2006 Mazda Mazda5 consumer reviews

I love my Mazda5 - zoom, zoom, zoom. It is the best car I have ever had (past contenders - Mitsubishi 3000VR4, Mercedes ML320, Quest, Honda). My kids picked it out because of the mini-van layout, I fell in love with the turning radius, the zip and the manual transmission. By the way, with @ 15,000 miles logged, it is getting a pretty steady 30+ MPG for straight highway driving (just did a 2000 mile trip in May - airconditioner going full blast, three people and a lot of luggage). I have the Touring with the navigation system (DVD driven which seems to have some updating needs already). It is an economical people and stuff mover - makes you feel like you've gotten in on a really good secret.

Affordable and love the amount of seating and/or cargo space as needed. It handles like a car not a minivan. Better gas mileage than a minivan and nicer looking. We love love love our Mazda5

I was given this car by my car rental company instead of a compact and almost refused it but decided to drive it first. I was pleasantly surprised by the handling and acceleration of the car on the freeway and in the city. I had no problems driving up and down the hills of San Francisco. The only negatives were the length of time it took to cool the interior down, the slightly top heavy feel when cornering at faster speeds and the small storage are when 6 people are on board. If I'm ever in the market for a minivan or wagon, this will definitely be on my list.

(Part 2 of 2) What else I like: It?s cool looks (mine is Stellar Greensilver, an interesting color). The seating is elevated and height-adjustable. There are many standard power features and convenient steering-wheel controls. It's very quick and very quiet. Front and center seats are very spacious (all slide and recline, too!). The sliding doors are fingertip light (and their windows roll all the way down!). It holds a LOT of stuff! What I don't like: If you switch the key off, just one click, you can still listen to the radio, but you can't close a window or the sunroof without switching back to "on". The driver gets two armrests, everyone else gets only one. Flipping up or down the center seats is a two-handed job, you have to press on the seatback a little to let up the tension against the spring before you can pull the unlock lever. The rear hatch has two open positions but I wish there was one more, just a little higher. You can't see the front of the car from the drivers seat. You can't (or shouldn't) open the right rear door when refueling or Lord only knows what will happen! The right-hand windshield wiper stops in front of the driver in the "up" position, leaving a tiny sort of smudge where the rubber in the blade reverses direction. It is very easy to scuff up the rear bumper - get the protective thing they sell. In short, there's obviously a lot more to like than to not like! This class of car (Space Wagon) is VERY popular in Europe and if Mazda would just promote the Mazda 5, they wouldn't languish on their lots so long!

(Part 1 of 2) I have owned the Mazda 5 Touring since 24 Apr 06 and I can tell you, it is definitely NOT a minivan. It looks nice, stylish, even sleek, not at all boxy! It feels just like a car to drive, but you sit comfortably high, and can see over other cars, very important in New Jersey, where tailgating is the norm. The EPA classifies it as a mid-sized station wagon, a passenger car, so it does conform to passenger car safety and economy standards. Other minivans are classified as trucks, with much looser safety and fuel economy standards! I averaged about 25.8 mpg over the last 4,500 miles of mixed suburban (35 ? 40 mph) and highway (75 ? 80 mph) driving, and I think I could do even better except that New Jersey makes one drive more aggressively to stay alive! I drive a few city miles each day, in downtown Newark. I moved shortly after buying the car and found that, frankly, it can hold TOO much. With all the back seats folded, it will hold 28 put-together file storage boxes from the office supply store, and that is a lot to load and unload! There are lot's of little cubbies all over. The front door pockets are generous and there are a few catch-all bins for the driver. Between the front seats are 2 cup holders and a bi-level compartment. The center row passengers get a handy flip out tray between them that holds a lot, and under each cushion is a generous storage bin. The only thing about that tray is that if you want to fold either or both center seats flat, you must stow it under the right-hand seat first, to make room for either seat to fold flat. I am usually reminded of this after I've started on the left-hand side! The 3rd row passengers each get a little bin/cupholder. All the way-back is a shallow compartment covering the spare tire (for umbrellas or small packages you want to conceal), plus two tall, covered cubbies behind each wheel (perfect for fix-a-flat or you could even stuff jumper cables in there)! I am 5'11", 250 lbs, and one of the things that sold me on this wagon was that I was actually comfortable in the third row seats, and I think about 99% of the rest of the planet would fit okay, too. It's not spacious, but it is totally acceptable! (Continued in Part 2)

mazda has found away to load lots of standard features into the m5 with excellent handing,practical use and solid build for an excellent value. comfortable and quiet even with the sporty handling package that allows for hauling the kids and stuff but gives alot of fun in the process.this is a niche vehicle with no rival.good balance between power and gas mileage which is a must with todays gas prices.excellent quality,reliabilty and value for a solid built mini-van that gives both worlds fun to drive and practical use with good mpg.take a test drive and see for your self.zoom zoom !!!

I am a pretty practical person, so I went looking for our next car with a short shopping list - since our offspring are now either out of college, in college or soon to be in college, I was not interested in yet another minivan. (I have already owned three.) I wanted to go with a mid-sized sedan for comfort and better mileage. Unfortunately, we occasionally need to have 6 people in the car and even full-sized sedans are not really good for that. So I test drove about 8 cars and ended up really liking the Mazda Mazda6. The salesman heard what I had to say and suggested I look at the Mazda5 since it can seat 6 with the two fold-flat seat in the back. I test drove it and loved it. Terrific visibility, great handling (very tight turning radius makes it easy to manuver and park in the city), good mileage, nice styling (a bit like a slightly larger Toyota Matrix), very peppy engine/trans (the 4-speed automatic has a semi-automatic click-to-shift feature that sounds wierd but is kinda fun), lots of safety features (a key when you have teenage drivers) - everything I wanted and within my budget. Found a bonus - the middle seats fold down too which gave us enough room to move our college student back home this Spring without renting a moving van. Only one problem so far - fighting everybody off so I get to drive it.

I test drove this car and I plan on purchasing the 2007 model. I have had 2 other Mazda's and loved them both(Protege5 wagon and RX 8). I wanted utility, good gas mileage, great handling, good value and good looks. This car gives you all that. The handling is great, the utility is awesome for this size, the styling is cool and the price is right. Great value all around!! Check it out before you buy anything else...the handling will win you over!!

The Mazda5 is perfect for our family. We live in a city where parking is really tight so we were looking for a smaller car. But my husband and I have two small children and an au pair to cart around on a regular basis. We all fit in the Mazda5 with room to spare for luggage and baby gear. In addition to driving around town, we've driven across the country on vacation a couple times since we purchased the car 9 months ago -- it's really comfortable. For a minivan, it gets great gas mileage and the handling is great. My only complaint is that the front passenger seat doesn't have an arm rest.

5 IS THE BEST SMALL FAMILY WAGON ON THE MARKET. IT NEEDS MORE POWER AND MORE OPTIONS. THIS IS A GOOD BUY, 4 PERSON FAMILY