Not RX-8 specific, I hope I don't get kicked for being off-topic.

Just posting this because my gf always thinks only Honda and Toyota make good quality, lasting vehicles. She drives an Accord :-(

The TUEV = technical supervising group in Germany - always publishes statistics about their annual findings. What vehicles break down most often, what vehicles don't pass inspection etc.

For starters, in Germany your vehicle has to be inspected every couple of years and these inspections are rather tough. I suspect that half of the vehicles I see here would not pass, minimum reason because nobody here seems to bother to adjust the headlights.

This article lists the how many cars of a model did not pass inspection in the first attempt. For 1-3 year old cars, the Boxster was ranked #1 because only 2.6 out of 100 cars failed inspection.

It has separate tables for 4-5 and 6-7 year old cars. Also some tables for the worst cars (where you won't find Japanese brands but the usual suspects.. Opel (GM), Ford, Chrysler, VW (!)..)

The best vehicles are made by: Porsche, Mazda, Audi, Subaru, Toyota, Mercedes.
LOTS of TOYotaS!

The link is rather long and I probably screw up posting it. I'm going to use tinyurl instead:

http://tinyurl.com/5n8yw

Honda isn't listed there but they do sell in Germany. Toyota and Mazda use different names for some vehicles, it seems.

Enjoy!

 

To bad they are not known for being among the best car DEALERSHIPS,

 

Great to see the Miata on there. I can definitely testify to how durable those little buggers are.

Thanks for the link!

 

The Demio is also known as the Mazda2 -- but it's not sold in the US with either name.

 

Thank god it's not! I'm over in New Zealand for the time being, and while I hate the growing number of oversized vehicles on American roadways, I equally despise the vast numbers of tiny vehicles on others.

Some cars are just too small for American driving. The max speed limit on any highway here is 100 km/h, which translates roughly to 62 mph. That's ok in a small car, especially since most roadways in even semi-populated areas are only half that (and driving at 30mph through a small town with nobody around can be equally frustrating).

But take one of these Audi A3s (coming to the US in the next year), a Mazda 2, etc, and you're starting to be a little unsafe for normal highway diving at 70+ in the states, when mixed in with the semis and hemis.

Sorry about the rant, I'm not trying to hijack this thread...

Oh yeah, Long live Mazda...zoom zoom.