Cars in Mexico vs US - worlds apart.

[pezzy84]

So just came back from first ever trip to Mexico (Riviera Maya, QR) and I have to say I absolutely love the wider variety of cars and the polar opposite powertrain selection. Heavily diesel with manual trans,

Brands non-existent (or bailed out of) the US but prevalent - Renault, Peugeot, Suzuki, Isuzu.

Huge amounts of shuttle vans for the airport runs and tours and all manual trans. Rode to/from the airport in VW Transporter TDI's, both manuals. One tour was via Ford Transit (think it was a diesel) manual trans and went on a limestone backroad into the jungle in a Toyota Hiace manual trans (like the Transit I think it may have been a diesel). The Toyota was pretty impressive as it seemed it was "retired" to be the jungle crawler and that ¾-1 mile drive back into the jungle was brutal to say the least.

Lack of CUV's - SUV/CUV's were not as prevalent as in US. Seemed to be mostly sedan, hatch, shuttle vans and trucks.

Nissans - from lets say about 4-5 hours combined riding around in a various shuttle/van it seemed Nissan had a more global/continental ideal. Versa, Sentra, Altima and X-Trail (aka Rogue) looked pretty much exactly like the ones we would get in the states and Versa and Sentra seemed to be the mainstay taxi sedans. All the other automakers it was pretty much an entirely different lineup from the US offerings.

Toyotas - Hiace and Hilux all over the place. I did not see many Toyota cars or CUV's at all, I think I saw 1 Camry and 1 Prius and that was about it.

It was very refreshing to see the broader variety. I saw a few rental VW Vento (their subcompact) sedans leaving the airport and a ton on the roads driven by locals, next trip I might try to snag a rental car to experience a fun rental like a VW Vento with manual trans.

 

[Nick1994]

Living fairly close to Mexico, I see cars from Mexico driving around from time to time. They are really interesting, like the little Ford pickups and the VW Amarok.

One thing that's too bad is how tiny and unsafe many of them are, one accident and they crinkle like a tin can. But of course they're built at a low cost point, and it kind of is what it is.

 

[Gimpy1]

Vehicles in Mexico are about 30-50 % more expensive. Airbags ABS are not mandated safety items, you can stil buy new cars with manual windows and mirrors. You must get service done at the dearlership if yu want to keep your warranty, and they are super expensive, do shoddy work and steal stuff out of you car (like spare tires oil caps etc) and you have no consumer protections. Oh and OBD 2 was mandated in 2006. I would never buy a car in Mexico even when I lived there. You guys really dont know how easy we have it in the US. A lot of the cars you see in Mexico can be imported in to the US because they don't meet safety or emmission standards. Youwent to a touristareaso the vehicles where nicer, but trust mesome of the vehicle, both new and used , that I've seen and have ridden in are rolling coffins.

 

[dareo]

Last time i was in Mexico, 2003, everything was a Nissan Tsuru. (1990s b13 sentra sedan). You were rich if you had the b14 sentra.

 

[Blinker]

I believe you can still buy the 1990’s Nissan Sentra body style new in Mexico.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

The Hiace is what the US is really missing out on. Did you see the strange Dodge car truck things at the dealership? Saw a Civic Type R at a dealer. $80,000 USD. I enjoyed the variety. They don’t need much horsepower to get around the Yucatán. Flat as a tortilla they say.

 

[pezzy84]

The Hiace is what the US is really missing out on. Did you see the strange Dodge car truck things at the dealership? Saw a Civic Type R at a dealer. $80,000 USD. I enjoyed the variety. They don’t need much horsepower to get around the Yucatán. Flat as a tortilla they say.

The Hiace was the most comfortable of the 3 shuttle vans I rode in, VW Transporter 2nd and the Ford Transit a very distant 3rd. Ford Transit felt like it was converted to a passenger van as an afterthought - the other two felt like they were designed to be ok to good in either cargo or passenger editions.

No strange Dodge/RAM trucks I can recall. Saw a number of F150's and Ram 1500's though.

 

[daves87rs]

Was hoping for some pictures.....

 

[pezzy84]

Toyota Hiace vans were pretty much this.....yes same base white paint and same hubcaps. VW Vento the below but in variety of colors - don't let current Jetta sized picture fool you, they are prob same size as the MKIV Jetta (1999-2004).

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

F-150= lobo. Way cooler name. Here is a Hiace. Best modern van I have been in.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Couple more random car shots and Hiace inside

 

[PimTac]

Those HiAce vans are popular in Asia too. Very versatile. Lots of smaller cars as well. Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Toyota etc. Honda has one called the City. It’s smaller than the Civic.

 

[Jetronic]

Mitsubishi delica was popular in asia, lots had 4x4.

 

[madeej11]

So just came back from first ever trip to Mexico (Riviera Maya, QR) and I have to say I absolutely love the wider variety of cars and the polar opposite powertrain selection. Heavily diesel with manual trans,

Brands non-existent (or bailed out of) the US but prevalent - Renault, Peugeot, Suzuki, Isuzu.

Huge amounts of shuttle vans for the airport runs and tours and all manual trans. Rode to/from the airport in VW Transporter TDI's, both manuals. One tour was via Ford Transit (think it was a diesel) manual trans and went on a limestone backroad into the jungle in a Toyota Hiace manual trans (like the Transit I think it may have been a diesel). The Toyota was pretty impressive as it seemed it was "retired" to be the jungle crawler and that ¾-1 mile drive back into the jungle was brutal to say the least.

Lack of CUV's - SUV/CUV's were not as prevalent as in US. Seemed to be mostly sedan, hatch, shuttle vans and trucks.

Nissans - from lets say about 4-5 hours combined riding around in a various shuttle/van it seemed Nissan had a more global/continental ideal. Versa, Sentra, Altima and X-Trail (aka Rogue) looked pretty much exactly like the ones we would get in the states and Versa and Sentra seemed to be the mainstay taxi sedans. All the other automakers it was pretty much an entirely different lineup from the US offerings.

Toyotas - Hiace and Hilux all over the place. I did not see many Toyota cars or CUV's at all, I think I saw 1 Camry and 1 Prius and that was about it.

It was very refreshing to see the broader variety. I saw a few rental VW Vento (their subcompact) sedans leaving the airport and a ton on the roads driven by locals, next trip I might try to snag a rental car to experience a fun rental like a VW Vento with manual trans.

Just wondering pezzy, you say the 3/4-1 mile drive to the jungle was brutal. How so? Thanks also for the pics. Cheers.

 

[Jetronic]

a road that really isn't, my guess

 

[pezzy84]

Just wondering pezzy, you say the 3/4-1 mile drive to the jungle was brutal. How so? Thanks also for the pics. Cheers.

It was a drive to a cenote and the "road" was limestone so they could not really smooth out the bumps, either that or they try to smooth out the ruts/bumps by covering with gravel/dirt but it probably just washes out. Had to hang onto the seats in front of us to keep from being bounced out. Not even sure what I would compare it to except similar to back in the day when my dad would take us off road mudding in his truck.

 

[DallasTexas]

Sounds like some of the car varieties that I saw in Dubai, Sharjah or Saudi Arabia. The buses that run from Madina to Mecca are Chinese or used buses bought out of Western Europe mostly Germany on which seat don't recline and just shoddy and slipshod workmanship. You could tell a Chinese bus yards away because all of them had their rear engine cover up to avoid overheating. Also saw some Chinese mid size pickup. Old car of 80's era US platform Lexus,and GM Buick Road monster and Chevy Caprices etc. A huge disappointment it was with thrash on the streets and after having paid $400 a night for a room at Hilton. I guess another haves and have not society. Only positive thing I saw was the Holy places and Mosques were squeaky clean enough to eat off the floor.

 

[miden851]

In Mexico they sell low budget Dacia Logan under Renault badge, marketing management I guess

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

So just came back from first ever trip to Mexico (Riviera Maya, QR) and I have to say I absolutely love the wider variety of cars and the polar opposite powertrain selection. Heavily diesel with manual trans,

Brands non-existent (or bailed out of) the US but prevalent - Renault, Peugeot, Suzuki, Isuzu.

Huge amounts of shuttle vans for the airport runs and tours and all manual trans. Rode to/from the airport in VW Transporter TDI's, both manuals. One tour was via Ford Transit (think it was a diesel) manual trans and went on a limestone backroad into the jungle in a Toyota Hiace manual trans (like the Transit I think it may have been a diesel). The Toyota was pretty impressive as it seemed it was "retired" to be the jungle crawler and that ¾-1 mile drive back into the jungle was brutal to say the least.

Lack of CUV's - SUV/CUV's were not as prevalent as in US. Seemed to be mostly sedan, hatch, shuttle vans and trucks.

Nissans - from lets say about 4-5 hours combined riding around in a various shuttle/van it seemed Nissan had a more global/continental ideal. Versa, Sentra, Altima and X-Trail (aka Rogue) looked pretty much exactly like the ones we would get in the states and Versa and Sentra seemed to be the mainstay taxi sedans. All the other automakers it was pretty much an entirely different lineup from the US offerings.

Toyotas - Hiace and Hilux all over the place. I did not see many Toyota cars or CUV's at all, I think I saw 1 Camry and 1 Prius and that was about it.

It was very refreshing to see the broader variety. I saw a few rental VW Vento (their subcompact) sedans leaving the airport and a ton on the roads driven by locals, next trip I might try to snag a rental car to experience a fun rental like a VW Vento with manual trans.

The rental car is a whole different experience. We had some sort of Kia with a 5 speed manual. It’s great being able to travel on your own to explore. It gets pretty remote pretty fast especially off the toll road. We covered a lot of the Yucatán. Car was covered inside and out of that white limestone powder from the jungle mud. Waze & Google maps work surprisingly well. Got harassed at one police checkpoint and they tried to rip us off but we were able to get away since my wife speaks fluent Spanish. Looked too American, I guess.

 

[2EHA]

the further south you go the fewer toyota cars there are, pretty much all trucks and the very rare corolla. lots of nissans, VW and of course french cars.

my buddy rented us a renault/dacia duster 5 speed when we were in colombia, neat little truck for what it is. roll down rear windows no airbags and all kinds of poverty options but it did have bluetooth connectivity so i can’t complain.