I keep seeing ads for Toyota Venzas on Comedy Central and on NFL games. At first, I thought Mazda was bringing back the 6 wagon - since 2007 (the year we bought ours) was reportedly the last year they were made, and re-branding them for Toyota in some kind of bizarre partnership. But no, this is a Toyota creation. It just looks like a clone of my Mazda 6, with slighter higher doors, less visible windows, and a little more cargo capacity. Strange that Mazda thought no one wanted a wagon, and Toyota launches a whole new product line based on one. Same thing happened with the '91 Honda Accord wagon we bought - next model change, Honda discontinued the wagon, even though the Accord EX wagon was the first "designed in America" version that Honda had produced.
If you want to have alot of wagon choices (that are not SUVs) gotta move to Australia I guess. In Melbourne and Sydney, when I was there in 2000 and 2001, between 1/4 and 1/3 of all cars on the road, and parked along city streets I saw, were wagons. Holdens, Fords, Subarus, etc. Americans love their SUVs though - whatever.
8 years ago
Oh... and my Mazda 6, was made in Michigan, at a Ford/Mazda joint venture, with 80% US content - per the sticker that came with it. Using STP every fill up, we regularly get 26 to 29 mpg. Dr. Desert Flower and I did a study back when she used to drive 50 miles each way to Greenwood and back, and found that NOT using STP dropped gas mileage 2 or 3 mpg each tank. Now, her 12 mile commute, and my zero mile commute, are a refreshing change for our monthly fuel expenditures.
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