I am looking to buy a new car. I am thinking of either a manual Mazda 3 Touring or a manual Ford SE with sport packages. I am doing alot of driving around 25k a year mostly highway. So i wanted something that was good on gas but fun to drive(manual) .

But i really don't know much about mazda or ford for that much except they used to be pretty bad but ford looks to be turning around. I know mazda used to have a rust problem is this still an issue? Please let me know what you guys think.

 

A few comments:

• We recently looked at both cars for my wife; if back seat leg room is an issue for you (as it is for us), the Ford may well lose out based upon that metric alone.
• The Focus SE has a 5-Speed manual which is, a decent unit; by all accounts the new 6-Speed unit in the the Mazda3 i Touring is one of the most (if not the most) delightful shifting manual transmissions ever designed for a FWD car.
• Based upon anecdotal reports, the Mazda is likely to return slightly better fuel economy, that said, the annual difference in fuel cost will be very small.
• I don't hear too many reports of rust these days on any car, Mazdas included.
• I know this is purely subjective, but I think the Ford is better looking inside and out.

 

I've owned a 03 Toyota Camry, 05 Toyota corolla, 05 scion xb, 07 dodge ram, 05 jeep, 09 ford crown Victoria. Of course these were all company cars I've been assigned to but I drove over 30,000 miles in each vehicle and by far I love my new Mazda 3 hatchback. This is my own car not a company so I did my research. I love the way Mazda drives compared to other in its class. Plus you can't beat the new skyactive technology where im averaging 38.9 mpg in the city. I test drove over 10 cars until I drove the Mazda and fell in love. Plus resell value on Mazda will always be more competitive then ford. Just my two cents though.