Purchased our Canadian Whitewater Pearl GT Mazda 5 in August of 2005. We were impressed with the concept of the vehicle, its driveability, looks and overall function. Previously we owned a 95 Odyssey which apart from some brake issues was a solid vehicle. Having owned the Mazda 5 for 8 months & 15000 km I can provide some insight to a little more than its percieved capabilities.
We never looked at any competition for the Mazda 5 as in this sector there really didn't appear to be any. Never wanting to own a domestic vehicle the M5 seemed to fit nicely into our niche. 2 kids, 7 & 9 looking for a vehicle smaller than Odyssey with a bit of panache.
Driveability - Performance is excellent, never have had an issue with power, recently did a 2000 km (1200 mi trip), cruises great at 120km (75mph) and still gets 9 to 10 L/100km (25 mpg US). Handling is superb, a little tight on ground clearance with GT model ground effects, but looks cool. A 5 or 6 speed auto would be nice, in cruise even up smaller hills the thing drops to third and wails like a banshee trying to bring it back to cruising speed
Build Quality
Carpeting is not what I would have expected, we take very good care of the vehicle but the carpets are already starting to ball up.
Interior plastic very susceptable to scratching, soft.
Exhaust system recalled - lost it for over a month, seriously, what were they thinking.
Suspension as noted by many other members we have the dreaded suspension creak which has been repaired once and still creaks. Still awaiting word from the dealer on what Mazda Canada is going to do about this.
Door Latches - Passenger rear door latch froze open, also as noted by many other members. Dealer did the temporary fix per service bulletin and it froze open again 1000 km from home while on a ski trip. Was lucky enough to get it closed but it would not open again until dealer fixed it. Still don't have any word from dealer on a permanent fix.
Wind noise - from almost day 1 we had a wind noise around the drivers door area, took a number of trips back to dealer and many different repairs, moulding around door, assessment of aligniment of sliding door by body shop etc to finally track it down to a gap in the moulding around drivers window.
Don't get me wrong I really want to like this vehicle, I have always bought Japanese because I purchase not lease and want to own it as long as possible. My 10 year old Odyssey with 200000 km was sold for almost 20% of its original purchase price.
If I was buying today I might look a little further at potential competition, such as new Rav 4, although to find anything comparable it would be more expensive. Given the problems already and the less than expected quality, I can't see this vehicle lasting 10 years like my Odyssey, so perhaps I will just view it as a 3 - 4 year vehicle and look for a replacement sooner than anticipated.
I truly hope that my experiences are in the minority as I believe with a few tweaks this could be a real solid vehicle.
No, I'm not selling it just yet.............. (dunno)
We never looked at any competition for the Mazda 5 as in this sector there really didn't appear to be any. Never wanting to own a domestic vehicle the M5 seemed to fit nicely into our niche. 2 kids, 7 & 9 looking for a vehicle smaller than Odyssey with a bit of panache.
Driveability - Performance is excellent, never have had an issue with power, recently did a 2000 km (1200 mi trip), cruises great at 120km (75mph) and still gets 9 to 10 L/100km (25 mpg US). Handling is superb, a little tight on ground clearance with GT model ground effects, but looks cool. A 5 or 6 speed auto would be nice, in cruise even up smaller hills the thing drops to third and wails like a banshee trying to bring it back to cruising speed
Build Quality
Carpeting is not what I would have expected, we take very good care of the vehicle but the carpets are already starting to ball up.
Interior plastic very susceptable to scratching, soft.
Exhaust system recalled - lost it for over a month, seriously, what were they thinking.
Suspension as noted by many other members we have the dreaded suspension creak which has been repaired once and still creaks. Still awaiting word from the dealer on what Mazda Canada is going to do about this.
Door Latches - Passenger rear door latch froze open, also as noted by many other members. Dealer did the temporary fix per service bulletin and it froze open again 1000 km from home while on a ski trip. Was lucky enough to get it closed but it would not open again until dealer fixed it. Still don't have any word from dealer on a permanent fix.
Wind noise - from almost day 1 we had a wind noise around the drivers door area, took a number of trips back to dealer and many different repairs, moulding around door, assessment of aligniment of sliding door by body shop etc to finally track it down to a gap in the moulding around drivers window.
Don't get me wrong I really want to like this vehicle, I have always bought Japanese because I purchase not lease and want to own it as long as possible. My 10 year old Odyssey with 200000 km was sold for almost 20% of its original purchase price.
If I was buying today I might look a little further at potential competition, such as new Rav 4, although to find anything comparable it would be more expensive. Given the problems already and the less than expected quality, I can't see this vehicle lasting 10 years like my Odyssey, so perhaps I will just view it as a 3 - 4 year vehicle and look for a replacement sooner than anticipated.
I truly hope that my experiences are in the minority as I believe with a few tweaks this could be a real solid vehicle.
No, I'm not selling it just yet.............. (dunno)