2004 Mazda Tribute--learn me

For a separate purpose than my other threads, I'm also looking at SUV's and wagons.

My uncle is offering me a real nice deal on a 2004 Mazda Tribute, 4x4, 3.0 V6 with 89,000. He says the car is in good shape, transmission is still strong. It has a small oil leak, but is never actually low on oil--he's just noticed the stain from where it is parked. His mechanic, an indy guy that he's taken cars to for years, told him that it wasn't worth it to chase down the leak. It has the tow package (not sure if it is factory or not, my uncle bought it used and never towed with it). The car has a slight shake above 75 mph.

Any insights on these vehicles? Other than them being Escape twins, I don't know much about it. Would it be worth it for what amounts to a 3rd vehicle/winter beater/dog hauler? It likely wouldn't last more than 2 years in my stable.

EDIT: My uncle is the type of guy who is pretty good about maintaining cars too, so assume its been cared for.

I had a '10 Escape as a compnay car back in '10. It was nice and generally a good vehicle.
It essentially replaced a Volvo 850 wagon and did a nice job of doing all that previously was done with the wagon.

It should excel at winter driving and dog hauling.
Expect surprisingly low mpg out of the V6. Rated at 16/18/22 so accept that 20 mpg will be a good day.
On the plus side, it is rated to tow 3,500#.

Careful because the '10 Escape is very different from an '04. 6 speed transmission vs 4 speed, 240 HP vs 200HP and some revision to the suspension means that a '07+ Escape/Tribute is a lot nicer to drive than the generation before.

Didn't this generation of Tribute/Escape suffer extreme rust on the rear strut towers? I have friends w/a FWD one that the only thing holding the strut towers together was the interior carpet. Apparently there's a patch panel available for it though, because they got it repaired for a not too unreasonable amount and are still driving it.

petegossett wrote: Didn't this generation of Tribute/Escape suffer extreme rust on the rear strut towers? I have friends w/a FWD one that the only thing holding the strut towers together was the interior carpet. Apparently there's a patch panel available for it though, because they got it repaired for a not too unreasonable amount and are still driving it.

I'll take a look

mtn wrote:

petegossett wrote: Didn't this generation of Tribute/Escape suffer extreme rust on the rear strut towers? I have friends w/a FWD one that the only thing holding the strut towers together was the interior carpet. Apparently there's a patch panel available for it though, because they got it repaired for a not too unreasonable amount and are still driving it.

I'll take a look

Looks like there is a recall for that which would take care of the problem.

It's not the greatest car in the world...

Robbie wrote: It's not the greatest car in the world...

See, this isn't a bad thing that I'm hearing here. I'm looking for something like a Cavalier. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it doesn't break down.

The deal that he's offering me is below trade in value. The only ones on craigslist that I can find that are close in price all have a blown engine or transmission. This one is in pretty decent condition.

My wife had one when we met, it was a perfectly fine car. For a Ford. I never had any particular problems with it. The 3.0v6 is pretty spunky in that little suv, reminded me of the v6 contour. But I actually like Ford's 3.0; who knows why.

I still think I'd favor the power loss to fine a 4cyl with the stick.

Given the mileage and fact you are honest with it being a 2 year spare vehicle at best, I would definitely go for it.

Robbie wrote: It's not the greatest car in the world...

Just a peanut gallery comment actually, nothing to do with the actual car in question.

We'll look at it this weekend. Probably with cash in hand.

I think he's way undervaluing it, but then he's just going to trade it in. Or sell it outright to Carmax. So I figure I'll go for it, assuming I don't find anything he missed.

Robbie wrote:

Robbie wrote: It's not the greatest car in the world...

Just a peanut gallery comment actually, nothing to do with the actual car in question.

(the sound of the original comment going right over my head)

OK overall vehicle. I had one that I bought for $250 fully loaded without awd. Put about $700 in it and sold it to a guy I race with for $3000 with 137k on it. It helps when you worked as a Mazda tech at a dealer. Replace ignition cois as preventative maintenance since the misfire all the time and destroy cats. Fluids should be done. If it is awd then prepare for doing the alternator because the transfer case keeps air from moving around it. It gets hot but it isn't a hard job to do. If you have a lift it is a 30 minute job or less if you know what you are doing. Transmissions are the best CD4E that ford ever made because they have a decent cooler. Other than some rattles and iffy gas mileage I loved the one I had bit the buy in price was worth it. I actually miss if but it helped pay for my Escalade. And I love my Caddy

P.S most oil leaks on those are oil pans and valve cover gaskets. If the oil was changed regularly with quality stuff rarely does the timing cover seals leak. But most people didn't take the best car of them. Also the front crank seal is a weeper at times. Fix oil leaks and install a new pcv and it will be good as gold. Do the pcv when you do the coils since you need the upper intake off to do them. You also have to remove the lower intake as well to get to the Pcv but it's worth it. Not a hard job at all

I'd be disappointed if huggybear drove anything modern that wasn't an escalade.

Good to know. How did they hold up towing? Max we would tow is probably a 2000lb boat.

huggybear626 wrote: P.S most oil leaks on those are oil pans and valve cover gaskets. If the oil was changed regularly with quality stuff rarely does the timing cover seals leak. But most people didn't take the best car of them. Also the front crank seal is a weeper at times. Fix oil leaks and install a new pcv and it will be good as gold. Do the pcv when you do the coils since you need the upper intake off to do them. You also have to remove the lower intake as well to get to the Pcv but it's worth it. Not a hard job at all

This is good info.

His mechanic, who has been taking care of his cars (Mercedes to Chrysler to Toyota to VW) said "it's the kind of leak that you put a piece of cardboard underneath its spot in the garage"

huggybear626 wrote: OK overall vehicle. I had one that I bought for $250 fully loaded without awd. Put about $700 in it and sold it to a guy I race with for $3000 with 137k on it. It helps when you worked as a Mazda tech at a dealer. Replace ignition cois as preventative maintenance since the misfire all the time and destroy cats. Fluids should be done. If it is awd then prepare for doing the alternator because the transfer case keeps air from moving around it. It gets hot but it isn't a hard job to do. If you have a lift it is a 30 minute job or less if you know what you are doing. Transmissions are the best CD4E that ford ever made because they have a decent cooler. Other than some rattles and iffy gas mileage I loved the one I had bit the buy in price was worth it. I actually miss if but it helped pay for my Escalade. And I love my Caddy

We had a 2002 v6 AWD and had each of these issues. Overall a good vehicle, but in order to change a bad coil pack on the back bank or the back bank spark plugs for that matter requires removing the upper part of the intake manifold to get to it. The coil packs go up fairly regularly, we had the alternator go up on ours and if you are NOT a Mazda tech with a lift changing it out is a bitch! it is seriously buried in there and we ended up paying a 1K to have the dealer do it. Milage is ok around 18 mpg it was great in the snow. At around 100k miles it developed some tranmission issues (hunting for gears etc) and we traded it in for a 2008 Mazda 5 when that started. Overall though it was pretty good.

Robbie wrote: It's not the greatest car in the world...

...oh no, this is just a tribute...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_lK4cX5xGiQ

In reply to mtn:

Yeah I guess my user name tells it all.

In reply to sirrichardpumpaloaf:

This seriously goes through my head every time I see a Mazda Tribute.