which brand are most durable: Subaru, Toyota, or Honda?
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Older Subaru's were prone to rust, but I don't know about newer models.
I have a 2004, just looked at it when it was on the lift a few months ago, and next to no rust issues. It was driven for a good chunk of time in the Snowbelt, but mostly garaged and washed off throughout the winter.
I have a 2004, just looked at it when it was on the lift a few months ago, and next to no rust issues. It was driven for a good chunk of time in the Snowbelt, but mostly garaged and washed off throughout the winter.
2004 is fairly new, but even here in Alaska older Subarus is the coastal areas were full of rust. I had a 2009 Forester, which was too new to have any rust issues.
It seems to me that Mazda uses thinner sheet metal and composites compared to other Japanese brands as I see so many of them with far greater rust corrosion damage. It is a significant enough difference to be notable in my book.
All of that has changed with the newer Mazda automobiles. In reality Mazda, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, and Subaru in the '80s-'90's were prone to rust, specially near the ocean and in places where road salts were used. The metal may still be on the thin side, but they are better undercoated these days.
Our 2003 Mazda Protege5 was a rust bucket. The prior gen Mazda3s are still having issues too. The new ones are too soon to tell but I haven't heard that they have changed anything about their process.
The Corolla that year had just a 4-speed automatic transmission (as compared with other competing models with 5-speeds), so it lagged in terms of highway fuel economy, so I'm not surprised that its fuel economy wasn't as competitive. The Camry had a 5 speed trans for several years already, so if you do a lot of highway driving its fuel economy comes close to the old Corolla. The current Corolla probably has a more modern transmission.
I have a 2012 Corolla LE. The transmission is a 4-speed forward, and it you don't pay attention to the indicator on the dash when you put it in gear, it can be either on 3rd gear or 4th. If the indicator shows D, then the transmission would shift to the 4th gear for highway speeds, which in turn keeps the engine RPM a little lower and saves some fuel. Also, if you use the recommended 0W-20 oil, it does not use as much fuel as if using 5W-20. I like the little car because it has been very reliable, and quite good on the icy conditions we encounter in Alaska. It wears Blizzak tires during the winter, of course
Our 2003 Mazda Protege5 was a rust bucket. The prior gen Mazda3s are still having issues too. The new ones are too soon to tell but I haven't heard that they have changed anything about their process.
I have seen plenty of old Suzuki, Hondas, Mazdas and Subarus that wre full of rust, but not the late 2000 models. The same was the case with Ford F-150, and GMC Sierra of the '80s.
Yeah Mazda is the only brand where I'm really seeing rust issues on mid 2000 or newer cars.
Hopefully Mazda has taken care of the problem with newer automobiles. Some of the new ones such as the CX-5 and CX-9 look quite good.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
