After all my brave talk about starting to settle on a Toyota model for my next car, I just knew something had to jumble things up even further, Mitsubishi and Mazda have now come to the party. At this rate I’m going to give up and invest my money in a bus pass.

Mazda Capella (aka Mazda 626)

Pros: Very reliable, good engines. Some models are reasonably sporty.

Cons: If they haven’t been maintained properly the transmissions can give trouble.

Dual airbags, ABS, traction control on some models. They actually seem even closer to what I want than the Caldina or the Camry.

Mitsubishi Magna

Pros: The only real distinguishing factor here is the price, they don’t hold their value at all, this is great for the buyer, not so great for the seller.

Cons: ??

My last car was a Mitsubishi, and it went on strong well over 300k, but having had a Mitsi for so long, I don’t know, my experience was good, but I just can’t help but think of the last days of that car whenever I think about a Mitsi.

If I can have a convenient test drive, I guess I’ll consider them, but as it is they’re probably not going to be high on my list — but only for the frankly not very good reason I mentioned.

This is getting difficult.