This close to getting a Mazda5 Touring

[neoplasticity]

We have a family of four but sometimes like to take the grandparents on a trip so that makes 6. Once a year, my brother comes into town and it would be nice to have a 7 passenger vehicle but the 6 passenger is not a deal breaker.

I think that the size of today's "minivans" is overkill for us since we are thin family. All my friends have either an Odyssey or Sienna and I really don't want to join the herd but at least a 6 passenger vehicle is necessary. I was really hoping that the Ford C max was going to be a 7 passenger vehicle here or that the Orlando would be sold here but no luck. So basically its gonna be either the 5 or the Odyssey.

I test drove both and of course the 5 is much more fun to drive. Of course the Odyssey was much more room. Wife likes the odyssey more but she might be warming up to the idea of the 5. In retrospect, I should let her test drive the 5 and me sit in the passenger seat since this will primarily be her car.

Couple of issues:

1. I keep reading about the suspension failure issues with the older 5s. I hope they fixed it on the 2012.

2. If I ever decide to go on a roadtrip with the grandparents and we have 6 passengers in the car, there is precious little room for cargo. Anyone tried putting a cargo carrier on a class I trailer hitch on the 5? Think that's a viable workaround to the cargo issue?

3. I noticed that the european 5 has 7 passenger capacity. The only difference being that the left middle row seat has a center seat attached to it. I wonder if I could somehow import just the left middle row seat from europe and change it out once a year when my brother is in town. The other option is always to take two cars but i'm a bit of an efficiency fanatic and taking two cars when one car could do.

4. Why is the floor so high in the back? Is there something under the car there? is that the spare tire?

5. Im glad to see that several people are getting upper 20s in mixed driving with the 5. Has anyone been able to get 30+ mpg in mixed or highway driving? I'm hoping I will be able to do that. I tend to drive very conservatively and always beat EPA estimates on my vehicles. I use to get 40+mpg on a 96 civic and currently I get 30mpg in a 2001 ford ranger pickup and 24mpg in a 2001 chevy venture.

6. How is the bluetooth?

Thanks.. Hopefully, Ill convince my wife and we'll be driving hope a 5 soon.

 

[Orangutan]

#1 The suspension issues seem to have disappeared.

#2 I have. Look here: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123801377-2012-Mazda5-trailer-hitch

#3 Theoretically I suppose you could, but it would be incredibly expensive to do. The two seats in the back are not large, either. I view the Mazda5 as a 4 passenger wagon with sliding doors. The +2 in the back are really best saved for small children, and then for not very long trips.

#4 I'm not sure what you mean about it being high; doesn't seem that high to me. Yes, the spare tire is contained under the rear floor; lift up the floor to reveal a small cargo tray then lift that up to access the doughnut spare.

#5 I'm averaging high 20s and I think I've seen one person averaging in the 30s but I don't think you're going to see that often. Mazda has not typically geared its vehicles for outstanding economy (until SkyActiv, that is) and the 5 is no exception. You can click my signature link to view my current statistics and then look through Fuelly's records of other 5s.

#6 Only have a Sport so I can't say!

 

[neoplasticity]

Oh so there is some extra cargo spaceubder the floor in the back?

 

[manualist]

If your wife's going to drive this daily, then let her choose. Let your wife test drive the 5 - she might fall for its ease of handling, or she might decide it's just too small. With its size, 4 adults and 2 kids are already pushing the limit of both interior space and engine power. I wouldn't bother with that 7th seat. Mileage - I get very close to 30 with mostly highway driving at 65 to 70 mph. With same driving conditions, the most I could get was 23mpg in the my 07 Odyssey EX.
On the other hand, the Odyssey isn't bad at handling - not as sharp as the 5 for sure, but it's not sloppy either. It's not fun to drive in curves or by yourself. But when you have 7 people on board with lots of stuff and comfort, it's definitely a fun vehicle. So I think between these 2 vehicles, there's no bad choice. Have fun weighting priorities and desires

 

[dieseldriver]

Welcome to the Forum and hope that I can answer some questions that you're answering.

1. I've heard about suspension issue with previous generation and like you, I was worried about that when I bought the 5, so hopefully, if it fails, I wished it failed during warranty period which is 3 years or 36K miles.

2. You can get an OEM roof rack which the 5 has the factory points on the roof for it. So this way, you don't have to get a lip type mount for the roof rack which can be a pain to mount.

3. European and Asian version has what they called a Karaki (something like) middle second row seat that folds out and folds in. I don't know why Mazda left it out for U.S. version; my guess is they figured Americans are bigger on average than Europeans or Asians so that middle seat is rendered useless to some? Idk. Also, if you noticed, European and Asian model has different type of headrest, not to mention power sliding doors and 1.6L diesel engine option.

4. Yes, there's no denying, the rearmost seats can use a bit of height because it's very uncomfortable back there for an adult. They should have made the floor a bit lower than the fronts, or the seat height a slightly higher. I guess an inch or two higher seats or lower floor pan would have made a huge difference.

5. Mazda's 2.5L liter engine for some reason, has less MPG than a 263HP Mazda Speed 3 engine; which I was getting around 32MPG combined whereas with Mazda5, I could not break over 26.8 combined. I am looking forward to future Mazda5 with Skyactiv engine that can give me better MPG with the same HP/torque rating. I think Nagare and Skyactiv is the direction Mazda is going so I am happy about that.

6. Bluetooth works great. I have the GT trim and I have both the handsfree and audio streaming. Found out that my Android does not support Song information so I have to wait for Google to release a new version with the support so I can see song information. Audio streaming sounds just like the hardwired counterpart, I can't tell the fidelity difference. Make sure, if you do get the bluetooth option, do not stream audio from your phone at max setting, otherwise, sound will distort. I set mine around 75%. I you can do without the 6 speed manual, I highly recommend the GT trim level. It comes with all the bells and whistles; including HID with level adjustment, heated seats, sunroof, etc.

We have a family of four but sometimes like to take the grandparents on a trip so that makes 6. Once a year, my brother comes into town and it would be nice to have a 7 passenger vehicle but the 6 passenger is not a deal breaker.

I think that the size of today's "minivans" is overkill for us since we are thin family. All my friends have either an Odyssey or Sienna and I really don't want to join the herd but at least a 6 passenger vehicle is necessary. I was really hoping that the Ford C max was going to be a 7 passenger vehicle here or that the Orlando would be sold here but no luck. So basically its gonna be either the 5 or the Odyssey.

I test drove both and of course the 5 is much more fun to drive. Of course the Odyssey was much more room. Wife likes the odyssey more but she might be warming up to the idea of the 5. In retrospect, I should let her test drive the 5 and me sit in the passenger seat since this will primarily be her car.

Couple of issues:

1. I keep reading about the suspension failure issues with the older 5s. I hope they fixed it on the 2012.

2. If I ever decide to go on a roadtrip with the grandparents and we have 6 passengers in the car, there is precious little room for cargo. Anyone tried putting a cargo carrier on a class I trailer hitch on the 5? Think that's a viable workaround to the cargo issue?

3. I noticed that the european 5 has 7 passenger capacity. The only difference being that the left middle row seat has a center seat attached to it. I wonder if I could somehow import just the left middle row seat from europe and change it out once a year when my brother is in town. The other option is always to take two cars but i'm a bit of an efficiency fanatic and taking two cars when one car could do.

4. Why is the floor so high in the back? Is there something under the car there? is that the spare tire?

5. Im glad to see that several people are getting upper 20s in mixed driving with the 5. Has anyone been able to get 30+ mpg in mixed or highway driving? I'm hoping I will be able to do that. I tend to drive very conservatively and always beat EPA estimates on my vehicles. I use to get 40+mpg on a 96 civic and currently I get 30mpg in a 2001 ford ranger pickup and 24mpg in a 2001 chevy venture.

6. How is the bluetooth?

Thanks.. Hopefully, Ill convince my wife and we'll be driving hope a 5 soon.

 

[Orangutan]

Oh so there is some extra cargo spaceubder the floor in the back?

A small amount, yeah, plus there are two storage compartments on the sides in the back. The one on the driver's side holds the jack but there's still room for things.

5. Mazda's 2.5L liter engine for some reason, has less MPG than a 263HP Mazda Speed 3 engine; which I was getting around 32MPG combined whereas with Mazda5, I could not break over 26.8 combined. I am looking forward to future Mazda5 with Skyactiv engine that can give me better MPG with the same HP/torque rating. I think Nagare and Skyactiv is the direction Mazda is going so I am happy about that.

Well, there are diminishing returns to putting small engines in heavier, larger vehicles. The MS3 has enough power that it can loaf around in 6th gear, just as, say, V6 Rav4s or Camrys. The Duratec 2.5 is not known for its power, efficiency, or smoothness. SkyActiv will help significantly. If we think about the Mazda3 and its updated fuel economy compared to the older powertrains I'd say the 5 with the 2.0 SkyActiv powertrain will return around 35-36 mpg on the highway compared to the 28 right now. As for styling Nagare is dead. Mazda has abandoned the theme and is going with KODO, as reflected in the new CX-5.

http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2010/201009/100903a.html

6. Bluetooth works great. I have the GT trim and I have both the handsfree and audio streaming. Found out that my Android does not support Song information so I have to wait for Google to release a new version with the support so I can see song information. Audio streaming sounds just like the hardwired counterpart, I can't tell the fidelity difference. Make sure, if you do get the bluetooth option, do not stream audio from your phone at max setting, otherwise, sound will distort. I set mine around 75%. I you can do without the 6 speed manual, I highly recommend the GT trim level. It comes with all the bells and whistles; including HID with level adjustment, heated seats, sunroof, etc.

I'd also recommend only buying the Sport trim if you're getting the manual transmission. If you want an automatic definitely step up to the Touring or Grand Touring. I wish I had gone with the Touring simply because I think the vehicle looks significantly better with side sills and a rear spoiler. I could've sprung for the Touring but I was trying to save money up front (dumb idea). The Grand Touring is the best value in the line-up for certain.

 

[Giltibo]

I hope Mazda will change its mind on making the 6MT available in other trim levels. In Canada, it can be had with ANY trim. GS, GS / CG, GT and GT / LG.

 

[manualist]

I don't agree with the logic behind only offering stick shifts on lowest trim level. These days people who buy stick shifts do it by choice. They're likely passionate about cars and therefore would pay for top trims to get their way. If Mazda can't afford to offer manual in every trim, it'd make more sense if they do it in the GT.