rodslinger
Member
Well a short review of my 2008 Mazda5 Sport after about 1500 miles. I'll be making mostly comparisons to the 2006 Mazda5 Sport we still have and the 04 Mazda3 S Sedan I sold a few months back.
Interior...
Nice improvement over our 06 model. The wife is enjoying the new armrests. My son is enjoying the fold out table to put his juice boxes and hold toys he is playing with. The standard climate control is great and the white dash illuminution is better on the eyes. The sliding doors seem to operate a LOT smoother also. Aux in connector is working well with my Ipod and was able to use the rear A/C one day. It worked well also. I'm really liking the interior changes.
No comparison to the 3 as it was a fully loaded touring model with NAV, leather, HID's, sunroof, etc..
Driving...
Mine is a manual, my wifes 06 is an auto. The stick is a lot more fun to drive and feels livelier. I'm getting pretty good gas mileage now also. Driving fairly agressively I'm still seeing 25mpg combined. Suspension on the 08 feels a lot firmer but I'll contribute that to the 40,000 miles accumulated on the 06 model. I'm sure a fresh set of struts would bring it up to code.
Comared to the 3 it feels very similar. You can feel the extra weight and the higher seating position amplifies any pitch and yaw motions you didn't notice in the 3. With the 18 inch MS3 wheels and Potenza RE-050a tires this thing really feels as much or more responsive than my 3 did. Cornering grip with them is fantastic. The seats are not as comfortable or supportive as the 3 seats were.
What I don't like is the excessive wheel hop. It is hard not to spin the inside tire coming off a turn. When that happens the wheel hop is obscene. When below 40f outside the Potenzas have poor grip so it is easy to break the tires loose just leaving a stoplight in first gear also. I'm hoping to cure that with some aftermarket motor mounts.
Reverse gear is too tall also. It's hard to back up an incline or back with very slow speed. Probably the only thing I would really like to see is better lighting for the rear passengers. Map pocket lights or something similar without having to turn on the dome light.
Interior...
Nice improvement over our 06 model. The wife is enjoying the new armrests. My son is enjoying the fold out table to put his juice boxes and hold toys he is playing with. The standard climate control is great and the white dash illuminution is better on the eyes. The sliding doors seem to operate a LOT smoother also. Aux in connector is working well with my Ipod and was able to use the rear A/C one day. It worked well also. I'm really liking the interior changes.
No comparison to the 3 as it was a fully loaded touring model with NAV, leather, HID's, sunroof, etc..
Driving...
Mine is a manual, my wifes 06 is an auto. The stick is a lot more fun to drive and feels livelier. I'm getting pretty good gas mileage now also. Driving fairly agressively I'm still seeing 25mpg combined. Suspension on the 08 feels a lot firmer but I'll contribute that to the 40,000 miles accumulated on the 06 model. I'm sure a fresh set of struts would bring it up to code.
Comared to the 3 it feels very similar. You can feel the extra weight and the higher seating position amplifies any pitch and yaw motions you didn't notice in the 3. With the 18 inch MS3 wheels and Potenza RE-050a tires this thing really feels as much or more responsive than my 3 did. Cornering grip with them is fantastic. The seats are not as comfortable or supportive as the 3 seats were.
What I don't like is the excessive wheel hop. It is hard not to spin the inside tire coming off a turn. When that happens the wheel hop is obscene. When below 40f outside the Potenzas have poor grip so it is easy to break the tires loose just leaving a stoplight in first gear also. I'm hoping to cure that with some aftermarket motor mounts.
Reverse gear is too tall also. It's hard to back up an incline or back with very slow speed. Probably the only thing I would really like to see is better lighting for the rear passengers. Map pocket lights or something similar without having to turn on the dome light.
