• Zink@programming.dev
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    6 hours ago

    Mazda has been flying under the radar doing things right for a long time, in my experience.

    I’m currently driving a 2012 Mazda3 that we bought new 13 years ago. It has been completely reliable while our 2013 Honda has needed some repairs. It is fuel efficient (40mg hwy), and it is still fun to drive. In the automatic transmission’s manual-shift mode the shift lever goes in the correct direction for driving dynamics (pull back to upshift, forward to downshift). In the normal automatic drive mode it seems to use an accelerometer to downshift when braking downhill.

    My very first car was a mazda MX-6 from the late 80s with a 5-speed manual transmission. I bought it with 180,000 miles as a cheap junk “first car” and drove it for another 40,000 miles over the next few years. It needed some repairs, of course, but it was fun to drive and did a great job getting me around the state while I was in the late college to early independent adult years.

    Now I’m middle aged and my drive to work is just a few miles via quiet twisty country road. I think I’m gonna get an MX-5 Miata next. 6-speed and soft top. That sounds nice.

    For years I thought a fast dual motor EV sport sedan would be my next vehicle (whatever the non-Tesla model 3 performance equivalent would be) but a roadster would probably make it more fun to get up and leave the house. Plus so much cheaper and, given the small amount of miles I drive, probably more environmentally friendly. It would definitely generate a lot less microplastic pollution form the weight difference alone.