Mazda Tribute 2002 2.0gsi 4wd
Discussion
I've recently been on the lookout for a cheap, reliable car to replace my Volvo v40 d2 redesign, which is at the end of its pcp term.
I've been hankering for bangernomic motoring again for a while, and had narrowed down my long list to a honda crv.. Had my heart set on one after test driving a couple, and there's another thread on where I thought I had found the perfect car, only for the seller to find something chronic with the car that he withdrew the advert and wouldn't sell me it...
In my head, I had already bought this grey crv and so the move for a 2.0 petrol, sometimes 4x4 was inevitable... On searching locally for more, there was nothing even close to condition and mileage for my budget (under a grand). I stumbled upon this mazda tribute, a car I had never heard of, just 1 mile away from me, with almost a years mot and no advisories.
Went and had a look, and whilst it is possibly the blandest, most uninspiring car to look at, it ticked all my boxes..Japanese, petrol, cheap, tidy looking, 4x4, high driving position.
There is quite a bit of surface rust on the subframe, and I can see that there's been a couple of repairs done in the sills. Looks like the car had had a full respray recently too, so on first glance, looks like a very well looked after old car. It is 16 years old and covered 114000 miles, so I wasn't expecting perfection!
Driving wise, it is solid enough, but way underpowered for the size of the car... 124bhp from new, so I'm probably playing with less than 100...
The spec is really good though, and by adding a 10 quid bluetooth/fm transmitter from ebay, I've got phone connectivity giving me access to calls, music and sat nav. Roof rack, CD Player, air con (ice cold), electric mirrors, electric windows all round, electric tilt and slide sun roof all working perfectly. Add in cruise control and a nifty sunglasses compartment (a la lexus) above the rear view mirror and I have all the creature comforts I'm used to. The sunroof was a big bonus for me, as my old cars all had them and I loved them... Do miss a sunroof!
On the road it's comfortable and takes our bumpy roads with ease. It's slow, but has enough low down torque to push me along at low speeds in town and happy enough to cruise along the motorway at 70, although this is at 3000rpm-could really do with a 6th gear!
Fuel consumption is rubbish, haven't calculated tank to tank yet, but judging by where the needle has moved to so far, I don't reckon I will be getting 30mpg.
Done a bit of research on parts, and shouldn't be too hard to come by or expensive.
No service history with it, which at this price(£800) I was willing to overlook. This means I don't know if the timing belt has been done, and with quotes around £360 to get it done, may just chance it... I'm going to pop off the cover this weekend and have a look at the belt anyway, fingers crossed it will be in fairly good condition.
Should hopefully see me through the summer, taking the wife and kids on some camping trips. It will certainly have enough space to take all our gear!
The back passenger bench sits 3 easily and the flat floor plan mean the middle person doesn't have there knees hunched up. It's a very light and spacious place to sit with plenty of cubby holes and cup holders.
Back seats fold flat and gives a huge loading area... Should be good for tip and IKEA runs!
As much as I'm enjoying this great spell of weather, I'm secretly looking forward to the snow and a large empty field! Seen a couple of mazda tribute in the snow videos on you tube, and it looks like fun!
That's providing the mazda rust monster doesn't eat the rest of the underside of the car before the winter comes!
Some pics...
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/xWoYF1gs[/url]
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/ewMTtKNy[/url[
I've been hankering for bangernomic motoring again for a while, and had narrowed down my long list to a honda crv.. Had my heart set on one after test driving a couple, and there's another thread on where I thought I had found the perfect car, only for the seller to find something chronic with the car that he withdrew the advert and wouldn't sell me it...
In my head, I had already bought this grey crv and so the move for a 2.0 petrol, sometimes 4x4 was inevitable... On searching locally for more, there was nothing even close to condition and mileage for my budget (under a grand). I stumbled upon this mazda tribute, a car I had never heard of, just 1 mile away from me, with almost a years mot and no advisories.
Went and had a look, and whilst it is possibly the blandest, most uninspiring car to look at, it ticked all my boxes..Japanese, petrol, cheap, tidy looking, 4x4, high driving position.
There is quite a bit of surface rust on the subframe, and I can see that there's been a couple of repairs done in the sills. Looks like the car had had a full respray recently too, so on first glance, looks like a very well looked after old car. It is 16 years old and covered 114000 miles, so I wasn't expecting perfection!
Driving wise, it is solid enough, but way underpowered for the size of the car... 124bhp from new, so I'm probably playing with less than 100...
The spec is really good though, and by adding a 10 quid bluetooth/fm transmitter from ebay, I've got phone connectivity giving me access to calls, music and sat nav. Roof rack, CD Player, air con (ice cold), electric mirrors, electric windows all round, electric tilt and slide sun roof all working perfectly. Add in cruise control and a nifty sunglasses compartment (a la lexus) above the rear view mirror and I have all the creature comforts I'm used to. The sunroof was a big bonus for me, as my old cars all had them and I loved them... Do miss a sunroof!
On the road it's comfortable and takes our bumpy roads with ease. It's slow, but has enough low down torque to push me along at low speeds in town and happy enough to cruise along the motorway at 70, although this is at 3000rpm-could really do with a 6th gear!
Fuel consumption is rubbish, haven't calculated tank to tank yet, but judging by where the needle has moved to so far, I don't reckon I will be getting 30mpg.
Done a bit of research on parts, and shouldn't be too hard to come by or expensive.
No service history with it, which at this price(£800) I was willing to overlook. This means I don't know if the timing belt has been done, and with quotes around £360 to get it done, may just chance it... I'm going to pop off the cover this weekend and have a look at the belt anyway, fingers crossed it will be in fairly good condition.
Should hopefully see me through the summer, taking the wife and kids on some camping trips. It will certainly have enough space to take all our gear!
The back passenger bench sits 3 easily and the flat floor plan mean the middle person doesn't have there knees hunched up. It's a very light and spacious place to sit with plenty of cubby holes and cup holders.
Back seats fold flat and gives a huge loading area... Should be good for tip and IKEA runs!
As much as I'm enjoying this great spell of weather, I'm secretly looking forward to the snow and a large empty field! Seen a couple of mazda tribute in the snow videos on you tube, and it looks like fun!
That's providing the mazda rust monster doesn't eat the rest of the underside of the car before the winter comes!
Some pics...
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/xWoYF1gs[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/ewMTtKNy[/url[heners54 said:
Looks very tidy, I've just done similar and bought a very bland car because of the value for money. I hope it treats you well!
Cheers! Hopefully it will last a couple of years and i should be able to sell it for what i paid for it.Looking to tart it up a bit...tinting rear windows and changing massive antenna for a shorter, more modern looking thing!
Will need to keep on top of the rust underneath too.
Had a look at taking the cambelt cover off to inspect it, but looks like i need to take several other components off first to get it off....that wont be happening (not DIY anyway). I've heard halfords do a cambelt inspection free of charge...would this include removing cover to inspect?
Grudging paying £360.00 for cambelt change on £800 car, but if it goes it's cost me £800 + whatever it costs to buy another car, which may have the same problem...If i could get someone to do it for £200-£250, i would probably do it, but all quotes i have are the same.
HorneyMX5 said:
Post up a photo a specs of the engine. If this is using the 1.6 or 1.8 lump it's likely the same engine that's it the MX5 which is non interference so it doesn't matter if the belt lets go, well apart from being stranded.
I quite like it, it's very late 90s looking.
Ignore me, just seen you stated 2.0 in the thread title. I quite like it, it's very late 90s looking.
HorneyMX5 said:
Ignore me, just seen you stated 2.0 in the thread title.
I think its derived from, or exactly the same as Ford 2.0 zetec...which, unfortunately is interference (i think, happy to stand corrected).Very happy with it so far, drives really well and is as comfortable as car as i've driven.
I also feel a freedom when driving it...an almost calm sensation, where i don't need to speed or rush...partly because i can't! I've noticed a couple of times at traffic lights, i'm more than happy for the car next to me to pull away quicker and get on his way, whereas before in the Volvo, i felt i was always wanting to jump off the lights and get in front...
So i've experienced a psychological shift that i wasn't expecting and it seems to have taken a lot of stress out of my commute...which can only be a good thing.
Update:
I've changed the lightbulbs (main and sidelights, haven't got round to doing the fogs yet as it involves taking off wheel arch liner)...Fitted Osram Cool Blue Intense bulbs and they're a big improvement on the OEM yellow halogens. Looks more modern and gives great light at night.
While looking at wheel arch linings on the front to get at fog lamps, i thought i would have a look at the back too. While doing this i stuck my finger right through the nearside rear wheel arch liner and was horrified to find that the whole thing was practically made of rust!
I started pulling away clumps and clumps of rusty metal and could have kept going and removed the whole inner wheel arch...also exposed the fuel filler neck to find that the vapour return pipe was completely corroded and was just a rusty hulk hanging off the main filler neck not even connected to the tank.
I was horrified to find this, even though it was an old Mazda and shouldn't have been so surprised, but more due to the fact the car came with a clean MOT with zero advisories only 4 months ago....this rust and rot was years old, not a few months!
I called the garage who issued the MOT and they asked me to bring it in....
Glad i did...they put the car up on the ramps and we went over the whole undersdie of the car...its in remarkably good shape for a 16yr old Mazda, and has been undersealed in the past. Theyve agreed to weld on new splash guards and also to replace the breather return hose free of charge...
I was glad to see the metal under the wheel well arch was as new, so no worries with structural parts of the car!
Panic averted...will continue with tarting her up...got a quote to tint all the rear windows, so will probably be doing this next....still not paying £360 to get the timing belt done though as it's showing no signs of wear...not usually much of a gambler, but think i will play the old timing belt roulette for a while yet!
Will get some pics of new headlights once its dark enough, although no before pics to compare it with, so might be ultimately pointless...
Otherwise really enjoying the car, not as thirsty as i had first feared, Have done a couple of long motorway stints and returning a healthy 36+mpg (cruise control set at around 68mph the most of the time). Very comfortable, hardly feel anything driving over potholes or speed humps...the sports suspension and 50mm profile tyres on the volvo were quite crashy!
I've changed the lightbulbs (main and sidelights, haven't got round to doing the fogs yet as it involves taking off wheel arch liner)...Fitted Osram Cool Blue Intense bulbs and they're a big improvement on the OEM yellow halogens. Looks more modern and gives great light at night.
While looking at wheel arch linings on the front to get at fog lamps, i thought i would have a look at the back too. While doing this i stuck my finger right through the nearside rear wheel arch liner and was horrified to find that the whole thing was practically made of rust!
I started pulling away clumps and clumps of rusty metal and could have kept going and removed the whole inner wheel arch...also exposed the fuel filler neck to find that the vapour return pipe was completely corroded and was just a rusty hulk hanging off the main filler neck not even connected to the tank.
I was horrified to find this, even though it was an old Mazda and shouldn't have been so surprised, but more due to the fact the car came with a clean MOT with zero advisories only 4 months ago....this rust and rot was years old, not a few months!
I called the garage who issued the MOT and they asked me to bring it in....
Glad i did...they put the car up on the ramps and we went over the whole undersdie of the car...its in remarkably good shape for a 16yr old Mazda, and has been undersealed in the past. Theyve agreed to weld on new splash guards and also to replace the breather return hose free of charge...
I was glad to see the metal under the wheel well arch was as new, so no worries with structural parts of the car!
Panic averted...will continue with tarting her up...got a quote to tint all the rear windows, so will probably be doing this next....still not paying £360 to get the timing belt done though as it's showing no signs of wear...not usually much of a gambler, but think i will play the old timing belt roulette for a while yet!
Will get some pics of new headlights once its dark enough, although no before pics to compare it with, so might be ultimately pointless...
Otherwise really enjoying the car, not as thirsty as i had first feared, Have done a couple of long motorway stints and returning a healthy 36+mpg (cruise control set at around 68mph the most of the time). Very comfortable, hardly feel anything driving over potholes or speed humps...the sports suspension and 50mm profile tyres on the volvo were quite crashy!
Brucie Bonus re timing belt conundrum...
Very kind friend of a friend owns a garage, and says if i supply the parts, he will do the timing belt change for the price of a couple of pints!
Found a new timing belt kit, incl. water pump online for a little over £70.00...No more timing belt roulette!! It'll be a bonus having this done when it comes time to sell too.
So Monday, into garage that MOT'd it to have rusty wheel arches/sills fixed + rotted fuel filler neck vapour return pipe, he's going to coat the underside in Aqua Steel too while its up on the lift...Then, following week timing belt done...should see me right for a while.
...Contacted a guy on Gumtree today about a set of 4 x BF Goodrich AT tyres too, £40 for the set, all good tread on them! Just trying to arrange courier to pick up...
Very kind friend of a friend owns a garage, and says if i supply the parts, he will do the timing belt change for the price of a couple of pints!
Found a new timing belt kit, incl. water pump online for a little over £70.00...No more timing belt roulette!! It'll be a bonus having this done when it comes time to sell too.
So Monday, into garage that MOT'd it to have rusty wheel arches/sills fixed + rotted fuel filler neck vapour return pipe, he's going to coat the underside in Aqua Steel too while its up on the lift...Then, following week timing belt done...should see me right for a while.
...Contacted a guy on Gumtree today about a set of 4 x BF Goodrich AT tyres too, £40 for the set, all good tread on them! Just trying to arrange courier to pick up...
Just picked up the car from the garage, new wheel arch liners welded in, fuel neck breather hose replaced and whole underside of car undersealed. Practically had to force the guy to take £20 off me to get himself a couple of pints...strange experience at a garage getting work done for free and having to force mechanic to take payment!
He never used the aqua steel i provided as he wasn't sure on curing times etc, so just used regular underseal.
BFGoodrich tyres coming tomorrow and timing belt kit should be here middle of next week.
Are the BFG A/T's OK for summer road use, or should i keep them away for the winter? Will rarley be venturing off road, but liked the look of them...big chunky things with white writing appeal to me!
Along with the tyres, was thinking about spraying the alloys black to give it a more aggressive look. Not worth taking to wheel specialist to get powder coated or anything, could i DIY with some spray cans. and can this be done with the wheels and tyres on?
Cheers
He never used the aqua steel i provided as he wasn't sure on curing times etc, so just used regular underseal.
BFGoodrich tyres coming tomorrow and timing belt kit should be here middle of next week.
Are the BFG A/T's OK for summer road use, or should i keep them away for the winter? Will rarley be venturing off road, but liked the look of them...big chunky things with white writing appeal to me!
Along with the tyres, was thinking about spraying the alloys black to give it a more aggressive look. Not worth taking to wheel specialist to get powder coated or anything, could i DIY with some spray cans. and can this be done with the wheels and tyres on?
Cheers
PugwasHDJ80 said:
I keep my BFG A/Ts on all year and that's a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee
They wear quickly in the heat, which is the only real problem.
They can also be noisy at motorway speeds.
Thanks, so with this endless Summer we're getting in Scotland at the moment, not the best time to fit them? They wear quickly in the heat, which is the only real problem.
They can also be noisy at motorway speeds.
When you say quick to wear, i've been reading reviews on them where people are getting 60-80000 miles out of a set?? Surely this cant be right? I normally get about 10-12000 out of a set of fronts...
Received the 4 x BF Goodrich tyres today...was a bit of a gamble buying off gumtree unseen, and it;s half paid off.
2 of them are almost as new and dated 2014, so would be happy to put on the car...the other 2, however are slightly worn (still 6-7mm tread on them), but dated 2004, so very wary of putting 14yr old rubber on my car.
Shame, as they would have looked good on the car as a set...cant see me forking out £150+ each for another 2 and i'm not going to use 2 of them only. Will need to keep an eye out for another couple of newer 215/70/r16 A/T KO's to make a complete set.
If anyone comes across any this size and in decent condition, please let me know.
2 of them are almost as new and dated 2014, so would be happy to put on the car...the other 2, however are slightly worn (still 6-7mm tread on them), but dated 2004, so very wary of putting 14yr old rubber on my car.
Shame, as they would have looked good on the car as a set...cant see me forking out £150+ each for another 2 and i'm not going to use 2 of them only. Will need to keep an eye out for another couple of newer 215/70/r16 A/T KO's to make a complete set.
If anyone comes across any this size and in decent condition, please let me know.
heners54 said:
Looks very tidy, I've just done similar and bought a very bland car because of the value for money. I hope it treats you well!
Wish I'd done this years ago when I was younger and needed a cheap runabout for my 8 mile a day commute. Turned down 2 bargain cars, a Nissan Primera estate for £500 or a free Proton Persona, both in decent nick for what were then 10/12 year old cars. Instead paid £900 for a ropey old Vectra SRi because it looked better and was more powerful. The 6 months of ownership gave me no end of problems, and head gasket failure meant it was soon scrapped.It seems to be very popular in America and Australia, but wasn't really marketed in the UK... Probably because it would have been seen as competition for the free lander, and land rover was part owned by Ford at that time, so would have been counter intuitive to market a cheaper alternative to the free lander when that already had a guaranteed sales base.
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