dealer in FL and have seen it all, all vehicles have their problems, it mainly comes down to how they are treated and maintained. I’ve currently got a 2019 ford ranger with a good tune on it and have not had a single issue 65k miles down the road.
Ford owned a controlling share of Mazda during the L series design, it was developed together by ford and Mazda. It’s not just the heads, everything is different except the cylinder blocks lineage. No interchangeable parts.
Also I was talking post COVID cars, since that’s what time we’re in. 2020+ American cars are not as good as they used to be.
Sure Ford co developed the engine, and it wasn’t put in American Ford models outside of the focus until 5 years after it’s development. But a lot of the research and design was mazda
Modern American cars suck
Chevy has notoriously weak body panels. The 3.6 they’re throwing in everything has issues with the cylinder deactivation system. The 4 bangers are made in Korea from Daewoo. They also have weird electrical issues, usually due to the 2 battery system. Certain ones shipped with features built in but not wired up and functional (heated seats). They have to retrofit newer models with features from older ones (heated wheel in the tahoes must be retrofitted from 21 or older models), no blind zone either on the tahoes which is strange for a new vehicle in it’s class.
Ford had engine fire recalls on most of their trucks and large SUVs. Transmission issues plagued Fords as well if you bought automatic like 90% of Americans. 1.0 EcoSport had a dogshit motor. The only two Ford products worth buying are a Mustang or a Ford Edge if you’re a mainstream consumer. I consider the raptor and enthusiast truck
Dodge/Chrysler has been consistent, but consistently mid. Transmission issues in all the trucks. Most of the SUVs like the compass and Cherokee run a fiat 4 cylinder. The 5.7 hemi gets only marginally better performance than the 3.6 pentastar. The 6.4 and 5.7 have lifter issues. The 3.6 had some minor misfire issues in the Pacificas. Some of the new jeep wranglers are a 2.0 turbo. It helps when you design the same vehicle since 2013.
Post COVID cars worth buying
Anything Toyota/Lexus if you want the best all around
Anything Mazda that’s naturally aspirated, or turbo if you care about your car maintenance.
Anything Hyundai/Kia that has a Korean motor (1.6t) and you maintain your car. The American made motors for Hyundai are terrible.
Altima and 4 cylinder rogue is fine. 6 cylinder maxima and Murano is fine. CVT isn’t as bad as it used to be. I don’t trust the 3 cylinder turbo.
Subaru is mid, the fa24 is good. The FB25 is mid and have issues after 100k if maintenance isn’t done and PCV isn’t maintained. The CVT is okay. The wrx 6 speed is mid. The STI is discountinued but had the best transmission. If you like expensive projects, go with any performance Subaru, and spend 3-4k on an STi drivetrain, it’ll bolt up 9 times out of 10
Honda 1.5t has head gasket issues. The 2.0 is great, but they’re not really using it much. The civic SI is mid and gets outperformaned by a Jetta.
Volkswagens are great if you maintain your car well. I have a controversial argument that the ea888 2.0t is the best all around 4 cylinder, even the k series.
Luxury brands like Audi, bmw, Mercedes and the such aren’t great for a mainstream consumer. Enthusiasts that do research will buy them anyway. For the average person, they’re too expensive to maintain, and the luxury features people seek can be attained in a Signature trim Mazda for a fraction of the price.
I’m autistic, I work around cars every day, and I really really like cars.
I have a 2019 turbo cx5… Besides oil changes and tire rotation, what additional maintenance should I be doing over a naturally aspirated engine?
Outside of regular oil changes, I’d say spark plugs at 75-90k. I would flush coolant at 100k, then every 60k. Check your belts and hoses at 95-110k. Check your brake and fuel lines at 100k. Air filter every other oil change. If you ever take your intercooler off, check for oil blow by. A little bit won’t kill it. If at or under a quarter tank, don’t go full throttle to reduce strain on the fuel pump.
Transmission fluid flush at 90-100k with the filter. At 75k is when I would make it a habit to check oil every time at the gas pump if you think of it. Modern cars can burn oil per spec at higher mileages.
The turbo should be fine if you keep your oil and coolant maintained. If you just use it as a daily driver, you shouldn’t need to touch anything else until it breaks. An upgraded fuel pump can be insurance, but not necessary.
At higher mileages (120k+), you might start seeing signs of worn suspension and worn bushings. But if they aren’t wobbling and aren’t broken and you don’t mind the ride, it’ll be fine. But replacing bushings would make the ride good as new
I’m sure I’m missing something. But the Subaru forums have a really good write-up on midlife maintenance. A lot of this can apply to your Mazda
Careful with transmission flushes. They usually cause more trouble than it’s worth. This is usually a bad idea unless you’re already having issues.
Agreed.
There’s enough Korean videos out there slamming their engines for me to believe the Korean-made engines are any better. It’s a design flaw.
Post COVID and confirmed they were 1.6ts?
Man Chrysler products suck so bad! The only American brand next to Tesla would never buy. I’m a car dealer in FL and have seen it all, all vehicles have their problems, it mainly comes down to how they are treated and maintained. I’ve currently got a 2019 ford ranger with a good tune on it and have not had a single issue 65k miles down the road.
The 2.3 block you have was based off the Mazda L engine that they had in the older rangers/b2000, but newer heads
The Ecoboost wouldn’t be good without Mazda and Cosworth
Ford owned a controlling share of Mazda during the L series design, it was developed together by ford and Mazda. It’s not just the heads, everything is different except the cylinder blocks lineage. No interchangeable parts.
Also I was talking post COVID cars, since that’s what time we’re in. 2020+ American cars are not as good as they used to be.
Sure Ford co developed the engine, and it wasn’t put in American Ford models outside of the focus until 5 years after it’s development. But a lot of the research and design was mazda