Is anyone else bothered by the flimsy plastic armrest?

[Lolcatburglar]

The cheap empty plastic of the driver's armrest is incredibly distracting on long drives. It feels cheap and laughably hollow. I drive the manual transmission and the experience is greatly diminished by my elbow resting on such a cheap part of the car. I understand that compromises have to made to deliver the Mazda 5 at such a great price. But, personally I would gladly pay for a better armrest.

Do any of you use an aftermarket solution to the crummy armrest?

 

[Hank3]

You're talking about the armrest on the driver's side door correct? Our 2010 has a rubberized one and I don't have any complaints.

 

[ROBOTO]

I am not sure I understand the problem. Is it on the driver's right hand? Or on the left hand?

The one on the driver's right hand is fine with me, it may look flimsy but can take a lot of weight... or is it the way it "feel" that you don't like?

 

[Vasy]

Nope, feels just fine to me.

 

[sac02]

The foam under the rubber on the drivers side door armrest had compressed and taken a permanent set within 1000 miles on my car. Now, at 16k, the foam is completely dead and there is no padding at all, just rubber liner over plastic door panel. Very cheap and disappointing that Mazda wouldn't have chosen a more durable material considering it is a known common touch point.

 

[thaxman]

The foam under the rubber on the drivers side door armrest had compressed and taken a permanent set within 1000 miles on my car. Now, at 16k, the foam is completely dead and there is no padding at all, just rubber liner over plastic door panel. Very cheap and disappointing that Mazda wouldn't have chosen a more durable material considering it is a known common touch point.

72K, 8 years.
For 4 years I have hated the driver's door armrest. I have put an indent into mine, and I am sure that the foam under the indent has compressed or decomposed. The rest of the pad has held up though, so I look at it this way: Could be worse. At least its padded. Many Japanese cars forgo the padding and expect the plastic door molding to suffice.
As for the armrest on the shifter side: I don't use the chair armrest. Hate them. Feels like I'm in a 1985 conversion van. Of course, the vehicle rarely leaves town, so I am far too busy shifting to notice I don't have a place to rest my right arm except on the cheap 2006/7 hard plastic console cover.

 

[sac02]

...As for the armrest on the shifter side: I don't use the chair armrest.

The only time I use the driver's fold-down armrest on the seat is on long road trips where I won't be shifting for hours at a time. I could see AT drivers using it more regularly.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Had the same complaint in the Sport. Try the lether interior. While there isn't more padding, the feel of it is more supple than the fabric. No (less) complaint in the GT

 

[miami]

Here's a simple solution:

https://www.amazon.com (commissions earned)

Looks like they even show a Mazda5 door in the sample photo: