Review # 60: Mazda Mazda5

With over 260,000 miles on our minivan, a new driver in the house, the desire for something smaller and more fuel efficient, it was time for a new car. A 2012 Mazda5 Sport is now the primary people mover of our household.

The review goes like this:

The 2012 Mazda5 has a sightly more powerful engine than previous models, and also comes with traction and stability control. These things were important to me and contributed to my decision to buy new rather than used. I have had this vehicle for 3 months and have put about 5800 miles on it. Sigh.
The Mazda5 Sport is the barebones model of the Mazda5 series. The Sport has an automatic transmission with a manual shift mode, which I only used the first two weeks for the novelty of it, so not a huge plus in my book.
The Mazda5 is a mini mini-van. You sit lower than in a mini van, but not as low as, say, a Honda Civic. The ride is very car like, although roomy in the drivers seat, it feels small (after driving a Sienna for the last 11 years), easy to maneuver, and u-turns are a breeze.
It is configured like this: 2 captains chairs in front, 2 captain chairs in the middle, and a small split bench seat in the rear. All captain chairs are comfortable and there is plenty of leg room for the average sized person. The rear seat is really only appropriate for young children, although I have had some adults sit back there; do-able but cramped. With the rear seats folded down the Mazda5 has tons of cargo space (a recent Costco trip beared this out.) When in the seat position there is very little cargo space, a few grocery bags or maybe a stroller. The middle row captains chairs contain storage areas in the seat, and there are a few storage areas, cup holders, and a very large glove compartment.
I have been tracking mpg and so far have consistently gotten between 23 and 26 mpg, mostly mixed highway and town driving, with the AC running almost always (it has been a HOT summer.)
So it is no Prius in the mpg category, but for a vehicle of its size and class I am happy enough.
The Mazda5 sits very low to the ground, and I do have concerns about how this will be in the winter.
The front seats of the Mazda5 have some very peculiar angled headrests which, while I don't hate, I don't love either, and if possible would like to replace them down the road.
Overall, this is a perfect sized vehicle for the person who mostly needs a car, wants a little extra elbow room and occasionally needs to haul 5 or 6 people.Three months out, I give my Mazda5 an 8.5. Better headrests, slightly more mpg and a little more ground clearance would up it to a 10.