Picking up a 13 Mazda5 on friday

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chudzikb

Member
:
15 Mazda 3, 13 Mazda 5
Low mileage about 34K, 6 speed manual. Silver in color and looks to be in decent shape. Has a roof rack in place. (standard? Easily removed?) This is to replace my 02 VW eurovan with a pop top. Wife said there was 0% chance of her EVER sleeping in the van, so... Did like keeping bikes in the eurovan, so this was the solution. I plan on removing the back seat and maybe one of the second row seats to make room for our bikes.

Can Mazda speed3 seats be swapped into this car? Which generation work? Audio upgrade? Mine lacks bluetooth, that has to be fixed, question is whether that chinese option or get a real pioneer with android auto.

Bringing a buddy of mine who is a Ford tech with me on our road trip back from Atlanta. Bringing tools as well, but, since this is a Mazda and not a VW, we expect little trouble. (have and work on VW's and BMW's)

Tips, points, suggestions?

There will be upgrades in the works once home. That plastic steering wheel? Really? Can get a new leather one for around $250, that will be done ASAP.

I am a car nut with a lift in his garage! Somethings are just easier on a lift.

Look forward to hearing from the community.
 
I have a silver 2013 Mazda 5 that I bought used a couple months ago. It's a 5-speed auto rather than a 6-speed manual like yours.

I bought it with about 31,000 miles on it and have put on about 3500 additional miles.

I've read of people on this forum removing the second row seats, but I have yet to read about the 3rd row being taken out. Once you get your 5, you'll see that the 3 rd row folds flat and level with the last foot of "deck" in the cargo area. You can see all kinds of different cargo possibilities in this thread http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...zda5-Interior-Cargo-Flexibility-Photos/page25 , but stay logged in so you can see all the photos.
 
Back to what I did when I first got my 5, I changed the transmission fluid and cut a hole in the plastic engine shield to facilitate future draining. However, that's really irrelevant to your manual transmission machine. :)

The other thing I did was remove the solo Fiamm horn that is "sonicly" trapped in a chamber of plastic in front of the left front wheel. That horn and the full wrap of plastic body work conspired to make the Mazda 5 horn the weakest horn I can remember hearing. I honestly used it in traffic a couple times with people coming into my lane, and not one of them appeared to have noticed me.

I thought about going with a new set of PIAAs like I had on my last car, but ended up just buying a pair of Wolos at the local auto parts store. The mounting brackets for the Wolos are thin so I made my own out some steel stock I had laying around. Since I had the plastic engine shield removed it gave me access to the bottom of the car. On the bottom front of the radiator support housing are a series of threaded brass inserts. I used the outer two to mount each Wolo and ran new wiring (waterproofed). The Wolos in their current location face into the lower radiator intake opening below the bumper which gets the sound out into the open. Much louder and the 5's horn sounds more like a full size pick up truck.

When my first engine oil change comes up, I'm going to pull the wire connectors in the battery box and grease them up. There is a cable side terminal (before the battery terminals) that has some mild surface corrosion starting. So, I got to stop that from getting worse.

That's about it for now. I've just been enjoying the drive. :D
 
FiftySix said:
Back to what I did when I first got my 5, I changed the transmission fluid and cut a hole in the plastic engine shield to facilitate future draining. However, that's really irrelevant to your manual transmission machine. :)

The other thing I did was remove the solo Fiamm horn that is "sonicly" trapped in a chamber of plastic in front of the left front wheel. That horn and the full wrap of plastic body work conspired to make the Mazda 5 horn the weakest horn I can remember hearing. I honestly used it in traffic a couple times with people coming into my lane, and not one of them appeared to have noticed me.

I thought about going with a new set of PIAAs like I had on my last car, but ended up just buying a pair of Wolos at the local auto parts store. The mounting brackets for the Wolos are thin so I made my own out some steel stock I had laying around. Since I had the plastic engine shield removed it gave me access to the bottom of the car. On the bottom front of the radiator support housing are a series of threaded brass inserts. I used the outer two to mount each Wolo and ran new wiring (waterproofed). The Wolos in their current location face into the lower radiator intake opening below the bumper which gets the sound out into the open. Much louder and the 5's horn sounds more like a full size pick up truck.

When my first engine oil change comes up, I'm going to pull the wire connectors in the battery box and grease them up. There is a cable side terminal (before the battery terminals) that has some mild surface corrosion starting. So, I got to stop that from getting worse.

That's about it for now. I've just been enjoying the drive. :D
Click to expand...

Will have to see how bad the horn is when I get it, but, sounds like a decent mod. What are wolos?

The 6 speed manual was probably the most important feature driving my purchase. My VW Eurovan had a lot to offer, but, a wooden auto tragic transmission was the only option. They blew up without warning and were 4K for a rebuild + install. I could not take the pressure of impending failure. (now next guy's problem) Driving a 03 Golf TDI with 180K, and an 04 BMW 330ci with 132K, this is like a brand new car to me!
 
chudzikb said:
Will have to see how bad the horn is when I get it, but, sounds like a decent mod. What are wolos?
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Wolo is a horn company. They aren't sophisticated like Hellas or maybe PIAAs, but they are in everyday auto parts stores and the ones I have work well (so far).

I have these mounted up. 1 each.

http://wolo-mfg.com/horns/electric-replacement-horns/model-380-2t-full-blast-low-tone.html

http://wolo-mfg.com/horns/electric-replacement-horns/model-380-2t-full-blast-low-tone-62.html

EDIT: The packaging and graphics are cheap and cheesy. The horns seem fairly well built, but don't have an aura of "excellence". The reason I went with the Wolos was out of sheer convenience. If they die, I'll probably put in PIAAs as the last set I had lasted for 9 years until they smashed into a pick up truck I hit in an accident. Ooops. :)
 
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chudzikb said:
The 6 speed manual was probably the most important feature driving my purchase. My VW Eurovan had a lot to offer, but, a wooden auto tragic transmission was the only option. They blew up without warning and were 4K for a rebuild + install. I could not take the pressure of impending failure. (now next guy's problem) Driving a 03 Golf TDI with 180K, and an 04 BMW 330ci with 132K, this is like a brand new car to me!
Click to expand...

I understand about the auto transmission worries. Out of my last three daily drivers from '95 to the summer of 2015, only one was an auto shifter and I only kept that for two of those years. The other two were manual shift that I kept for 8 years (185,000 miles) and 9.5 years (189,000 miles). I'm taking a leap of faith with the current auto shifter and hoping that being built in Japan means something good. (boom03)
 
fiftysix, are you the only one on this forum? Or does everyone else just not participate much? On Diesel forums, a bazillion responses in a short period of time. Of my, now 6 cars, no autotragics. taught my 16 year old daughter on a stick, will do the same for the son, makes them better drivers. IMHO. Daughter has made it to 17 and is still alive, which I take as a good thing. When daughter took her drivers test, the testing agent, said...never failed a kid that drove stick, they know how to drive... That speaks volumes.

Got dealership to remove the top rack and put in the trunk, don't need the noise and wind resistance for a long drive.

If I figure out how to put pics up on this site, will follow up with some good ones, we have great places picked out for the road trip home.
 
Welcome aboard. I think it is b/c a typical Mz5 member do not actually drive the car day in day out. Rather, the wife has a problem with the car and the husband is trying to get a lead. You’ll see a lot of questions but not much contributing in return. The ones that actually drive the car are the ones who actually post :p

Kudos for teaching your kids to drive a manual! If you got a lift in your garage, you must be a car nut! :) I think you’ll come to like what the platform has to offer as it shares quite a bit with the Mazda3/Speed3.

Mazda3/5 GT and Speed 3 (red stitching on the Speed3) steering wheel are all leather and a direct swap. Can be had for pretty cheap on ebay and considering you hold the damn thing every time you drive, it is well worth it. Seats are interchangable but does require a littel bit of effort. One member did swap in Speed3 seat and has a guide in the how-to section.

On the cheap, you can pull a horn from pretty much any stock mid to large size sedan or truck and it will be 10x better. The Sport’s horn is pathetic and at best, meeps. The GT horn is also 9.5x better (b/c alarm, sounds much louder and actually honks). If you are going to buy a *new* horn, Stebel Nautilus should be on top of your shopping list.




FiftySix said:
I'm taking a leap of faith with the current auto shifter and hoping that being built in Japan means something good. (boom03)
Click to expand...
This car’s auto is a weak point. I hope you've seen some of the past auto tranny posts. I would highly recommend some preemptive maintenance. Little effort and little time will pay dividends later on. Build quality =/= design quality =/= component quality. This car suffers from component quality.
 
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Silentnoise713 said:
This car’s auto is a weak point. I hope you've seen some of the past auto tranny posts. I would highly recommend some preemptive maintenance. Little effort and little time will pay dividends later on. Build quality =/= design quality =/= component quality. This car suffers from component quality.
Click to expand...

Yep. I already did a full tranny fluid change right when I got it. Not just a drain and fill. I probably need to drop the pan and replace the filter the next time.

I pretty much baby the tranny. I just put her in D and don't peg the throttle unless needed. Of course, I can't do anything about what the prior owner did.

I figure there is only so much strength that can put into a sideways mounted front wheel drive transmission. There just isn't the room between the wheel wells for it. Especially when the gear count goes up.
 
Plus 1 one preventative maintenance paying dividends with the trans. Mine is one of the higher mileage 5s on here at 208k and it drives like a nearly new car. Mine is a first year (2006) with the 4 speed auto BTW and I do occasionally beat on it like a rented mule lol Oh, and welcome!
 
OK, I'll jump in. I also just bought a 2013 Sport manual in Silver. I do the driving, as the wife takes the train to work, so the manual is for my entertainment!

I also want make some upgrades, but I have no lift or garage. The local Autozone parking lot is my best bet for working on the car. So, I live vicariously through the threads of others who can do this kind of work. But, I will put in cameras, a video screen for the kids, and hopefully leather seats at some point.

I have seen threads here where people put in Mazda3 seats, so I'm sure the Speed3 seats will work.

Your comment about a nice leather steering wheel is interesting, hadn't thought of that. Where would you get it?

As for A/V upgrades, look at Vasy's threads and videos. Full details shown, including console disassembly, etc.

I'm also debating what head unit to go with. I would prefer a nice Pioneer or Alpine (these will have both Apple Carplay and Android Auto), but the cheaper Chinese kits offer more of factory OEM look. They come with a surround that has actual buttons and knobs, with red backlighting and trim that matches the dash. I would love if you could wire that into a Pioneer head unit.

I also have roof racks. After they were removed, is there a hole in the roof that needs to be covered? Not having a cover part is what's preventing me from removing the racks myself.

Thanks and good luck!

- Chris
 
Back! Spent over a thousand miles getting acquainted with the 5. This will not be my daily, it was bought for a specific purpose, road trips with our bikes inside the van.
We started by hiking up to the top of stone mountain outside of Atlanta. Then left for Gatlinberg TN. Hit the cross park road of the Great Smokey Mountains in the dark with fog. It was a bit on the sketchy side. Into the park on Saturday for some great hiking, rain stopped, then started again as we were finishing up. Left for Roanoke VA. Got there in time to bounce around to 3 different micro breweries. Good times. Next day, today, left early and hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway, since early enough, there was NO traffic! Crossed into Shenandoah National Park and skyline drive. Hiked around the Big Meadows area, a combination of a horse trail and the Appalachian trail. Was good times in the woods, no bad day in the woods! Then out Thorton's Gap and through Luray to 81 and on up to Pennsylvania.

Got the dealership to put on new wipers as it was scheduled to pour, they were weak and really should have been part of the "reconditioning" process. Other than that and a nasty little colony of Georgia ants, seams to be decent. Got a bit of a squeak in the right rear brakes upon heating up in the mountains. My pro buddy told me how to fix. Quite frankly, we are used to a lot more "drama" on these go pick up a car trips and were somewhat let down by the perfect running of the Mazda 5. Certainly not a "needy" VW in temperament. Southwest broke my tool box...SOB's! Third trip with that tool box, well, they got it on this one. Could not believe it.

I need the key to the roof rack. N805 is the number on the lock. I will pay well for a copy of the key to that lock. They are noisy up there. (will buy those covers)

Impressions? Well, I don't need to tell you folks it needs more power, you know that. I can not imagine how it works with an auto-tragic? I took that van through some of the best winding roads on the east coast, and it did very well. Even in the wet, no issues. My friend was equally impressed, said it needed the 2.3 turbo from the Mustang. Yeah, I'll get right on that swap...right after curing cancer!

I have not seen any of those steering wheels used on ebay, and I looked? Anyone sees one, send me a link or a yard in the midatlantic region with a wrecked GT to get an interior from. I can smell a heated seat mod in the future.

Hope to find some time this week to get it up on the lift and poke around to see how it is put together.
 
It sounds like you had a great weekend! I haven't been to the Atlanta area in years. Stone mountain, too.

I look forward to seeing how you change up your 5 for the hauling duties when you get it done. :)
 
FiftySix said:
It sounds like you had a great weekend! I haven't been to the Atlanta area in years. Stone mountain, too.

I look forward to seeing how you change up your 5 for the hauling duties when you get it done. :)
Click to expand...

Hauling in STYLE...there fixed it for you...
 
And ordered the keys to the rack and the caps to put in place when removed as well. Progress...The howling must stop!
 
Will work on seat removal to see how much space it frees up for bikes. Have to do some configuration experimentation.
 
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