Mazda 5 - work for me? Reliability?

southpawboston · Apr 14, 2008

one under-touted feature i liked in the 5 was the rear hatch and its two-position opening. for short people, the default open position is high enough but not too high that you can't reach it. then for tall people like myself, you can give it a little extra push and it raises up a little more to its highest position. :thumbsup:

niccig · Apr 14, 2008

My parents come with 2x50lb bags and leave with 4x 50lb bags and 2 carry-on bags. They visit from Australia and many things are cheaper here, even with the Australian dollar weak against the US dollar - it's economies of scale as Australia's population is much smaller and many things are imported. So, they come and shop until they drop and take things back. They actual need to bring less with them as they always buy some clothes, new tennis shoes etc.

But it's only 2 trips to the airport a year. It will work if we only have 3 people for airport drives so a captain's chair can also be down. Or maybe roof racks. Or we just take 2 cars for all the gear. And while I complain about all their things, we're visiting them next month and taking 2x 40 lb scuba bags, 1 suitcase and 3 carry-on backpacks, so they normally bring 2 cars to pick us up - Dad's pick-up for the luggage and the Honda Civic for the passengers. Again, it's a once a year thing, so totally manageable.

niccig · Apr 14, 2008

southpawboston said:
one under-touted feature i liked in the 5 was the rear hatch and its two-position opening. for short people, the default open position is high enough but not too high that you can't reach it. then for tall people like myself, you can give it a little extra push and it raises up a little more to its highest position. :thumbsup:

I didn't see this. I'm short so that's a good thing. I can barely reach the hatch on my current SUV.

niccig · Apr 14, 2008

southpawboston said:
i love roof racks! they are very handy and work great for situations such as when you have extra family and their luggage. :thumbsup: they do raise the center of gravity, but by a very negligible amount... the weight limit on them is usually 100 lbs.

I was researching on the Mazda forums http://www.mazdas247.com/ and in the Mazda 5 section there is a thread with pictures of fully loaded Mazda 5's to show how much room there is. One picture has a bike carrier on the back with 3 bikes, and roof racks with a kayak and a hard cargo carrier. I'm sure this increased center of gravity a LOT. We would never need to load it up this much though, and if you did, you would have to be very careful when driving it!

Defrost · Apr 14, 2008

niccig said:
I didn't see this. I'm short so that's a good thing. I can barely reach the hatch on my current SUV.

I didn't even realize it was unique to the Mazda 5. I do really like that feature - my older boys can reach it, but dh always pushes it all the way up so he can fit under it!

teekadog · Apr 15, 2008

niccig, I think you have a really good outlook on the size. Yeah, there are occasionally going to to be times when more room would be nice, but the 5 is a great everyday car. We love it for our family of 5 (though dh did make us wait to be sure baby #3 wasn't going to be twins before he would let us buy it).

teekadog · Apr 15, 2008

And I have to say dh is pleased to hear of someone with a Subaru Tribeca interested in a 5 instead. The Tribeca was his "I wish we coud buy" car before we bought the 5!

niccig · Apr 15, 2008

XmasEve said:
And I have to say dh is pleased to hear of someone with a Subaru Tribeca interested in a 5 instead. The Tribeca was his "I wish we coud buy" car before we bought the 5!

The Tribeca is a nice car, DH and I have had a few subarus. We like how they drive, and I will miss the handling, but it's just too big for most of our needs - most days it's DS and I and the diaperbag driving to preschool 3x a week and swim class 2x week, grocery shopping, playdates etc. We don't even take a stroller anymore. DH's car is a Prius so the Tribeca that gets 18.4 mpg is a gas guzzler for us especially driving in Los Angeles. I may start working part-time again, so I'll have a 30 min commute 2x week. We're also downsizing in several areas, and if we get a Mazda 5, the payment will be less than my current lease and the gas bill will be less, so $$ to save. With one child, I can't justify to myself, my bank account or the environment, to be driving a bigger car. Plus, I

the sliding doors. I just hope I love the test drive.

dimsumdaddy · Apr 16, 2008

OP: A tall SUV with ESC is way more dangerous than the Mazda5 with ESC because ESC does not save you from tipping over. So don't let the Mazda5's lack of ESC stop you from getting it.

I test drove the car and for the accessibility/utility of the micro-van design, it drives COMPLETELY like a car, corners very well.

I made my wife (who loves big fat luxury class cars) test drive one and she was very impressed by the package of lots of usability in a little body. Unfortunately, it looks like the Mazda5 will not work for us because we have 3 kids (youngest is an infant) and when using all 3 rows, the Mazda5 has effectively no trunk space.

If you do not use the 3rd row, or just part of it, then the "trunk" space is good.

teekadog · Apr 17, 2008

We've got 3 kiddos in seats and last weekend still managed to take the family out and buy 200 lbs of soil and manure and get it all home easily in 1/2 the 3rd row. (Though my car now reeks.)

Defrost · Apr 17, 2008

XmasEve said:
We've got 3 kiddos in seats and last weekend still managed to take the family out and buy 200 lbs of soil and manure and get it all home easily in 1/2 the 3rd row. (Though my car now reeks.)

:ROTFLMAO:

THIS is why we kept the Astro van when we got the Mazda5! Picturing soil and manure in my newly-cleaned Shiny Car makes me grateful for the giant paperweight taking up space in my driveway!

dimsumdaddy · Apr 17, 2008

XmasEve said:
We've got 3 kiddos in seats and last weekend still managed to take the family out and buy 200 lbs of soil and manure and get it all home easily in 1/2 the 3rd row. (Though my car now reeks.)

Anyone of you with Mazda5's have 3 seats AND 2 are small enough to warrant strollers?

We have a double stroller (combi) and when I brought my wife to check out the Mazda5 this past weekend, she was impressed but felt we would too easily outgrow it... I agree with that for those few trips a year where you need to pack up a lot of stuff. However, I think 95% of the time the Mazda5 is just right.

BUT!!! The one thing that we will be carrying with us daily is the double stroller.

So far, I've only seen people with single, small umbrella strollers in the Mazda5. Any pics of more stuff with the 3 seats?

Defrost · Apr 17, 2008

dimsumdaddy said:
So far, I've only seen people with single, small umbrella strollers in the Mazda5. Any pics of more stuff with the 3 seats?

Well, we went to the city with three kids a couple months ago and had to load our bulk-food order. I wasn't impressed, and I wouldn't want my kid riding next to cargo like that on a regular basis. My 3rd-row kid had several heavy boxes riding completely unsecured next to him all the way home. If we'd wrecked, he'd have beaten to death by boxes! :thumbsdown:

Much as I love my car, I wouldn't be comfortable with routinely hauling a double-stroller right next to my child. I've never seen a double-stroller that could fit in my rear glove compartment (oops, I mean "cargo area.") I suppose they make them that fold up that small, though, since it's been several years since we've even owned a stroller.

dimsumdaddy · Apr 17, 2008

Defrost said:
Well, we went to the city with three kids a couple months ago and had to load our bulk-food order. I wasn't impressed, and I wouldn't want my kid riding next to cargo like that on a regular basis. My 3rd-row kid had several heavy boxes riding completely unsecured next to him all the way home. If we'd wrecked, he'd have beaten to death by boxes! :thumbsdown:

Much as I love my car, I wouldn't be comfortable with routinely hauling a double-stroller right next to my child. I've never seen a double-stroller that could fit in my rear glove compartment (oops, I mean "cargo area.") I suppose they make them that fold up that small, though, since it's been several years since we've even owned a stroller.

I had a feeling. I think Mazda would do well to actually extend the rear of the Mazda5 by a little bit, enough so that you can have the deep well that the Odyssey/Sienna have behind the 3rd row... (the same well that the 3rd row folds into). The killer deal is that with all 3 rows up, there is no trunk space. With just 8" more tail, you could get some trunk AND solve the 3rd row shoulder belt problem.

Looks like it's an Odyssey for me.

I really wanted the 5 to be a solution for me.

jewlsvern · Apr 17, 2008

I usually carry 3 children (infant seat, HBB, and LBB) in my Mazda 5 plus a large Graco Quattro Tour stroller. I can fit it easily in the back space. The double stroller is probably only a little bigger and I think it might fit. It becomes a tight fit between the side of the car and the seat next to it so it does not move at all side to side. If you are considering one I would take your stroller and car seats down to the dealership and try it out. The car seat are from waht I've experienced very easy to install since the seats are all individual. No cramming next to each other.
Here is a link to another option for 3 seats.
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=110977

southpawboston · Apr 17, 2008

dimsumdaddy said:
So far, I've only seen people with single, small umbrella strollers in the Mazda5. Any pics of more stuff with the 3 seats?

for our loaner mazda5, we got a maclaren double in the back without problems with all seating rows in use.

teekadog · Apr 17, 2008

Yeah, we were nervous with all that loaded right next to the kids... but we were in a pinch. Dh will go back for the next load solo, and when it comes time for camping, we'll put the gear in the roof box.

I can easily fit my single Maclaren in the rear, and I can fit my Phil & Ted's in 1/2 the 3rd row. But I agree that's not great cargo. And too heavy to hoist into the roof box myself...

I sure hope they don't extend the 5 though! It fits in our garage better than our Camry did and that's priceless to us!

Defrost · Apr 17, 2008

southpawboston said:
for our loaner mazda5, we got a maclaren double in the back without problems with all seating rows in use.

And you didn't take pics???

They must've shrunk double strollers since I had one. That thing was a beast!

southpawboston · Apr 17, 2008

Defrost said:
And you didn't take pics???

They must've shrunk double strollers since I had one. That thing was a beast!

did you have a maclaren or something else? the double maclarens fold up almost as compactly as the singles. in our mazda3, the double has to sit at an angle, since it is slightly longer than the trunk is wide. but the mazda5's trunk was an inch or so wider, and it just fit straight across. also our maclaren triumph is probably slightly smaller than some other maclarens like the techno.

Defrost · Apr 17, 2008

southpawboston said:
did you have a maclaren or something else?

Oh, I had a yard sale special!

I believe it was a Graco. I did put four kids in it once for a short trip to the playground, though.

Mazda 5 - work for me? Reliability?

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