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Ford's Duratec 35, 3.5-liter V6

maddmikemaddmike Member Posts: 12
edited March 2014 in Mazda
I saw several smaller discussions about the CX-9 power plant in the main 2007 Mazda CX-9 thread, but I thought it was time to break out the discussion on what may be the weakest link in the CX-9.

I have a CX-9 fully loaded Grand Touring on order. I'm waiting for the power liftgate so it won't arrive until April. I have the confidence in the entire vehicle except the motor and I'd like to make sure I'm making the right choice. After all, it's nearly a $40K investment.

I'm a stickler for preventative maintenance. Based on my personal experience I've never had an American made motor make it too far past 150K miles while I've had two motors from Japan make it over 250K.

I'd love to be the first to jump up and down and say to my friends "Hey that's good old fashion American hardware under the hood", but given the lifespan record of American power plants I don't want to be laughed at.

Ford says they plan to put the Duratec 35 in 1 out of 5 cars they produce. This could be good for parts availability and cost, or it could be bad based on Ford's current business.

I realize that these aren't out on the streets yet, but I wanted to get this thread going to see what others think about Ford's Duratec 35 both now and when they actually get behind the wheel of one (Edge, MKX, or CX-9).

Here are some interesting articles I found during my searching.

Ford starts ‘em up By Tim Rausch (LimoOhio.com)
http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=26616

A Triumph of Will By Drew Winter (Ward's AutoWorld)
http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_triumph/

Ford's New Duratec 35 V-6 Named to Ward's '10 Best Engines' List (Ford Press Release)
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/release_display.cfm?release=24981
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Comments

  • sssfegysssfegy Member Posts: 132
    The great news is Mazda will build the engine in Japan, so 100% Japaneese material and assembly, when it arrives and get the full specs., we expect it to have a different power band..but not for sure yet.
  • kbhaktakbhakta Member Posts: 17
    Ummm...not true.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Cyclone_engine

    The engines assembled in Lima, Ohio with parts coming from varous places, including India.
  • arumagearumage Member Posts: 922
    Actually in the CX-9's case, it is true. The parts are send to Japan and assembled there. Mazda has some parts specific to them that are being used with the basic Cyclone block. They wanted to massage the power curve a bit.
  • kbhaktakbhakta Member Posts: 17
    What's true? The rest of the car is mostly sourced and assembled in Japan. Sure.

    However, the engine...is built in the factory in Lima Ohio, that Ford spent 355 million dollars retooling. The engines are then shipped to Japan. There is no difference mechanically with the engine. The only obvous differences in the whole power train is a different tranny and the tuning to fit the different tranny.
  • arumagearumage Member Posts: 922
    The pieces are not assembled in Lima, Ohio. That was my point. The differences are not all software differences between Ford and Mazda version.
  • thompsorthompsor Member Posts: 2
    This thread appears a little old, but I am in the market for a CX-9 as well with the very same concerns about the engine and overall Mazda reliability. I guess I little more info has come out since. It appears Mazda is tweaking the engine a little. They apparently have there own intake and exhaust systems. That could have been where the different info was coming from.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17405133/
This discussion has been closed.

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