So what's the deal with this car?

D

dommo_g

Member
:
2004 SRT-4, 2007 MS3
Who is mostly driving this? I haven't seen one on the road yet. Older? Younger? Kids? None? My story: My girl and I were going to the mall, and on the way is a Mazda dealership. Just on a whim, I pulled in last minute, I wanted to see if they had a Speed 6. I just wanted to take a look, because I've heard the buzz on it. 274hp, AWD, etc., so I just wanted to take a lookie. Ended up getting rid of my girl's 04 Grand Caravan for a Pearl White touring w/ Navi that day. Totally impulse buy. Never even had a single intention of buying a car. I bought the Caravan one year ago when gas started getting crazy, my Expedition was getting 13 MPG at best. My girl hated the van from day 1, said it made her feel old. We both dig the 5. Kinda funky look, not real mini van-ish. Can't believe it came with 205/50 17s. My only gripe is it's got no balls. I already have thoughts of a turbo swap from a Speed 6....


Sorry to blah blah blah.....so, who's driving these things?
 
I'm a wife & mom of one. My husband drives a 626 & a Dodge truck, but loves my Mazda5. I was on my way to purchase a Honda, but happened to stop at the Mazda dealership first...

Where do you find the Mazda5 lacking?
 
Whelp, I'll contribute my demographic. My wife and I love our 5 and we have 3 kids now. We had 2 and were driving a Taurus around. My wife got pregnant and gas prices went up. Three kids in the back of the Taurus in car seats was going to be too crowded considering we take road trips all the time. Honestly, I don't see it as really being large enough to take all three kids to get grocieries (sp?). As it is, I can forsee needing to buy the cargo bin for the top to put luggage in.

It does feel a bit underpowered, but it's not that bad.
 
When does it begin to feel underpowered? I've read this in some car reviews, but so far I haven't encountered it. The Mazda5 is quicker and more nimble than a lot of other cars (with more power).
 
I had to convince my wife to even look at the 5 because it's a van. She loves it but I won't let her drive it, it's too much fun :) We've seen two on the road and one was driven by a women, the other a guy mid 30s like myself.

So it's a mom's car that is cool enough for a guy who needs the room. I was just commenting to my wife that I love walking up to our 5 in a parking lot and being able to scope it out, it's just so hot looking. The rims/ low profiles make this car.
 
Kid Red said:
I had to convince my wife to even look at the 5 because it's a van.
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You misspelled "wagon". :)

To answer the original question, I'm a thirty-something father of two boys and a new baby girl. If I didn't have kids I'd be in a Mazda MX-5 (or maybe the RX-8, that was nice too), or Mini Cooper or something else along those line. But with the kids I had to get something else. Before I learned about the 5 I was considering the Scion xB, Toyota Matrix, and PT Cruiser, but the Mazda 5 was much better for my needs.

It's gotten a lot of looks and positive comments, and in the last month or so I'm seeing a few more pop up on the roads. Most of the drivers look like younger adults, probably new parents, from what I've seen.
 
Stargazer said:
When does it begin to feel underpowered? I've read this in some car reviews, but so far I haven't encountered it. The Mazda5 is quicker and more nimble than a lot of other cars (with more power).
Click to expand...

Well, I would not consider it too quick if it's run the 1/4 mile at about 17.5 average (that's what consumer reports said anyways). Even my Escort will do high 15's to 16's stock. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that it's a complete slug. The engine gets you up and moving at a decent rate, but they should have offered a turboed or supercharged edition.
 
It's technically my wife's car, but I drive it every chance I get.

I'm in my mid-thirties with two boys (Matthew is two and a half and Peter is 14 days old). We traded in a Mazda3 hatch for the Mazda5 after we found out Peter was on his way. We needed something bigger to haul stuff around for two kids, that wasn't a minivan, and fun to drive.

We've had the 5 since November and so far we love it. We've been fortunate not to have had any problems with it so far. (knock on wood)
 
I'm 27 with 2 year old and another kid on the way. I took a job that is 100 miles round trip from home so I traded my Dodge Ram 4x4 Hemi for the 5. Yeah it feels less powerful but its not horrible and yeah, its 1/4 mile and 0-60 times aren't great but I think for actual drivability it has it where it counts (i.e. 0-40 or so for taking off from a stop and 50-80 for passing). I read a lot of reviews that said it lacked passing power but I haven't experienced that. Sure, Its got almost 200hp less than what I'm used to driving but I enjoy not spending $500 a month on gas (I'm not exaggerating).
 
We have 4 kids. So like I said, this was an extremely impulse buy. Because even though it can be configured to make lots of room, our upcoming road trip to Vegas will be an excercise in packing light. But that's OK, we don't go alot of places where we need a lot of room. I can't believe how well this thing handles. The 205/50 17s are badass in the looks and handling dept for this car. I love the way that it has a lot of the functionality of a minivan, but none of the stodgy looks. It's gonna look right at home with a snowboard or two on top of it. And because someone asked, the only thing that I think it's laking is more power. My girl says she could use a little more power as well, but she doesn't care that much.
 
married w/ wife, no kids and a dog. we needed something that could haul larger items for the wife's business and to hold my goalie gear and bikes. No way in hell I was going to buy anything that guzzled gas, handled like crap and wasn't easy to manouver around in the city. the stick and the versatility drew me in. the ride sealed it.
I'm beginging to notice a trend on this board. Canadians don't seem to complain about the percieved lack of power. Americans do. We do tend to purchase smaller vehicles up here so it may be related to that fact.
 
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Great points all across the board, and you know comming from a hot rooder that loves high performance race cars and own a few, I would obviously love a little more power in the wifes 5 but this thingreally amazes me never had a problem getting out of its own way! has great pick up and cruises at 90 all day long, of course we bought the car like most for all the reasons the 5 is aweosme room, fuel, $ etc but i have to say the area that really impressed me was the handling i know most people dont do or think much about handling till they have to dodge a shopping cart at Wal-mart but this thing with independent suspension really handles great i pushed ours really good the other day on about 20 mile road of curves and i mean curvessss for a stock set up and tires "witch the 17's are bitching" handles real well but yeah back to topic cant say i can kick the 5 out of bed for not having much under the hood does pretty well, besides I own a Vibe GT that is realtively same size wish my vibe would seat 6, although the 5 dosent spin 8,200 rpm's either lol good talking later all
 

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i'm 24 and considering one for my next car, but damn does that ms6 and ms3 look nice :)
 
For us, the 5 was the direction we were headed anyhow. I'm 48, we have 3 grown kids & two teenage girls. Mom needed a replacement for her Astro and hated the gas guzzling. She & my daughter fell in love with the 5 Touring with Nav, so we bought it. Every other offering in the class pales in comparison. I think it looks ultra-cool and I appreciate the great handling. It has ample power IMO, considering the economy it's more than enough. I liked the quality so much I bought a velo red 3 hatch the next day. Having both keeps the quarreling to a minimum. :) Just wish it had more armrests, Mazda!
 
who bought one

I bought one. I am not young; I am not old. I love this car.... mini mini van. The 5 rocks. Hell the DNA predicted by MAZDA (from my training) was way off. ALL ages seem to love this vehicle for what they want in a larger vehicle. Sure we are not ripping 1/4 mile tracks (give us a chance maybe we will) but I tell ya I can kick butt on the highway to pass cars, go up hills etc.

My wife loves the same features on this unit....its fully loaded without the major buxs that go with many units in this class.

Ummmmm AJAC voted #1 says it all.

WELCOME to the club sit down and have a pint (if your old enough :) )
 
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Wuster said:
It's technically my wife's car, but I drive it every chance I get.

I'm in my mid-thirties with two boys (Matthew is two and a half and Peter is 14 days old).
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Congratulations! I hope Matthew likes his new brother?
 
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