Tell me about the Mazda5 please

Me and dh have finally started seriously looking at cars... we are looking for something with curtin air bags all the way across, loved the look of the ody but they price range in a little high everywhere we have looked.... we also looking at crystler town and countries but finding one used with curtin air bags isn't fun either... i stoped at the mazada the other day just to look and they have a great new car/van that seats 7 but it's new this year so of course NEW price out of our range... but the mazda 5 are well with in our price range... only thing holding me back is that it seats 6 not 7... my kids are still pretty young to have friends over very often, but i think this will increase as they get older, me and dh, well mainly me think about more kids but that will be a while... i'm thinking 3-5 years and by then i don't think we'll want more... i'm kinda starting to think we will always be a family of 5! So do you think they car will work ??? what do others with older kids do??? Thanks!!!

I've got a Mazda5 and I love it, with one very major exception - the shoulder portion of the seat belts in the rear row are positioned too far forward of the seat. This is NOT an issue for installing carseats. Where it's been a problem for us is with boosters and my seat-belt-only child. I've only got one child who can use a harnessed seat - which means I'm stuck with a seat that is theoretically going to wind up acting like a lap-only belt in a wreck. Here's my original review with more details and pics:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=18200

So basically, if you're going to have at least two kids in carseats the entire time you want to keep the car, it's awesome - perfect. I LOVE my car in every other respect. I thought I was annoyed about the lack of rear air vents at first, but after riding around with my kids in 100+ weather, that doesn't even bother me anymore. (My kids are usually telling me to turn the A/C down before I'm ready for it!)

It was a great price, good gas mileage, fun to drive, good safety stats. That one seating position has driven me to distraction (and I still don't have an "officially correct" fix for it) but since your kids are younger, you should definitely check it out.

they are younger yes... BUT my older ds is in a booster (parkway) and my middle dd is 5 and will out grow the radain in about a year from now and will move into a booster seat i *think* she is mature enought now for a booster but b/c she's a light weight i keep her in the radian. But she will out grow that by hight in about a year or so...

So it just doesn't work with any booster at all??? My land rover's jump seat have the sholders belt that comes out a little forward of the seat and we've never had issues with it the belt guide on the parkway seem to hold it where it needs to be...

Well, "work" is debatable. Technically, this seat belt isn't a problem, and maybe you'll be comfortable with it. Personally, I'm not. If this was crash-tested, it would be fine, because dummies don't wiggle around like kids do, and they don't test plain-old-seatbelts for head excursion - just carseats. So, the problem is more of a "I don't like the way this works," rather than "this is obviously going to kill someone."

With a carseat, it's not an issue. With a high-back booster, the problem is only about head excursion - even with the belt guide to pull the belt back, the child & seat will still travel forward that 3-4" before the seat belt is engaged (even if it's locked). With a backless booster, it's about head excursion and the wiggly kids wind up with the shoulder belt in front of their face or at their elbow. With just the seat belt, it's head excursion and wiggly kid.

I haven't seen the Landrover, but I have seen a couple other vehicles where the belt comes out forward of the seat, and none of them were as extreme as this one. If it were just an inch, I could probably shrug it off, but it's 3" on my oldest and 4" on my second, and I've watched them while driving and that shoulder belt simply isn't doing them any good - they were all over the place, just being kids, looking around, handing things to each other, and the belt never stayed in position.

You should really go test-drive it; like I said, I really love mine! Just be aware of the seat belts in the rear row and keep them in mind - who knows, maybe it won't seem as alarming to you. Maybe you could call ahead before test-driving and have them bring it inside to cool off, so you can install your carseats and play around with it and not be in the heat!

I plan to go look at them again in a week or so with car seat in tow... I see what you are saying now... Are the seat belts cinching or can you pull them all they way out to lock them? If i could i could talk abby into a regent and start saving up $$ now for one... but i guess also allie is so close to out growing rfing by weight that she'll be ffing by fall/winter and wouldn't mind the back seat alone when abby moves to a booster. then my booster kids will be there, and allie won't be in a booster till atleast age 6 or so so that's 3 years... maybe i'll have to get her a regent or other HWH seat that's out in the next few years! LOL

You can pull them all the way out to lock them, but that doesn't solve the problem (that's what I did at first, too). If you try it, you'll see. Even if the seat belt is locked, it's still too far forward - the HBB/child still has to travel forward that 3-4" before they hit the locked seat belt.

Our Husky fits great back there! I haven't tried the new belt-paths or reclining bar, though, but I don't think they'd be a problem. The seats are nice & roomy. There's also tether anchors for all four seating positions - LATCH in the center row only, though.

You could put your youngest RF in the back & buckle her over the back of the seat through the cargo area, too. (You wouldn't even have to climb in to do it LOL!)

Oh i'm sure the seat would be ok rfing back there, but she freeks out if she's not near a sibbling right now... she's use to being side by side or rfing able to see both her bubby and sissy. so to move her rfing in the 3rd row alone wouldn't fly, but i could put her rfing next to the radain IF the radain works back there ... it has such installation issues in some cars.

I was wondering about the locking seat blet thing b/c i HATE my cinching seat blet in the intrepid and use the locking mechinisem to get austin to sit correct in his booster seat if i find he has leaned over to pick something up he has to lock the seat blet for a week... although he hasn't do that in well over 3 months so i think he's 'learned' ( i hate the work trained but that's what/how we used it) ... and i'm use i'll use it the same way for when abby moves to a booster.

I'm not familiar with the Radian myself - do you know what kinds of seats/belts it has trouble with? The seats in the Mazda5 are very straightforward. No curvy humps, nice & flat & deep, not too much slope in them, and the seat belt buckles are in the bight, not forward of it.

And yes, since the seat belts lock by pulling them all the way out, they would be helpful in keeping a child positioned in a HBB. In a backless booster, however, it won't do much good because they've still got that 3-4" to wiggle all over the place behind it.

thanks so much for all this great info!

We are going to have to go try out the seats in this car! I'm excited. I'm thinking that the two girls can go in the 3rd row, allie can/will stay rfing while she'll be able to see/have abby next to her. then when she goes ffing i can leave the harness seats in the back and just my boostered child in the middle. that will be fine for a year or so till abby outgrows the radain then we will re-evaluate things then and see if we need to get the regent or other harness seat for her to stay in the back or move her to a booster in the middle.... then we'll have till allie's atlest 6 to worry about her!

As for the radain it can be tricky if the stalks of the female end are foward which you said they aren't or if they are really long stalks, from the pics it doesn't look like they are. So hopefully the seat will work in there well!

No problem! Let me know what you think once you try it out.

And yes, the belt stalks are nice & short, too.

I love mine. I have to say my review would parallel Defrost's. It's perfect in so many ways... but that 3rd row shoulderbelt wouldn't even do me (26yo female, 5'4'', 135 lbs) any good in an accident. I have about 3'' from my shoulder to the belt. Thankfully my oldest has just turned ffing, so we will have all our kids in carseats with 5-pt harnesses for the life of the car. But it's a bummer not to be able to put carseat-less people back there. Cargo space can be a bit short, and since this is our "big" car, we invested in a roof rack and cargo box for longer trips.

My two Marathons install like a breeze in any seating configuration. I'm due with #3 next year, so I'll need a new carseat for my 5yo in the 3rd row. I'm hoping to talk family into helping me out with the initial cost of buying lots of options from elitecarseats.com (with the return shipping insurance) to try out for best fit. When I manage that, I will post here. (Somebody please remind me )

The Mazda5 will get some upgrades for the 2008 model year. So if you want to hold out, you can, but it's expected to jump in price at least $1,000-$2,000. We decided the upgrades weren't worth spending that much more, so we're happier with our 2007.

well we test drove it and your right thoes belts aren't something pretty at all... i think having no crash testing is worring me as well...

We are going to be looking at ody this weekend back the original plan, now if we can just fine a nice cheep used one with ya know all the stuff i want in it! LOL b/c we can't get one of thoes new at all! LOL