NSMB Automotive Thread ( Q&A, Car Porn, etc)

Current car is a 2005 Mazda 3 5-speed manual with 220k on it. Still running mostly OK. We now have a kid on the way and the wife is not a confident city driver. She can drive stick fine but the 3 is a bit rough, low sightline and driving the stick in stop and go is frustrating/distracting blahblah. She's going to have to drive more with the kid and we want more space for road trips so time for an upgrade. We are only having one kid so don't need a giant vehicle.

Been looking at compact SUV or whatever you call the CRV, CX-5/7, Forester, RA4, Tucson etc. I like these for better sightline, bit more cargo space than our 3 hatchback, auto transmission, AWD (a must, will run proper winters of course) and just more modern features that our 2005 lacks. Basic safety stuff like lane departure, back-up cam is nice, not sure if these cars have auto braking etc. as I'm just starting research.

Budget is around $20-25k so we are looking for a few-years-old. Thoughts on vehicles in this class? Mostly concerned around reliability/operating costs and comfort. As long as it has enough guts to get up and down the Sea to Sky loaded with gear and pass on highways that is enough performance for me.

One thing I keep thinking of is if a hitch mount North Shore or tray style bike rack is gonna be a pain in the ass with the rear hatch. I know some of those racks can pivot out of the way. I've run Thule sidearm roof racks on the 3 but I want to go hitch on the new vehicle.

You will get lots of responses here as there are alot of vehicles that meet your criteria.  A 4-5 year old Forester is hard to beat, and should be right in that price range.  Hitch mount racks almost all swing out of the way or down pretty easily to clear rear hatches, so I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor.  We have a OneUp on our wagon which actually clears the hatch when folded up (and tilts out of the way when loaded with bikes), and I have a Gen 1 NSR rack on my LandCruiser that folds down to the ground to clear the hatch and trunk fold down.

Posted by: shoreboy

You will get lots of responses here as there are alot of vehicles that meet your criteria.  A 4-5 year old Forester is hard to beat, and should be right in that price range.  Hitch mount racks almost all swing out of the way or down pretty easily to clear rear hatches, so I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor.  We have a OneUp on our wagon which actually clears the hatch when folded up (and tilts out of the way when loaded with bikes), and I have a Gen 1 NSR rack on my LandCruiser that folds down to the ground to clear the hatch and trunk fold down.

Thanks and good to know about the racks, those OneUp look amazing. I have a friend moving away with a 4-pack NSR that I might buy used for the next few years. Was considering tray for ease of family loading/unloading bikes but that is a few years away at this point. I need to do a bunch of reading on CRV vs Forester vs Tucson vs CX5 etc. Right away it looks like the CR5 doesn't gain any usable space from the Mazda 3 so not sure it's worth looking at, and the 7 is another class up for size.

A while ago probably last year, someone asked if my internet block options were blueprinted... Here's a blueprinted stage2 long block from Corksport/Dankai for the Speed3, Speed6 (woooo) and even the CX-7 in case someones motor went zoom zoom boom or is experiencing cylinder pressure loss (usually Cyl3). "Stage1's" are available.

zoom zooom

semi blog post is...

The appointment has been set for the end of the month. Other than an exhaust mani and new block, it'll be a small refurb:

- new oe clutch and fidanza flywheel. OE fly wheel is a dual mass and about $1200 US (say wot)

- intake valves and injectors cleaned and flushed

- new turbo, downpipe, intake manifold, intake, breather line

- step colder plugs, egr delete, new rad hoses, catch can

- pcv plate, and a custom tune woooo.

All of that and my shop says 15 hours. So sign myself up I did. Not the tune though, that was extra. Stratified Automotive in Surrey will be doing the tuning.

Part of me wants to wait even longer and get the exhaust mani but I'll probably get that with an fmic next year and possibly/hopefully a new block. Just rolled over 260,000km last week so she needed and deserves some TLC.

And a rando mechanical note about low compression, which some or one of my cylinders had.

I followed the advice of a different forum user and had two hot engine oil flushes in the past year. Then had a compression after the last (the first hot flush was almost a year ago, compression test was july'ish), and the compression went up on the low cylinders. Could be similar to adding a half quart of ATF to the oil 2-3 weeks before an oil change where that removes some internal deposits.

run straight ATF at like 2000 rpm with no load for like 15 minutes drain and flush twice. it'll clean what ails ya, for better or worse.

Posted by: Adam-West

run straight ATF at like 2000 rpm with no load for like 15 minutes drain and flush twice. it'll clean what ails ya, for better or worse.

Diesel is cheaper...

I find this aspect of tuning hilarious. Once the base tune is flashed, I'm supposed to do some data logs on two wide open runs of 3rd and 4th gear to refine the base tune. What that means is I may lose my license or zoom zoom boom before getting the tune finished as I can already shift out of 3rd at 150/160~kph when punching it and I've honestly never ran 4th gear out yet. Perhaps dyno tuning is the answer...lol?

.

Here's a question for automotive minded people:

Over two different sets of wheels and 3 different sets of tires, I've had consistent PSI issue's on 3/4 tires.

Can anyone offer some explanation?

made in china valve stems.

Buy Michelin...

Posted by: switch

Buy Michelin...

This.

Posted by: Stuminator

Posted by: switch

Buy Michelin...

This.

Currently happening on my Michelin AS3+ and happened only on one of my Pilot Super Sports, which I will never ever say anything bad about, ever! Fucking loved those tires.