Alternative to Mazda5?

[ms2000]

Created an account just to reply to this incredible post.

Small backstory: wife and I had a baby, both had small cars, mine in particular are old, no a/c, heavily modified for autox and uncomfortable for children, and are on the hunt for a new family car.

We recently went on a trip to Scotland with my wife and 2 year old, and while there we rented a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer. A 3 row, manual transmission, fairly new gm product, that is basically a copy of the Mazda5 sans sliding doors and with a peppy little 1.6l turbo motor. I FELL IN LOVE. We took a 3 day trip with our two friends and their toddler, jammed luggage in the trunk and floor and had the best time ever. It felt like driving a small car on all the beautiful backroads of Scotland, yet I would look in the rear view to see 3 other adults and two kids in car seats and was blown away. Why do most Americans insist on owning larger and larger cars?! It’s so infuriating.

Anyways, since we got back, I have been obsessed with trying to find a Mazda5 for us. But most in my area are super rundown, or automatic. Also, my dream is to find one in that deep teal color, if anyone can tell me what years that was available in, that would be great! I saw one driving just the other day and am now set on the mz5 as our next vehicle.

Maybe we should just move to Europe for the mindset on efficient and useful vehicles alone.

If u can not find it in the US, buy it it Canada - I might sell mine but not yet.

https://www.autotrader.ca/cars/mazda/mazda5/

Or you can buy the Ford version - there is a passenger version too.

I searched for a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer, it did not have the sliding door:

2020 Vauxhall Zafira Tourer MPV review | What Car?

It’s fair to say the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer’s great grandfather, the Zafira, was something of a trendsetter in the MPV market. The Renault Espace may have cr...

www.youtube.com

 

[ms2000]

Some 10yrs ago, Hertz would lease MZ5 to me for the price of a Corolla!

 

[IamFODI]

Created an account just to reply to this incredible post.

Small backstory: wife and I had a baby, both had small cars, mine in particular are old, no a/c, heavily modified for autox and uncomfortable for children, and are on the hunt for a new family car.

We recently went on a trip to Scotland with my wife and 2 year old, and while there we rented a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer. A 3 row, manual transmission, fairly new gm product, that is basically a copy of the Mazda5 sans sliding doors and with a peppy little 1.6l turbo motor. I FELL IN LOVE. We took a 3 day trip with our two friends and their toddler, jammed luggage in the trunk and floor and had the best time ever. It felt like driving a small car on all the beautiful backroads of Scotland, yet I would look in the rear view to see 3 other adults and two kids in car seats and was blown away. Why do most Americans insist on owning larger and larger cars?! It’s so infuriating.

Anyways, since we got back, I have been obsessed with trying to find a Mazda5 for us. But most in my area are super rundown, or automatic. Also, my dream is to find one in that deep teal color, if anyone can tell me what years that was available in, that would be great! I saw one driving just the other day and am now set on the mz5 as our next vehicle.

Maybe we should just move to Europe for the mindset on efficient and useful vehicles alone.

Thanks for the kind words. Hope you can find your ideal Mazda5 someday! We had a hell of a time ourselves, even without looking for a particular color. I ended up buying one that had a ton of miles on it and spending an eye-watering amount (relative to the purchase price) rehabbing it. But it was totally worth it.

Completely agree that the American obsession with large vehicles is infuriating, and that it's sometimes tempting to move to Europe for that reason alone.

 

[fundrive918]

If u can not find it in the US, buy it it Canada - I might sell mine but not yet.

https://www.autotrader.ca/cars/mazda/mazda5/

Or you can buy the Ford version - there is a passenger version too.

I searched for a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer, it did not have the sliding door:

2020 Vauxhall Zafira Tourer MPV review | What Car?

It’s fair to say the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer’s great grandfather, the Zafira, was something of a trendsetter in the MPV market. The Renault Espace may have cr...

www.youtube.com

No it did not! But was similar in size and overall mindset of the car, just with more modern tech, a 6spd mt and a turbo motor with decent low rpm power and got 41mpg over a 600 mile road trip!

 

[ms2000]

No it did not! But was similar in size and overall mindset of the car, just with more modern tech, a 6spd mt and a turbo motor with decent low rpm power and got 41mpg over a 600 mile road trip!

40mpg is what I would buy - Ford TRANSIT CONNECT gives similar to MZ5.

Mazda e skyactiv x would give 50mpg - but its expensive and only in UK now

Corollo Cross - CUV - 23k MSRP 30mpg 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross | Toyota.com

If you want a Honda version of Bolt, Honda JV is coming - might be 2yr wait

But surely the MZ5 is a unicorn, its homely in there. Someone said that the body is somewhat flexibile (meaning not rigid) - unsure if its good or bad. MZ is going with the hype of CUV and ignored the MZ5 - Uber drivers were also trying to get them before the gas price went up. Somehow its cheap in private sale.

If you are not putting a lot of miles then EV does not make a case. I do 5k/yr and would be contended with a hybrid or an affordable e skyactiv x that gives 50mpg. Another reason is EV commercial charging was expensive than gas if you do slow charging. Now with high electic charge, unsure ev saves money! Calif charge $30 more to register evs each yr.

We also killed hatchback - but its coming back. We killed the station wagon too.

 

[IamFODI]

Someone said that the body is somewhat flexibile (meaning not rigid) - unsure if its good or bad.

Chassis stiffness is always positive. The only downsides are weight and cost.

I'd love to figure out a way to increase the 5's chassis stiffness. I did find a set of bolt-in chassis bracing, but it looked like stuff that didn't have any real development behind it (there are companies that basically look for places on the chassis where you could conceivably bolt a brace up, make a brace for that location, claim it's effective without testing, and put it on sale). If I could have snagged them all from a reputable vendor for a few hundred bucks total, I might have taken the plunge – but they were all showing as NLA and/or a couple hundred bucks each from potentially questionable importers.

I even called up someone who does custom chassis bracing. I was like, "let's just make pieces that seem like they should work. I'm not gonna hold you to any performance targets." He strongly advised against randomly making stuff and bolting it up because he's seen it take a lot of work for zero benefit. He said I should first look for people who've successfully done it on this platform, e.g. for track use, and go from there. I gave up when I heard that because I assumed that kind of person would not exist, but if y'all know differently, let me know.

 

[Silentnoise713]

No it did not! But was similar in size and overall mindset of the car, just with more modern tech, a 6spd mt and a turbo motor with decent low rpm power and got 41mpg over a 600 mile road trip!

Wow, sounds like a great car! Europe and Asia has various MPVs to choose from where MT paired with low displacement turbo is common but none of that applies to the US, land of the land yacht. I don't think the avg American know/heard of the MPV class. FYI, Mazda 5 is repackaged as Mazda Premacy/Ford Grand C-Max/Nissan Lafesta overseas, latter two slight different look/packaging and likely different steering/suspension/engine tune.

Chassis stiffness is always positive. The only downsides are weight and cost.

I even called up someone who does custom chassis bracing. I was like, "let's just make pieces that seem like they should work. I'm not gonna hold you to any performance targets." He strongly advised against randomly making stuff and bolting it up because he's seen it take a lot of work for zero benefit. He said I should first look for people who've successfully done it on this platform, e.g. for track use, and go from there. I gave up when I heard that because I assumed that kind of person would not exist, but if y'all know differently, let me know.

You can check with folks who race the chassis cousins (Mz3/MS3/Focus) in the SCCA spec class, or post this in grassrootsmotorsports. Get yourself a cheap stick/flux combo welder (sub $150) and you can make all that bracing/experiment to your hearts content.

 

[Silentnoise713]

I do 5k/yr

If you only drive 5K/yr, does MPG really matter? Even with a car that is 2X more fuel efficient, you're only saving a few hundred bucks a year. I'm guessing you mostly do short trips and should be looking at a car's city MPG rating as the top priority, which is best suited for hybrids.

 

[IamFODI]

You can check with folks who race the chassis cousins (Mz3/MS3/Focus) in the SCCA spec class, or post this in grassrootsmotorsports.

GRM is where I found that one guy I mentioned, actually!

Do you think the MZ3, MS3, and Focus are similar enough for chassis bracing solutions to carry over? I know the suspensions and subframes are identical/similar but the body-in-white is very different, no?

 

[Silentnoise713]

GRM is where I found that one guy I mentioned, actually!

Do you think the MZ3, MS3, and Focus are similar enough for chassis bracing solutions to carry over? I know the suspensions and subframes are identical/similar but the body-in-white is very different, no?

Their BIW is vastly different but you are concerned with the floorpan, while also different, but since you are looking to brace the structural points of the unibody, I suspect there are some similarities due to the share C-car platform. I cannot say 100% but worth looking into by comparing a pic of it mounted so you can look back at your undercarriage to see if it is the same.

You can def DIY this brace (I suspect it fits Mz5). The mounting points is the engineering effort

Product Release! CorkSport Underbody 4-Brace Set for Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3 | CorkSport Mazda Performance Blog

CorkSport is happy to announce another addition to our suspension performance line-up for Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 vehicles with the CorkSport Underbody 4-Brace Set. The CorkSport underbody 4-Brace Set for Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 will reduce undesirable chassis flex and increase control during...

corksport.com

 

[IamFODI]

Their BIW is vastly different but you are concerned with the floorpan, while also different, but since you are looking to brace the structural points of the unibody, I suspect there are some similarities due to the share C-car platform. I cannot say 100% but worth looking into by comparing a pic of it mounted so you can look back at your undercarriage to see if it is the same.

You can def DIY this brace (I suspect it fits Mz5). The mounting points is the engineering effort

Product Release! CorkSport Underbody 4-Brace Set for Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3 | CorkSport Mazda Performance Blog

CorkSport is happy to announce another addition to our suspension performance line-up for Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 vehicles with the CorkSport Underbody 4-Brace Set. The CorkSport underbody 4-Brace Set for Mazda 3 and Mazdaspeed 3 will reduce undesirable chassis flex and increase control during...

corksport.com

Good points.

Looks like they no longer make that brace. But you're right – it's all about the mounting points.
Hmm...