Hi all,

does anyone of you have experience with one of these cars? There's a Mazda Tribute on sale that looks ok. 174000 km, 2004, 150.000 THB and also an Escape more or less the same. I favour the Mazda but as they are relatively equal (platform, engine) I wonder if some of you can tell me about fuel consumption, transmission problems and other possible issues and flaws.

Thanks in advance

They are basically a Mazda 626 chassis with the old Ford V6 Duratorq engine. That engine is not bad but the autogearbox is the Ford CD4E.  They were not built for the long haul. At 174k km it would either be on its second gearbox or if the original, then on its last legs.

Personally I'd put the money toward something better.

The V6 Escapes and Tributes had transmission problems.  Duratec V6 also had problems when owners fitted LPG.  

The 4 cylinder 2.3L version was a lot more reliable.