A mini-intro, and I'm looking at a 6sp Mazda5...

[ruby.w]

...and I hope it's everything I'm looking for. I guess this is sort of an intro and a question.

I've had a fondness for the 5 from afar for years. I'm a bit of a car nut I guess and I've been sentenced to full-sized minivan-hood for the last fifteen years as my children were growing. The 5 always struck me as just the right sort of "in between" solution - I saw many similar vehicles when I was in Europe and they worked admirably.

Now my household is down from six to usually-three, though I have to carry up to six once in a blue moon, and my aged Windstar is finally dying. I test drove a 5 - automatic, sadly! - and was totally surprised by how nice it felt to drive. It seemed bigger on the inside than the outside (some sort of time lord technology, I swear) and just hugged the road better than anything with sliding doors had any right to. The interior packaging was so terribly clever. It was right in my Goldilocks zone - maybe I'm getting old, but I fell for it because of how gosh darn *practical* it all felt, while still feeling like a drivers' car.

But.....the problem is that I've always had at least one stickshift car around, and really love driving them, everything from my ex's NSX to an old 57 Apache pickup. It took a while to hunt one down, but I found a 2013 6MT MZ5 just off warranty about an hour and a half away, and am going to look at it this weekend. I guess I'd like to ask those who've driven both the 5AT and 6MT versions - how does the 6MT feel, and are you happy with it if you have one? I don't mind dealing with a clutch even in a town like San Francisco so long as it's not super heavy. Does the reverse lockout take a very strong push down to get past?

All of my kids have learned to drive manuals and while there's been some complaining at times, in the end I think it's made them better drivers. Thankfully I don't need to choose an auto for anyone else's benefit.

Anyway, all the best, and I hope this car ends up working out. I'm genuinely excited!

Ruby

 

[acb13013]

Hello!

I've been driving a 2013 manual since last October, and a couple years ago we had a 2009 with the 5spd auto. I also agree with your Goldilocks "just right" feel about the MZ5. Brooklyn is not so hilly as San Fran, but it's 90% stop-and-go driving and 100% super-tight parking. I love that I fit this car into tight spaces with ease, and park it like compact, but still carry family and cargo - and sliding doors are necessary for dealing with loading and unloading the kids on busy streets.

So, about the manual... When I was driving the auto, I was wishing for a clutch pedal all the time. Now that I have one, I really like it, but this is the only manual I've owned. I see that you have more experience with different manual cars (NSX - wow!), but here are my impressions. I am able to drive the car pretty smoothly, but I still don't have a precise feel for the engagement point on the clutch. I've read that it has a larger friction zone than many other cars. Sometimes I can make quick shifts with a light touch on the clutch, and other times I end up over-revving the engine and I have to ride the clutch for a moment to keep the car from bucking. Maybe it's just poor technique on my part, but I really enjoy driving it and working to improve my skill.

As far as I know, this is the same 6MT as many other Mazdas, like the MZ3, MZ6, CX-5, etc., and there are a lot more of those on the road. Take a look at the forums for those models and you'll probably find a lot more drivers who can share their experiences with this gearbox.

Good luck with your purchase.

- Chris

 

[thaxman]

Don't have the 6MT, just the 5MT, but I have test driven the 5AT. Like all ATs, the 5AT has more torque from a stop. But it feels more wimpy. The 5MT has bad gearing for high speed/freeways, but I imagine the 6th gear helps regardless of the lack of noticeable difference in the EPA mpg posts.
Anyway, the clutch in the 5MT is quite forgiving. Kinda Honda-like. The stick is a bit rubbery, just like any economy import, but not as bad as some I have been forced to row. I actually like driving this stick despite the shortcoming. I never find myself in the wrong gear, and the 5MT is extremely tall in 1st.
The car is a bit small for 6 adults though. Our kids LOVE every opportunity to hop in the Odyssey instead. But I like having the 5 around b/c it makes a great runabout and can ferry all 6 of us anytime its called upon. Plus it maneuvers small spaces like an MG.

 

[ruby.w]

Don't have the 6MT, just the 5MT, but I have test driven the 5AT. Like all ATs, the 5AT has more torque from a stop. But it feels more wimpy. The 5MT has bad gearing for high speed/freeways, but I imagine the 6th gear helps regardless of the lack of noticeable difference in the EPA mpg posts.
Anyway, the clutch in the 5MT is quite forgiving. Kinda Honda-like. The stick is a bit rubbery, just like any economy import, but not as bad as some I have been forced to row. I actually like driving this stick despite the shortcoming. I never find myself in the wrong gear, and the 5MT is extremely tall in 1st.

That sounds all right - I've been driving a 2000 Corolla 5sp (surprisingly fun to drive) on the side for some years and it sounds similar. Not the sportiest stick I've had but certainly better than some I suffered through from the '70s.

The car is a bit small for 6 adults though. Our kids LOVE every opportunity to hop in the Odyssey instead. But I like having the 5 around b/c it makes a great runabout and can ferry all 6 of us anytime its called upon. Plus it maneuvers small spaces like an MG.

I *loved* the turning radius, just amazing. It feels like a perfect fit for tight city streets.

Thankfully other than my son, my entire family is under 5'5" (some well under!) and he's not much over...so I think the 5 will work for modest trips with all of us. I'm doing a test fit with four of us tomorrow to make sure, but I think it will work pretty well. My mom and I sat in a Sienna after test driving the 5 and it felt like an aircraft carrier by comparison - there was a time in my life I needed all that space, but I that's finally past.

Thanks all!

Ruby

 

[MrPerception]

I used to own a 5 but had to upsize to an Odyssey when the kids wouldn't stop growing. We took six of us from Canada to Florida (with a cargo box obviously) and it worked. Kids were pre-teen/early teen at the time. I have a friend who is about 6'2 and fairly husky. He was impressed with the room he had in the second row. Commented on how he never fits in the back seat of a smaller car. I had the 5AT because the wife doesn't drive a stick, but maybe in a couple of years I'll go back to the 5 and get it with the 6MT. I miss my Mazda5.

 

[ruby.w]

Well, I saw it, drove it, liked it, and pulled the trigger. And then, on the drive home, realized that it had a slipping clutch (revs spiked up when stomping on it in 6th and then came back down)...

It was a CarMax car, so I'm hoping they'll make good on it and replace it - other than that, I love this car to bits. Failing that, I'll hand it back in and keep an eye out for another. Crossing fingers!

Ruby

 

[thaxman]

They'll take care of it. Pretty much the only used car network that actually has a purchase warranty.

 

[New5Owner]

We've had our 5 with a 6mt for about a year and we love it. I hope we don't need to replace the clutch any time soon, but smooth shifting and starting is kind like a contest between my wife and I, so hopefully we are going easy on it.

Good luck with your new whip, ruby.w

 

[ruby.w]

They'll take care of it. Pretty much the only used car network that actually has a purchase warranty.

I hope so. I have an appointment to have it seen tomorrow afternoon, but they say they don't do any transmission work on-site; they outsource it to local shops. The mechanics' inspection that I had done today came up clean except for the clutch, so I'm happy and I hope CarMax takes care of it. It's a little hard to reproduce though, so I hope I don't have an uphill battle (the local shop I had do the inspection did write it up as a slipping clutch).

The shifting action is nice, I have to say...the synchros and linkage feel like they're in great shape. It took me a little getting used to on 1-2 shifts, though - first gear is deep!

My daughter has told me she loves the adjustability of the second row, there's a lot of space there. I plan on running a pair of USB power jacks under her seat into the folding tray assembly, so she can just charge her phone while it's sitting by her - has anyone here tried to do something like that?

Ruby

 

[MZ5black]

I purchased my 5 from CarMax. On the plus side, they did stand behind their purchase warranty, even extended it... although I never ended up using it for a return. I did request them to fix certain things after my mechanic's inspection which they did. Quality of parts they use is questionable and after my Mazda dealer reported that the alignment was out on this car which was just aligned by CarMax (I was shown all readings by Mazda folks)... I'm not sure I'd want them to ever service anything I care for. Buy a car again? Maybe but only after a third-party inspection.

 

[ruby.w]

Looking through stories about CarMax I've seen some worrying comments about parts used and service. They agreed to replace the clutch with no difficulty at all and I found out the transmission shop they are sending it to, which seems to be very well rated. I plan on calling them up and asking if there's any issue with the quality of parts CarMax is using or if they see anything else in there that might be problematic - a burned out clutch at 36k mi sure seems like a slave cylinder problem could be possible, to me.

Anyway, crossing fingers. If I'd bought through a used car seller with no warranty I'd have been put in a bad spot, so at least this situation is a step up from that. My kids are ribbing me some as one reason I gave for wanting a manual was freedom from automatic transmission issues - which I've had many of in minivans! - and the clutch turns out it's going the day I buy it. At least it happened under warranty!

Ruby

 

[New5Owner]

More likely, IMHO, than some underlying mechanical problem causing premature clutch wear, is a previous owner with feet made of concrete, or who rode the clutch while driving.

A friend of mine recently sold his ~10 year old Chevy Aveo with a 5MT... he used it to commute 25km to work to save wear and tear on his F150, so it likely has 250,000 km on it, but it looked and felt pretty new.

The young woman he sold it to enjoys pretending it is a sports car. She had to replace the clutch after two months.

 

[ruby.w]

Well, the good news is that the shop did the clutch/flywheel/pressure plate, and used all Mazda OEM parts. It drives *much* more nicely now, the clutch is softer and crisper, and while there's a slight squeak coming from what sounds like rubber in a motor mount I'm going to give it a few days to see if it works itself out. The shop saw no indications of master or slave cyl failure, so maybe it really was just someone dragging the clutch for 36 thousand miles.

It's great to drive. The low 1st gear is really nice in stop and go traffic, I hardly need to touch the clutch. It's taken some getting used to shifting from 1st to 2nd as the gap is pretty big, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Next on the list are some better floormats and a cargo liner, and some seatcovers for the front. And maybe some Grateful Dead stickers on the side windows. Anyway, thanks all for the help & support!

Ruby