Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

4921 readers

33 users here now

About Community

c/Cars is the largest automotive enthusiast community on Lemmy and the fediverse. We're your central hub for vehicle-related discussion, industry news, reviews, projects, DIY guides, advice, stories, and more.

Rules

Stay respectful to the community, hold civil discussions, even when others hold opinions that may differ from yours.

This is not an NSFW community, and any such content will not be tolerated.

Policy, not politics! Policy discussions revolve around the concept; political discussions revolve around the individual, party, association, etc. We only allow POLICY discussions and political discussions should go to c/politics.

Must be related to cars, anything that does not have connection to cars will be considered spam/irrelevant and is subject to removal.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

BallShapedMan@lemmy.world

RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world

Shopping for a fairly rugged hatchback (or compact cross) w/ AWD. Maybe Forester vs Mazda 3 Hatch? (feddit.online)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by misterred@feddit.online to c/cars@lemmy.world

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi, has anyone compared these head to head? I like the idea that the Forester has an available manual transmission. The Mazda looks reliable and very fun to drive. The frontend/grille looks kinda stupid.

We're in very rural northern Vermont with quite a few dirt roads, usually but not always pretty well maintained.

Car dealerships aren't close by. The Subaru dealer is just under an hour drive, the Mazda/Volkswagen dealership just over an hour and a half each way. Locally we have Ford, GMC/Chevy, and Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge.

I'd probably buy new this time although I've had good luck buying 'certified' used cars off of leases, most recently a 2015 Audi A3 off of a 36-month lease cancelled after 24 I think? so pretty close to new - with manufacturer + dealer warranties; someone else having eaten the depreciation; low mileage, and full confidence that scheduled maintenance has been adhered to, prior to my taking ownership. Comfort and tech, of course reliability, and ease of third-party servicing and parts are all considerations for me.

Reasoned opinions very welcome; TIA for any thoughts at all. Buying is hard.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] misterred@feddit.online 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hey, hopefully a last question, only because I feel like I've been falling into a Subaru-yay-or-nay quandary.

Anybody have experience with the Chevy Trax? I've seen a few in the mountains around here and they look capable for what that's worth - and more like a sedan, which is appealing to me. In the Compact SUV category Car & Driver likes it very much. Readers have complained about the wet timing-belt.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a68037852/2025-subcompact-suv-comparison-test/

[–] slingstone@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Don't do it. I've seen a teardown by a mechanic and he was not impressed. If I'm recalling correctly, this is a THREE cylinder turbo-charged engine. There's the famous wet timing BELT and plastic in major structural parts. I do not think this will be the kind of rugged vehicle you want.

Here's the review.