Quote:
Originally Posted by Picus
Just on the quality thing. I think it is important to make the distinction between a few things.
1) Mechanical reliability.
2) Exterior/interior part/fitment and finish quality.
3) design.
I think a lot of "car guys" talking about cars on forums sort of mish-mash these together, or talk about them interchangeably. For example, someone might say a domestic is "poor quality" and mean that they use low grade plastic on the interior. That doesn't mean the car is of poor quality, it means one material on the interior is. Example: people often comment the 3-series has a "cheap" interior, what they generally mean is the design is spartan, so it looks like plush than competitors. The actual material quality/fitment/finish is quite good. I've had people say Range Rovers are of fantastic quality - which is true in terms of interior materials, but mechanically they tend to suck. I hope this makes sense.
For the Cobalt; in terms of interior quality I am not a huge fan. Fitment is good, but the quality of materials is eh. Mechanically I am sure it is a fine car. The Subaru's interior is more appealing in a design sense to me, and the materials are of slightly better quality (imo), but I don't think it will be any more mechanically reliable than a cobalt.
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This was the message i was trying to get across. Its how it feels, not saying the car is just going to fall apart. It just feels/looks cheap.
And to the poster who brought up the 3 sharing ford parts:
Yes, the 3 does share chassis with the Euro Ford market. However, thats not to say that mazda=ford. Ford uses mazdas design and technology for their products (i.e sharing chassis) and mazda uses ford parts to keep their costs down. Its not saying that because they are Ford parts mean that the 3 is a cheap ford car. Im talking specifically about Ford cars with ford design and build that feel cheap to me. (like the new focus)
Because of Fords economic situation, they are actually selling back a marjority of their share back to mazda (they currently hold 33.4 percent) 14% goes back to mazda i believe, while another small percentage goes to various japanese insurance companies. Ford needs mazda to stay afloat IMO.
but comon. who doesnt love that boxer growl?
