At the top are Lexus and Toyota once again, with the GX as the most reliable Lexus and the Prius C as the most reliable Toyota. Subaru, Kia, and Infinity have also stayed in the top six spots, though Mazda made a huge leap from 12 to number three. That leap, CR says, comes courtesy of Mazda “[working] out problems that plagued the CX-9 SUV and MX-5 Miata roadster.”....
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Possible Development Of
A patent from Japan reveals Mazda's development of a space frame chassis that could potentially underpin a future rear-wheel-drive sports car, like the long-rumored, much-anticipated RX-9. The filing is specifically for a “Vehicle Shock Absorbing Structure” and shows a bumper connecting to the platform.
The Japanese publication Motor Magazine discovered the patent. It notes that there's a double-wishbone front suspension. A crossmember in the engine bay appears to force the powertrain to sit behind the axle, creating a front-mid engine layout. ...
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One particularly interesting bit regarded the shooting brake, which Nurnberger said, "we sort of started it and then realized to make a really good shooting brake we had to do a lot more engineering." Thus, the long-roof Vanquish actually has a longer wheelbase than the rest of the cars. According to Nunberger, the rear of the car is taken from a modular platform and is essentially a rear of a Rapide that has been added on. Of course, that required total reengineering, retesting, as well as re-crashing to bring it to production......