Thanks to the wealth of information and encouragement in this forum, yesterday I went ahead and scored a Mazda5 Sport 6MT in Metropolitan gray. I bought it from Fremont Mazda in the bay area. The price on it is low - $17,700 + tax & lic, but I think they'll make money back on my trade. My 07 Odyssey with almost 90k miles got me about $500 under Blue Book, not too bad IMO. For those considering buying - I got the quote from TrueCar.com. I only found out about that site when looking up dealer reviews on Yelp.
Enough about the dealing and wheeling already! I'm very excited about this new Mazda5. The gray shade is just gorgeous, and the red tail lamps contrast nicely with the dark metallic gray.
On the road it feels a lot like a BMW 328, but with a bit softer suspension. I'm just in love with the way it rides and corners. Clutch is easy to get used to. Gear shifter is precise enough. Clutch and shifter feel a lot like those on the 06 Audi A3 I had.
Fit and finish are great - I'm pretty amazed by how small the door gaps are. Doors and hatch open easily and close solidly. That Mazda Touch video clip on youtube about the 5's doors set my expectation really high, and these doors - all of them, not just the sliding ones - do not disappoint. Turn signal stalk has a nice hefty feel and is pleasant to use. Locks, window controls, and climate controls are logically laid out - the best I've seen from my experience owning Ford, Nissan, VW, Audi, Toyota and Honda. Seats are very comfortable. Looking at the interior pictures, I was a bit worried that the front head rests could be tilted too far forward, but they are not. They're never in my way at all.
There are only a few small flies in my Mazda Koolaid soup First, the tan cloth interior, which is the only choice with the gray color Sport, is going to be horrible to maintain. It stains easily, and proudly shows every little stains it got. The black plastic trim panels on the doors are the same way - they'll clearly show scuff marks and even rain water marks. The mouse fur roof liner is just cheap, but I don't look at it very often. But the sun visors are a joke. Very cheap and completely out of line with the thoughtful design flow of the entire car.
Then this morning while driving on the highway, I noticed a strange thing that I didn't catch on the test drive - in the rear view mirror, I saw the empty middle row seats shaking wildly like a couple angry clowns The car felt fine from my driver seat. The shaking was worst at about 60mph, and died down at close to 70. Hopefully it's nothing more than the back wheels out of balance. I'll drive it for a week or so for the tires to settle in, and then get them balanced if the shaking doesn't go away.
But overall, I'm floored by the quality I got for the money. Today at work I came out to my car several times just to play with the doors You can feel the effort Mazda people put into this car. Just awesome.
Here are a few pics I took today. Thanks again for all your help in this.
Enough about the dealing and wheeling already! I'm very excited about this new Mazda5. The gray shade is just gorgeous, and the red tail lamps contrast nicely with the dark metallic gray.
On the road it feels a lot like a BMW 328, but with a bit softer suspension. I'm just in love with the way it rides and corners. Clutch is easy to get used to. Gear shifter is precise enough. Clutch and shifter feel a lot like those on the 06 Audi A3 I had.
Fit and finish are great - I'm pretty amazed by how small the door gaps are. Doors and hatch open easily and close solidly. That Mazda Touch video clip on youtube about the 5's doors set my expectation really high, and these doors - all of them, not just the sliding ones - do not disappoint. Turn signal stalk has a nice hefty feel and is pleasant to use. Locks, window controls, and climate controls are logically laid out - the best I've seen from my experience owning Ford, Nissan, VW, Audi, Toyota and Honda. Seats are very comfortable. Looking at the interior pictures, I was a bit worried that the front head rests could be tilted too far forward, but they are not. They're never in my way at all.
There are only a few small flies in my Mazda Koolaid soup First, the tan cloth interior, which is the only choice with the gray color Sport, is going to be horrible to maintain. It stains easily, and proudly shows every little stains it got. The black plastic trim panels on the doors are the same way - they'll clearly show scuff marks and even rain water marks. The mouse fur roof liner is just cheap, but I don't look at it very often. But the sun visors are a joke. Very cheap and completely out of line with the thoughtful design flow of the entire car.
Then this morning while driving on the highway, I noticed a strange thing that I didn't catch on the test drive - in the rear view mirror, I saw the empty middle row seats shaking wildly like a couple angry clowns The car felt fine from my driver seat. The shaking was worst at about 60mph, and died down at close to 70. Hopefully it's nothing more than the back wheels out of balance. I'll drive it for a week or so for the tires to settle in, and then get them balanced if the shaking doesn't go away.
But overall, I'm floored by the quality I got for the money. Today at work I came out to my car several times just to play with the doors You can feel the effort Mazda people put into this car. Just awesome.
Here are a few pics I took today. Thanks again for all your help in this.