[Jorge]

And their high ratings are short-term only.

Not so.

I've owned an Escort and a Tracer (same car, just a Merc) and did research before buying them.

They've been excellent, extremely reliable trouble free cars.

[Spktyr]

You bought two Mazdas, apparently.

[Spktyr]

Also, while JD Powers tends to be suspicious on their initial quality studies, their long term studies (3 year old cars) tend to be more accurate.

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/dependability/compact-car

Notice what the top three are? Honda and Toyota.