a Mazda6 with a Lincoln-Mercury badge?? Say it ain't so....

 

they said it was fun to drive and Ford owns both companies so it's highly likely sad to say. Also the Mazfa3 shares the Focus platform. ford is MAzda's only weak point. Thank God Ford is losing money and soon won't be able to keep Mazda. Mazda is the main reason Ford can say they're doing well but it only owns 33% of MAzda so if the other 66% wants to buy the 33% back Ford won't be able to stop them if sales continue like this. Only problem is it's hapening so slowly because ford gets 1/3 or all Mazda's income. Go Mazda!

(although Ford was the one to convince MAzda to bring back th eRx-7 which they're currently working on creating a concept for, +1 for Ford there and the 7 will have it's own platform nothing handed down by Ford nor will it be handed down to Ford either, ugh could you imagine a Mustang Rx-7 hybrid? thank God the rotary separates the 2)

 

not sure where you get your info there 87 turbo II. It was Ford management in charge of Mazda during their turn-around. I believe we own 38% of Mazda at this point. (I'm a Ford employee that worked as an engineer on the Mazda6 platform for the last 5 or so years.) Both companies work closely together.

The Milan is loosely based off of the Mazda6 platform. (As are the Lincoln Zephyr and Ford Fusion.) The Mazda6 platform is an excellent starting point for a vehicle's design. The handling dynamics are spot on.

 

isn't the american market doing bad (Ford and GM) I get most my info from webforums like this though so anyhting you have to say is more acurate. I'm just not abig ford guy and we've owned 2 so i'm not baised.

 

Right now the Big3 are under-represented in the small car and cross-over vehicle segments (those are the only segments that have posted gains in sales....all others showed a decline from last year 2nd qtr results.) I think as those vehicles come to market, you'll start to see a shift.

Platform vehicles are nothing new to the industry, everyone does it. (350Z/G35 are the same platform, Honda/Acura, Toyota Camry/Lexus ES300) If you've got a good platform to start with, why not use it? Most of the Cross-over vehicles are actually car chassis. (Did you know that the Mazda Tribute's chassis is a derivative of the Mazda 626?)

Mazda also benefits from this because you then have more units to spread out the development costs over and you can afford a better chassis for less $$$$.

 

So, SS, can I thank you for making it impossible for me to buy any other model but the Mazda6 (even if I did get a used one -- see my post in NEW MEMBERS)? I have never felt so secure on the road as I do in the 6. Granted, I couldn't afford a BMW or Mercedes, but I have told family members who DO own those cars to try my new 6 and dare to compare. You guys did a fantastic job engineering that car.

Shell

 

Yeah Mazda engineers do a dynamite job, nobody read my post in the CX-7 section about "best in class" just to show off some technical marvels the engineers do.

 

I'll find some time and go back and read that post, Turbo II. It's like Mazda is a big secret or something...and then someone gets a rental or drives a friend's car, and BAM...they've got the bug!

 

yeah I said that to my friend we were talking about how low mazda's fail rates are and how feature filled they are and I said "yo uknow befor eI bought one and researched I neever realized how amazing MAzda is. I just thought of it as any old japanese company like toyota, mitsubishi, and such but I never realized that it is the bridge between the rich companies and cheaper ones, like the intermediate inbetween toyota and lexus, honda and acura, nissan and infiniti, vw and audi, but these are sub luxury cars!" and he wa slike "yeah before I got the protege I didn't know anyhting about the mazda line other than the Rx-7" It could be beacuse when you talk to other owners of the same car it seems glorified but looking back in article s or reading how others talk about their cars on their own car forum sites, we really do have a slight pre-BMW or Mercedes quality car (even my car was built to compete with Porsche). Go Mazda engineers!

 

Sure (at least the front interior cockpit)...You're welcome...I was but one of a large team that made that car happen. I liked it so much I bought one myself.

Mazda has really had a turn-around in the last few years, really starting with the launch of the Mazda6 (1st car with the new design DNA that is now carried throughout the product line.) I think that if Mazda had more dealers, they'd sell many more cars. I think a lot of people are turned off by the fact that the nearest Mazda dealer may be 20-30 miles away...It makes it tough if you do get your car serviced at the dealer.