One of the crossover sport utility vehicles in the market, the Mazda Tribute is considered to be one of the smallest in this segment. This vehicle is actually based on the platform of the Mazda 626 which is a front wheel drive vehicle. The Mazda Tribute is also the basis for the Ford Escape sport utility vehicle. In fact, this vehicle is very similar to the Mazda Tribute. Both the Mazda Tribute and the Ford Escape made its way to public knowledge in the year 2001. Both offered a front wheel drive and an all wheel drive. Also, as per the engine, interested parties were given the choice of either a 2.0 L Mazda engine with four cylinders or a 3.0 L Ford Duratec V6 engine. The Mazda Tribute was actually sold in Europe as the Ford Maverick. This time, it held a Ford 2.0 L Zetec engine. To assist it in its performance and delivery, installed in the vehicle is a manual transmission system. Given as an option is the 3.0 L Duratec engine that was assisted by an automatic transmission system. The Mazda Tribute has a suspension is that is very tuned finely so much so that it gives and provides a firmer ride compared to the Ford Escape. This is because the Mazda Tribute has been specially designed so as to be a sporty vehicle. If you are interested in purchasing a Mazda Tribute, you would be actually given a couple of choices when it comes to its seats and its exterior colors. The seats could be actually covered in either cloth of leather. The color choices are either Dark Flint or Medium Pebble. As per the colors of the exterior, one is given a list of colors that includes Blazing Copper, Stormfront Gray, Classic White, Dark Titanium, Mystic Black, Pebble Ash, Platinum, Red Fire, and Lapis Blue. This gives interested parties the opportunity to customize and choose a vehicle color that would suit their own fashion tastes and sense as well as their preferences. The Mazda Tribute is said to be directly competing with the Jeep Liberty, the Toyota RAV4, the Hyundai Tucson, and the Honda CR-V.