Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

It's hard to believe that our Mazda Tribute has been in our long-term fleet for just two months and it's already passed the 7,000-mile mark. If we were to keep this pace up, we would amass 84,000 miles at the end of the two-year lease. Anybody want to guess what the mileage penalty would be?

This month, the Tribute rotated to Senior Editor Brent Romans. Brent's only experience in the Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute had been at the Escape's press introduction, so he was looking forward to spending some quality time with the vehicle.

In comparison to Editor-in-Chief Christian Wardlaw's cross-country jaunt last month, the Tribute stayed well within state lines. Brent used the Tribute primarily for his short commute to the Edmunds.com offices. This allowed him to gain some observations about shorter driving stints.

While he rarely spent more than one hour at a time in the SUV, Brent found the seats to be more than adequate. He appreciated the power-operated controls and the relatively high seating position. Just like Chris, however, Brent found fault with the prudish fuel tank. When used primarily for city driving, the Tribute's range drops to little more than 200 miles. He also disliked the position of the transmission shifter that blocks the radio's volume knob when it's placed in drive.

Brent was more impressed with the Tribute's sporty demeanor. "Mazda's ad campaign that shows Miatas raising a Tribute isn't as far-fetched as you might believe," says Brent. "The Tribute makes an excellent suburban assault vehicle. Thanks to the unibody design, it handles and rides very similarly to a car. Its quick steering and short turning circle are very beneficial for mall parking lots. And thanks to the additional ground clearance, the Tribute is better able to handle rough stuff like potholes, speed bumps and broken pavement."

The V6 engine and quick-shifting transmission also gained praise. With 200 horsepower and 200 foot-pounds of torque from its 3.0-liter V6, the Tribute can easily outpace other compact SUVs like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. In certain situations, it can even show up Porsches.

"There's a freeway entrance ramp I frequently take," says Brent. "It has two lanes that feed into one lane once on the freeway. The two lanes are queued by traffic staging lights. Whichever vehicle gets the jump at the lights gets to be first on the freeway. One particular day, I was staged up against a Porsche 911. Since the road surface is frequently slippery at the lights due to dropped oil and antifreeze, I knew I had the advantage. As soon as the staging lights turned green, I mashed the Tribute's throttle. Thanks to the four-wheel drive, I was able to squirt off the line and gain pole position. I wonder how that Porsche owner felt after seeing his $60,000 sports car being humbled by a $25,000 SUV."

Road Test Editor John DiPietro didn't take on any sports cars during his weekend with the Tribute, but he did use it to take himself and a couple of friends skiing. John went to Bear Mountain Resort located in the San Bernardino National Forest. Like Brent, he appreciated the powertrain, noting that the transmission never got confused when climbing hills. The Trib's accommodations proved more than adequate for his friends and all of their gear.

For the drive back to Los Angeles, the Tribute kept its snow-frosted skiers happy with a quick-acting heater. John did notice that virtually no air comes out of the floor vents, however. This is the case even if the climate knob is moved to the specific floor setting. We know from Town Hall postings that lots of Tribute owners have experienced this problem, and one of our staff members suggested that this problem might be covered in a Mazda technical service bulletin (lord knows there's been plenty of them), so we plan to have the issue addressed at our next dealer service.

That service will happen once we reach 7,500 miles. We still haven't heard from Santa Monica Mazda concerning our replacement parts addressed in last month's update. Hopefully they will be available by the time we arrive.

Current Odometer: 7,348
Best Fuel Economy: 20.9 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.2 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of vehicle): 18.5 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: Floor vents blow minimal amounts of air