Test Drive Mazda 5

All i can say is wow. As a college student this car is awsome.

I had only a few issues with the middle seats folding down, then not allowing the front seats to be comfortably pusshed back for me, but im kinda tall so...

Other than that is was great. I drove the auto, wanted to drive the manual but none were available. i was told they wont be available in the area with a 5 speed for a month or so, but they will call me when one is in. The handling was nice and tight, i especially liked the extremely tight turning radius. The car sits up high when compared to a 3 or 6 which is nice in this SUV dominated world we live in. And i love the dash mounted shifter kinda, civic SI style i guess. I also drove the 3 the same day in the 5 speed. and if the 5 arrives with the same or very similar 5 speed, all i can saw is wow. that would be one slick ride. The onterior features are niceley done. i had a few qualms about the square vents which made me think of a focus. Visibility i thought was excellent excpet out the back left side from the drivers seat. The headrests on all of the seat were very nice, and perfectly positioned for me. It had a sportyish feel but i didnt very much like the auto/manual shifter mode. I am very partial to 5 speeds tho. Unlike some others i liked the tailights. Also, the trunk space tho slim, was well appointed with a small tool like storage area below the rug but above the spare. I really liked that feature as i usually have tools scattered throught my car.

I also drove the 5 speed 3, and a 05 wrx wagon that same day. The 3's transmission simply powned the wrx's in every way. The WRX also had suprisingly less pickup in 5th at highway speed than i thought it would. but in retrospect, it is still just a 2 litre at low rpms. The AWD kicked ass on takeoff. but with the FWD 3 and 5, i like that i can chirp the wheels when i want to. Or a little power slide onto the highway, makes driving fun .

Anyways, any questions about the 5 feel free to ask. I am sure i am forgetting some things i may have liked or disliked, but overall, it rocked, and when the 5 speed gets to my area, i will be the first one in line for a test drive.

CiaO

Matt

Nice review!

Did you drive the 5 on the highway? Maybe you can give us an idea of how tall or short the highest gear is. My 2002 P5 will rev at around 3200rpm @ 100km/h. With its eBay intake, it can get pretty noisy at higher speeds.

MP5Alive said:

Did you drive the 5 on the highway? Maybe you can give us an idea of how tall or short the highest gear is. My 2002 P5 will rev at around 3200rpm @ 100km/h. With its eBay intake, it can get pretty noisy at higher speeds.

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I was a passenger when my wife test drove the 5, and I can tell you it was pretty quiet on the highway.

Great review -

just to add a little:

I agree that the 5 sits a little higher in comparison to the 3 or 6 - but I was actually surprised that upon exiting the car - you didn't get that "climbing down" feeling that you do out of some SUVs or vans. Being that I'm just shy of 5'2" - that's pretty nice.

Also, I too am partial to a manual trans and I don't know what to make of the auto/manual shifter thing - why would anyone use it? I guess manually shifting on the 4 speed auto trans is just not the same (awful!) compared to the 5 spd manual. Am I missing something? Any automatic drivers out there have a take on it? I guess I just don't get the point of it.

- Ceril

It is very quite at 55 mph, the highest i took, it on a main road, rte 114. More wind noise than the 3, but engine noise is just as quite. rpms was about 2000 if i remember correctly. and it was in 4th gear, as is to be expected. One thing i did notice. in full auto mode, it waited what i thought was a very long time to downshift. If i was slowing down from say, 30 mph, it wouldnt shift out of third until i was doing about 7 mph, and if i was accelerating while in this position it wouldnt downshift unless i kinda stepped on it. Just seemed kind of wierd I was watching the display, and wondering, Am i really still in third? because that seems silly. THen when i accelerated at about half throttle, it would bog in third, downshift to second, then go. I was also wondering why only the driver had an armrest in the front seat area?

miatafied said:

Also, I too am partial to a manual trans and I don't know what to make of the auto/manual shifter thing - why would anyone use it? I guess manually shifting on the 4 speed auto trans is just not the same (awful!) compared to the 5 spd manual.

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For me, I'd use the "manumatic" shifter only to prevent the tranny from shifting. e.g. i want to hold a lower gear as i approach a hill or maybe for towing. i like the way you have to pull back to upshift the "manumatic" - seems more intuitive for me somehow.

MP5Alive said:

For me, I'd use the "manumatic" shifter only to prevent the tranny from shifting. e.g. i want to hold a lower gear as i approach a hill or maybe for towing. i like the way you have to pull back to upshift the "manumatic" - seems more intuitive for me somehow.

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I had thought maybe it was similar to other automatics that have Park, Drive, Neutral, Reverse, 1st gear, 2nd gear - giving you the option to stay in a low gear in certain situations - or else I thought maybe if you had a mixed household - 1 only drives auto and 1 likes to drive manual -then you'd have somewhat of a compromise. However, I felt like it was slow to register when I shifted up or down in that setting - although with only a 10 minute ride it's hard to say if it was just my unfamiliarity with it that caused my observation.

- Ceril

simmadown said:

I was also wondering why only the driver had an armrest in the front seat area?

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One theory I heard is that a front seat passenger arm rest might interfere with the manual. My wife doesn't mind not having an arm rest the times she's rode with me though.

It sounds like you'll love the 5-speed manual when it gets to your area. I'm very happy with it. The auto was nice, but the manual is really better for me.

My Mazda 5 Test Drive

First let me state that I am not your typical Mazda Speed Type. I am a 52 year old Father of 3 boys. We've been doing the minivan thing for 12 years. Our first was a 93 Dodge Grand Caravan. Our current van is a 98 Pontiac Transport extended van. At 90,000 miles it's starting to need many replacement parts. For the past few months I've done the internet search on minivans and small SUV's. Really looked hard at the Honda, but didn't like the price. Both my older boys are in college, so new car budget is important. Although most of the posts have been about the 5 speed, we won't even consider it. This is the wife's vehicle, so AT only.

My test drive was in an AT Touring model. We live in western PA so I was concerned about the 5's climbing ability. Most 4 cylinder AT's I've driven in the past shifted contineously back and forth between 2nd and 3rd gear. I'm happy to say the 5 did none of that on my drive up various 4-8% grades. The ultimate test will be to pass an 18 wheel Trash Hauler with 2 adults, my 9 year old and some luggage on a two lane road up the mountain. I hope to accomplish that on Saturday when the wife takes her test drive. I didn't notice any lag in downshifting for acceleration during my test ride. On several smaller hills while rolling along at 35mph, I mashed the gas and was pleasently supprised at how quickly we hit 60mph

With a quoted price of $20,198 I hope to be driving one soon