Ive been driving a 2001 Madza Tribute since 03. The truck has been very good to me, gobs of power, crappy gas mileage......Last year or so its been making a transmission whine.......I took it to the Ford dealership today (my local Mazda shop is WORTHLESS) and a buddy of mine is the head tech there. He informs me that something is amiss inside and Im living on borrowed time. He tells me I have 3 options
1) Open the tranny up and find whats wrong inside......about 2k
2) Put in used tranny.about ...2.5K
3) New tranny....about 3k

I love my Tribute, and I think Im gonna opt for a newer Ford Escape. Anybody got any input on them?

I JUST managed to get some money saved up too............[:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@]

 

We have an 05 Mercury Mariner, which is just a fancier version of an Escape. We like the car a lot. Ride quality for the Escape and Mariner got noticeably better in 05, as compared to the 04 and older, I tested them both.
But....why did you post this in the 3rd gen section?

 

Cause it makes Mike and 350 happy when bad things happen to me. [:-]

 

this is not a MAZDA FORUM......
sorry for SOUNDIN LIKE A ***.
easy way to fix it is buy a chevy

 

Listen up newbie. Me and some of the old timershave been tradin stories for quite some time. Sometimes these off the wall questions yield some of the best results.

Even if I "buy a Chevy" as you so intelligently pointed out......it is not "easy". When was the last time you sat down and financed a new car? Finding out you gotta spend 15-20 thousand dollars is never 'easy'.....

I know my thread is off topic and not 3rd Gen related, but sometimes you gotta vent to your friends.

 

New?

Why spend that kind of money when you can surely find a decent used car for less than the price of that tranny there?

 

scott scott scott... this thing is NOT a truck. its BARELY an SUV.. haha. an s-10/ranger/dakota is more of a truck than a tribute.. hahaha

but anyway, sucks about that tranny. why dont you open er up and JB Weld that SOB back together? lol. Seriously though, have you thought about taking the tranny out yourself and then takeing it somewhere to be checked out?

and camaro_boi.. mind your p's and q's..

 

Why tell Camaro boi to mind his p's and q's? I know you guys know ScottD really well (and for the record he helped me alot so I respect him) but it is off topic and has nothing to do with 3rd gens whatsoever. There is a forum section for that, just like when someone comes in here trying to sell something and you jump all over them. this isnt any different. If he wants to tell mike and you 350 there is a pm function. Why not just let me start posts about my blazer and my hyundai (which I no longer own) and lets talk about them for a while. Call me a newbie all you want, I know what goes where.

But seriously why buy new? you arent going keep it forever, you can get a pretty good car for about 10g's that will last you just as long. Probably longer. that does suck though, bad luck just happens.

 

Its the dead of winter here. I cant just get under the truck and pull the transmission. The salvage yards want over 1500 bucks for the tranny (junk yards up here are rapists) and to top it all off, I work 70 hours a week, including most weekends, so even if I was inclined to do it myself I just dont have time. Besides, working on a 25 year old Camaro is fun, working on a new import SUV is just a pain in the butt.

Hey 350....I guess I call it a truck to make myself feel better.[&:] I know that SUV's are just 4 wheel drive mini vans, but I actually haul lumber and deer in mine, and I actually NEED the 4x4 for all the snow we get.

adirtyPoostick.....I cant get enought of that name .....seriously, sometimes the other sections receive NO traffic and we post off topic stuff here. Its not like its hurting someone or taking away from other peoples income.....But I know what your saying. Im a large participant on some gun boards and sometimes people chime in about thier family or favorite recipie, ugh.......at least mine is car related.

 

No harm done, and I totally feel you on the dead of winter mess. I have a garage and I cant be bothered to tighten some bolts here in Indiana. I need to tighten some bolts on my tranny mount and fix some rattling issues but I aint gonna freeze to do it. Plus I am lazy.