Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

During his first time in the Tribute since last July, Editor-in-Chief Karl Brauer got a new perspective on Mazda's small SUV. He'd previously used it as a vacation vehicle, hauling his family of four from Los Angeles to Denver by way of the Grand Canyon. On that trip, a comfortable ride and plenty of cargo space were the primary requisites, both of which the Tribute offered in abundance.

For the month of November, Karl used the mini-ute as a commuter car in West Los Angeles and for a quick 60-mile run up the coast to Ventura, Calif. For the in-town stuff, the Tribute provided all the power Karl needed to squirt in and out of traffic. Its tall ride height gave him confidence when preparing for the next lane change, and its relatively small size made placing the Mazda between vehicles easy, even in the ever-clogged roadways that make up LA-LA land. What's that prophetic line from the old Police song? "Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes, contestants in a suicidal race."

During his run to Ventura, Karl did find one aspect of the Tribute quite annoying: There's no compass to be found in or on the vehicle! Now you might be asking, "What's the big deal? Doesn't Mr. Brauer know how to navigate by sun (or star-) light?" A valid question, but one that becomes moot when driving through foggy Camarillo, Calif., in the early morning. On this particular day, road construction forced Karl to deviate from his usual course when making a coastal jaunt. The detour led him inland where thick fog kept visibility down to less than a mile. While not at all unsafe for driving purposes, the fog did block Karl's view of the ocean to the west and mountains to the east, leaving him stranded in the middle of Camarillo's wide, flat farming region (think Kansas, only greener). Karl writes, "It was extremely frustrating. I travel through this section of Southern California regularly, and I'm quite familiar with it...or so I thought. What I never realized before was that without the mountains or the ocean as visual reference points, Camarillo looks like one big grid of fields and straight roads. There was no way to tell what direction I was traveling, and the Tribute had no compass."

Mr. Brauer finally got his bearings when he stumbled upon a major freeway; but when he did, he realized that he'd gone in exactly the wrong direction, backtracking a good 10 miles southeast toward L.A. and away from Ventura. He swears he'll never again take a vehicle-mounted compass for granted, and he thinks Mazda might want to add one to the Tribute. Karl used to think that only truly off-road-capable SUVs needed a compass because he couldn't imagine anyone getting lost while driving paved roads. Karl was wrong.

Another minor issue appeared while transporting his family around greater Los Angeles. While riding in the back seat, Karl's 3-year-old son discovered that, despite being strapped into a child seat, he could still activate the electric window switch with his foot. Once discovered, young Kirk became mesmerized by the chain reaction of "step on switch, make window move, watch Dad turn around and yell." After about four such sequences, Dad got smart and flipped the "master window switch" on the driver door panel. This system was ingeniously thought up by carmakers awhile back when they realized that, just like with nuclear weapons, some people aren't responsible enough to handle the power of automatic windows.

As Mr. Brauer states, "I thought I was pretty smart when I simply disabled Kirk's window switch, until I realized that neither he nor I could operate the Tribute's windows. Apparently Mazda thinks that not even the driver should be able to operate the vehicle's windows once the master switch is thrown. This didn't make Mrs. Brauer particularly happy when neither of us could get her window to go back up after merging with freeway traffic and having wind pummel the cabin." Karl's suggestion to Mazda: "Don't disable the window switches on the driver's door when the master switch is activated. After all, he is the driver and he should probably always have the option of raising and lowering any window on the vehicle."

Obviously, these are two minor issues with an otherwise excellent vehicle. In fact, the Tribute, along with the Ford Escape, was named as Edmunds.com's Most Wanted Small SUV for 2002, proving that even with its faults, this Mazda is still at the head of the mini-ute class.

Current Odometer: 22,589
Best Fuel Economy: 16.1 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.6 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 18.3 mpg
Body Repair Costs: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: None