Mazda5 - Pros & Cons?

I rented one for a couple of days for a two day roadtrip. I was amazed at what good gas mileage it got.

not exactly the same, but i have a 2000 mazda protege (your car's grandma lol) and it has been SUCH a good car. great mileage, runs great, has never left us stranded. we just put quite a bit of money into it and hope to get another 200,000 out of it.

I am on my second Mazda 6 Sportwagon. I have different needs then you though. I like performance and speed, but with room for my 3 teenagers and 2 golden retrievers.

I am pleased with Mazda for a few reasons. Mostly I like a perfomance based vehicle, as I enjoy driving very much. There is no other car company in the same price range that focuses on performance, speed, fun, and sport of driving.

I am NOT pleased with Mazda for a number of reasons as well. My Sportwagon is no longer available in the US, MAJOR :(. My stealership (oops, did I say that out loud?) is wildly over priced and there are 18 year old 'technitions' working on my amazing car with only 6 weeks factory training for $90 an hour. Also, they STILL have the LOWEST mileage warranty available (3 yrs, 36k).

Since the 5 is a very unique family vehicle in a sea of otherwise mundane vans/cuv/suvs where performance is the very LAST consideration, if I were younger with kids in car seat, I would probably buy one.

I smile at them when I see them, but a 4 cyl car (however snazzy) will not work for me anymore (although if I had two less kids and one less dog, I'd def consider a speed 3, faster than MY car even)!

Enjoy!

:)

I have one and really love it. We rarely use our 3rd seat, but it is there for when we do need it. I've sat in the third seat without being terribly cramped. I wouldn't want to take a long trip back there, but think a small child would be fine. If a child rides back there that needs you to buckle them, it would be a pain. My 9 year old rides back there no problem. I love the room for groceries, etc when the seat is folded down. The two seats in the middle row and the van type doors are THE BEST! It gives a lot of room for a child to have their own seat. No fighting, no crossing over, room for drinks, etc. Plus there is plenty of room between for diaper bags, back packs, etc. Mine has run great, I've had it 2 years now. There was one recall for the power steering pump, but they replaced it. My only complaint is that something about the slope of the windshield seems to make it a little more susceptible to cracks, I'm on my 3rd windshield now. I travel interstate within Fort Worth a lot though.

Oh - and if you are serious - I'll give you the name of my dealer that I know personally. he's a great guy, really nice and takes great care of his customers. Private Message me if you want his name and number.

We looked at that last year when it was time for a new car for our soon-to-be family of 4. That's the crossover with the 3rd row? It got such great reviews everywhere- EVERYONE was raving about it! But when we went to look at it, we were surprised at how small it was. There is no way anyone could fit in the third row- there wasn't much leg or head room. I couldn't see crawling back there to buckle car seats (if we had extra passengers) or making our extra passengers squeeze back there.

We found a really great deal on a one-year-old Kia minivan and we love it- we've had it for a year. I would have "preferred" all the options in a Toyota or a Honda, but the price tag was much too steep for us, and we are happy with our little Kia. :) (JFF)

Pros - nice ride and you can fit 6 people.

The downside to having 6 seats in a small vehicle, is the front 4 seats don't have quite as much leg room as they might.

The back 2 seats are very cramped and can only be used by small-ish people for short distances. Maybe 1-1/2 hours, max. It really won't replace a van, if you need room for more than 4 people on a regular basis.

I bought an 08 Mazda 6 while shopping for an Altima or Camry. The Mazda was a better all around value due to gas mileage, safey features, and sticker price. The ride was much quieter and smoother! I can't emphasize that enough. The ride was reamarkably better. It has very responsive handling and is fast - see ZOOM ZOOM! So, a very sporty little family car that gets great gas mileage. The downside is that it didn't have the super luxurious features that Altima and Camry offered. I would've liked to have built in navigation, reverse camera, a place to plug my mp3 player, heated seats, and all, but really I wouldn't care to pay and extra couple thousand for that plus finance charges, so, my car was a much better value. It has power everything and the stereo is fantastic. I think the only differance with a Mazda 5 is not as much leg room and it doesn't hold it's value as well as the Mazda 6, but slightly better gas mileage. Check reviews on www.Edmunds.com

I love Mazdas and Volkswagons. I currently drive the Mazda3, which doesn't help you with your Mazda5 question, but I wanted to add another positive comment to the overall happiness with Mazdas. :)

We have had two mazdas and hated them both. They are terrible cars, and we will never, ever buy another mazda!