One morning, the Mazda5 turned up in Auto123.com's parking lot between two scheduled tests. Out of curiosity, we opened the door and checked the odometer, and it read over 9,000 km. Oh, no! We've busted our allocated mileage, so we brought it back to Mazda quicker than we expected.
The vehicle was signed out by 17 testers and their families during its stay with us, and we filtered through all the evaluation forms to figure out what they liked and what they didn't.
The hits
It's funny that the 5's sliding doors drew so many positive comments, like if they've just been invented, and yet they've always been a minivan trademark. Maybe we're just not used to this type of vehicle in North America, but this Mazda has several competitors in Europe. Parents appreciated the roof clearance that makes buckling in kiddies much easier.
The engine's eagerness to please and relatively low fuel consumption gained its share of fans, while second-row passengers liked having the convenience of armrests. We didn't collect many comments on how adults felt on the back seat, but the few we have mention their experience as being 'tolerable'.
The misses
"The Mazda is okay for the daily commute, but I can't imagine going on a trip with my kids", said one tester in regards to the lack of cargo space when all seats are up. That's one of the sacrifices a regular minivan owner must accept to downsize. Still, that didn't stop one evaluator from picking up a 47-inch plasma television in its box and ecstatically bring it home.
Again, one evaluation sheet noted that the Mazda5's four-cylinder doesn't have enough guts. The solution might come soon, as the 2010 Mazda3 will swap its 2.3-litre engine for a more-powerful 2.5-litre unit, and the 5 will probably follow suit.
 |
| Parents or not, minivan owners or not, quite a few discovered the 5's virtues. |
The vehicle was signed out by 17 testers and their families during its stay with us, and we filtered through all the evaluation forms to figure out what they liked and what they didn't.
The hits
It's funny that the 5's sliding doors drew so many positive comments, like if they've just been invented, and yet they've always been a minivan trademark. Maybe we're just not used to this type of vehicle in North America, but this Mazda has several competitors in Europe. Parents appreciated the roof clearance that makes buckling in kiddies much easier.
The engine's eagerness to please and relatively low fuel consumption gained its share of fans, while second-row passengers liked having the convenience of armrests. We didn't collect many comments on how adults felt on the back seat, but the few we have mention their experience as being 'tolerable'.
The misses
"The Mazda is okay for the daily commute, but I can't imagine going on a trip with my kids", said one tester in regards to the lack of cargo space when all seats are up. That's one of the sacrifices a regular minivan owner must accept to downsize. Still, that didn't stop one evaluator from picking up a 47-inch plasma television in its box and ecstatically bring it home.
Again, one evaluation sheet noted that the Mazda5's four-cylinder doesn't have enough guts. The solution might come soon, as the 2010 Mazda3 will swap its 2.3-litre engine for a more-powerful 2.5-litre unit, and the 5 will probably follow suit.
 |
| Still, that didn't stop one evaluator from picking up a 47-inch plasma television in its box and ecstatically bring it home. |