Mazda2 headed to North America

[YarisSedan]

Ford and mazda share a lot of the same stuff now ever since they went to bed together. Whenever i order parts for mazda its funny when it come with a blue sticker that says ford oem on the box.

[supmet]

Originally Posted by Wattz

Despite the Yaris' great economy, I absolutely despise the way it handles. This is coming from the previous owner of a Ford Focus.

I also drive my wife's Honda Element a few times a week, and IT HAS BETTER HANDLING than the Yaris!

Really, any handling improvements that can be made to the Yaris are well worth it. Responsiveness, stability, and comfort are the choices available in handling. The trick is that you can only have two of the three in a vehicle. Toyota chose comfort over stability. I can imagine that most other manufacturers of micro cars are going to choose stability over comfort. You can count on it with Mazda, especially with a slogan like "Zoom zoom!"

Love my Yaris, but it is definitely lacking where a lot of other cars will pick up. Then again, Mazda isn't known for its outstanding fuel economy. :)

Buy a sway bar and springs if you want better handling. I've driven an element, and I don't know how you define handling, but I would have a hard time saying it handles better in any way, other than being slightly smoother.

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

Ford and mazda share a lot of the same stuff now ever since they went to bed together. Whenever i order parts for mazda its funny when it come with a blue sticker that says ford oem on the box.

When I had my chevy prizm/corolla, it was usually about 30% of the price to buy corolla parts. My rear quarter glass was 127 at the chevy dealership without weather stripping, and 40 dollars at toyota with the stripping.

The mazda looks ok. I'll wait a few years to see if they randomly explode or anything. My brother has a 6 that isn't too horrible.