Recently the family Zoom and I took a trp to Belize and Guatemala. While thereI saw a remarkable number of Mazda BT-50s, quite a few CX-5s and even an RX-8










This particular BT50 was owned by a fella who owned the canoe rental place where we went canoeing into a Mayan cave but there were loads of them about. Not quite as many as Hilux but nearly so. Even the local police were driving them.

It's regarded quite highly there and elsewhere around the world. We'd like to have a small 4 door truck but our choices here are really limited to Chevy and Tacoma. If we had this (and Ford Ranger also available in Belize) we'd choose it over Tacoma. We saw plenty of older models and also brand new gen versions.


Mazda needs to bring them to the states. If they can sell in Belize they can sell here.


Also, when traveling through Guatemala in the Vallejo de Venado between Lake Peten Itza and the border with Belize I saw a familiar site sitting under a tree in a front yard- an RX-8 I didn't manage to grab a pic but it looked like a series 2. Hello to our RX-8 owners in Guatemala.Sorry I didnt have time to stop and say hello

 

That is one ugly truck.

 

zoom was in the land of my People and didn't tell me?!
wth man.

Glad to see Mazdas catching on a bit more in that part of the world. When I was in Guatemala a few years ago, I did not see one single RX-8


I gotta agree with 9k on this one: that thing is Ugly.
If I lived there, I'd take the Hilux over it all day, every day.

 

Sorry Jorge about not messaging you or something. We were not saying "out loud" on social media before going but i could have let you know.

I agree the front end is not the best. The new version looks better.But it's a quite capable little truck and is more refined than say the Hilux and bit better than the colorado. Check some of the video comparos from down under and you'll see it gets quite good marks on road and off plus when towing etc.

Here in the sates we have the Colorado, Taco and Nissan. The Colorado is just ok, kinda meh. The Nissan is as someone said recently, from last century. they should be embarrassed. That leaves the Taco. There really isnt an alternative . If I could buy the BT50 or Ranger instead I would in an instant.

We have only 3 choices here and really only 2 when you toss out the Nissan. In Belize they have like 8 or so. Hilux (and I saw a couple of Tacos), Bt50, Ranger, Colorado, VW Amarok, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Mahindra, Great Wall

 

 

The new Frontier with the Diesel looks promising. The problem on all of them is pricing.

 

Us 'Mericans like Big Trucks. That's why we have them.

That and the 'chicken tax' which makes importing trucks very expensive.

 

weird. I'm 'Merican and I want a small 4 door truck that isnt a Tacoma

 

why don't you like Tacomas?
what are you, some kind of Commie?

 

nah... they're nice. i just wish there was another choice or 2

 

Tacomas are bland as hell inside and in my opinion, grossly overrated (I see a lot of them on the trail). The new Tacoma and Colorado are nice in person. But all of these "compact" trucks are pretty big. Hoss-05 is going thru this same dilemma of wanting a smaller truck without many options. The new Ranger sold outside of the U.S. is pretty sweet.

 

exactly the new Ranger is pretty sweet and I had to go to Belize to see one.

 

that's too funny.

 

In NZ, they have tons of Ford Ranger Raptors. They are pretty bad ***.




I would drive a white one.

 

SEEE?!?! We'd already own that and this conversation would be moot if we had that in the states or could easily side import one. There should be a reciprocal treaty so that if it can be sold in a country signed to the treaty then the auto is automatically legal in the other countries signed to it. then we could easily shop across borders and import stuff with out having to jump through stupid red tape hoops.

 

That would be awesome. I would be driving a Crystal White Pearl R3.