the_saint said:
Heh, thanks. Actually, we got our copy in last night. Overall, I think CR did a decent job reporting on the Mazda5. I'm glad they paid attention to the fact that it is classified a wagon and grouped it with other "tall wagons" rather than put it in a minivan review (and then bash it for being smaller than minivans).
I specifically liked that even though they only had write-ups for four vehicles (Mazda5, Pontiac Vibe, Chrysler PT Cruiser, and Chevrolet HHR LT), there was a chart comparing those with other vehicles previously reviewed, including the Ford Focus, Chervrolet Malibu Maxx, Subaru Impreza, and Scion xB. When I was shopping, I had considered the PT Cruiser, Focus, and xB in particular, so this article would have been very useful if I had it during my considerations. With luck this means others who have needs similar to mine may be well guided by the CR article.
I also like the sidebar on recalls, and the fact that Mazda was not really penalized for having one.
The main negative I see from the article is that even though the Mazda5 got an overall score of 86, well above the next runner-up Ford Focus with 75 and the others, including the Scion xB's score of 50 (which tempted me by it's small size and gas mileage), that some may discount it simply because it doesn't have the CR "Recommended" checkmark, due to it's being a new vehicle and CR waits for the reliability info before giving that mark. But that's just how CR operates.
I'm a mixed fan of CR, by the way. I do like a lot of their reporting, enough that we do subscribe to them, but I'm found that some of their opinions on things I disagree with and they focus more on some aspects of things and less on others than I'd like. In particular, I think they didn't stress the cost of the Mazda5 in the article -- their "as tested" price was $22,615 due to the Navigation, which is not really talked about and, for me at least, is a horribly expensive option to have. At least they have the correct "base price" on the page that discusses the Mazda5 in detail.
Also, the only mention of the manual is a simple sentence: "A five-speed manual is also available." and to me, having the manual was a huge deal.
I understand why they may not talk much about it, given that the model they bought was an automatic and the 'average' CR reader probably prefers automatics anyway. And as far as I know, the other vehicles in this report all have manual options so in this gathering it's not a unique advantage for the Mazda5 to have a manual transmission. But it still bothers me they didn't talk about how awesome driving the Mazda5 in manual is.
