Mazda5 owners, the other rides (current and past)

[BLACKOUT]

I think this thread my classify as a forum best.

I will have to agree with that

 

[skyhawk]

Maybe because the thread documents the experiments we had to undergo to finally discover the Mazda5.

 

[dan4behr]

Currently in the garage:
2007 Mazda 5 (Touring, 5 speed manual, ultra-rare Plum Mica - yeah, baby!)
2006 Ford Ranger Sport

Past
2003 Ford Focus ZTS manual (great car, btw...)
2001 Subaru Forester "S" Premium manual (plagued w/ clutch shudder, bad wheel bearings)
1998 Mercury Mystique GS manual (not as bad as you might think...)
1993 Nissan Altima SE manual (hated the "motor mouse" seat belts)
1989 Honda Civic Si hatch (the one I wish I could've kept forever...)
1985 Volkswagen Jetta turbodiesel (shuddering just thinking about the hell that car was....)
1982 Nissan Sentra XE (the joy of purchasing one's very own first new car!)

 

[coolmazda5]

Maybe because the thread documents the experiments we had to undergo to finally discover the Mazda5.

I'm still discovering the Mazda5, I got the 2006 theta draft model in 2005 (nailbyt) with 2314 TSBs and 1 recall, what is next?

Currently in the garage:
2007 Mazda 5 (Touring, 5 speed manual, ultra-rare Plum Mica - yeah, baby!)
Past
1989 Honda Civic Si hatch (the one I wish I could've kept forever...)
1982 Nissan Sentra XE (the joy of purchasing one's very own first new car!)

Plum Mica is a rare one indeed, the only 2 I've seen are rentals though, weird.

I see a lot of Honda Civics, mine was an LX, but hell of a cheap car. On the other side, who has NOT had a Civic (my sis is now driving an 07)

1982 Nissan Sentra XE, during the time you could still call it Datsun . I still miss my 1984 Nissan Ninja (Sentra Hatchback Turbo, 5MT). I loved the design, it now looks like a cereal box though...

 

[jeebusm3]

I see a lot of Honda Civics, mine was an LX, but hell of a cheap car. On the other side, who has NOT had a Civic (my sis is now driving an 07)

I haven't had a civic. Technically my integra was built on the civic platform, but it was pretty different in many respects.

 

[changsta]

Currently in the garage:
2006 Platinum Silver Mazda5 GT

Past
2004 Ford Focus ZTW (still miss it! it was a wonderful car that unfortunately had quality issues)
1994 Chevrolet Cavalier (I hope that car burns in hell!)

 

[Katner]

I think the 5 is unique in that it attracts 2 groups.
Performance minded that need capability and Frugal, capability minded that see the performance as a nice plus and added value.

For the past few years cars have been appliance like for me as well, but that is mainly because the roads in my area SUCK.
If I lived where the roads were more fun, I would have owned more performance type cars.

I usually take trips to the mountains on motorcycles and dreaded them in a car, but now I am really looking forward to taking the 5.

Couldn't agree more. I'm of the first group, I must have at least a dash of performance. I am fundamentally against mini-vans simply because every one I've driven is a boat-like dog that changes direction like locomotive (I've only driven recent-models). My wife and I needed one car and for me it HAD to be fun to drive, and for her it had to be versatile.

The 5 gives you the near-impossible trifecta: Versatility-Efficiency-Performance

Current:
'08 Mazda5 Grand Touring

Past:
'04 Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS
'02 Honda Civic LX
'96 Saturn SL1

 

[coolmazda5]

I haven't had a civic. Technically my integra was built on the civic platform, but it was pretty different in many respects.

I know, exterior/engine/handling OK, but interior is one of the few things that I did not envy from the Acura Integras, they looked so Civic in comparison. Check this out:

1999 Honda Civic
http://home.nc.rr.com/fholt/images/civic013.jpg

1999 Acura Integra
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_FM-DaiVD5zM/RbzLHMLp_mI/AAAAAAAAApg/F_y5h-cH4Xo/114-1436_IMG.jpg

BTW, you were saying? Civic Wha? Here is another one :

'02 Honda Civic LX

 

[jeebusm3]

I know, exterior/engine/handling OK, but interior is one of the few things that I did not envy from the Acura Integras, they looked so Civic in comparison. Check this out:

1999 Honda Civic
http://home.nc.rr.com/fholt/images/civic013.jpg

1999 Acura Integra
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_FM-DaiVD5zM/RbzLHMLp_mI/AAAAAAAAApg/F_y5h-cH4Xo/114-1436_IMG.jpg

BTW, you were saying? Civic Wha? Here is another one :

I'm not an interior snob. I actually liked how well put together the interior was though.

And FWIW, no civics of that era had leather. Mine had black leather but the flash turned it grey.

But I did use some civic parts on my car. See the bolt that's holding the bottom of the strut in place? I snapped mine in half when I installed that suspension and the Acura dealer was closed but the Honda dealer was open. So it got a Civic Si bolt instead.

 

[eilros25]

Current
1993 Camry
2000 Grand Prix
1987 F150

Past
1986 Grand Am
1987 Firebird
1998 Integra GSR
1987 Accord
1994 Integra GSR

 

[coolmazda5]

And FWIW, no civics of that era had leather.

Well, south of the border they had (or still have) a CIVIC model called EX-R, which does have leather, but looks weird

No, I hear you, believe me, I would have owned an Acura over a Honda any day, but I was not able to justify a better car. The poor thing spent more time at an airport parking and a snowy Boston apartment complex parking lot (in Winter) than actually on the road. I was traveling so much I sold the thing with only 48k miles 9 years later. 1st set of tires were not worn-out, they were cracked due to weather.

See the bolt that's holding the bottom of the strut in place? I snapped mine in half when I installed that suspension and the Acura dealer was closed but the Honda dealer was open. So it got a Civic Si bolt instead.

Cool, I'm sure it was also "bolt-on" and added an extra 17hp, LOL

 

[5zoom]

Current:
2008 Mazda5 5AT Sport
2005 Subaru Outback 4AT
1989 BMW 325i Convertible 5MT

Past:
2006 Mazda3s Touring 5MT (Great car, just needed more room)
1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R 5M (I wish I had kept it)
1988 BMW 535is 5MT
1992 Mercury Sable Wagon 4AT
1980 BMW 320i 5MT

 

[jeebusm3]

1998 Integra GSR
1994 Integra GSR

right-on

Cool, I'm sure it was also "bolt-on" and added an extra 17hp, LOL

No, but my JDM Type-R header, CAI, and cat-back added around 15.

1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R 5M (I wish I had kept it)
1988 BMW 535is 5MT
1980 BMW 320i 5MT

Well well...I love those old SE-R's. And we share the '88 5-er. My dad had an '80 320i 5spd as well.

 

[mrbwa1]

I just find it amusing that many vanilla car owners got attracted to the Mazda5. I know it's inexpensive and not a rocketship, but I don't think it's vanilla. The Sienna or Odyssey is vanilla. The Mazda5 is some sort of weird jungle coffee-flavored ice cream that has no fat, but still tastes really good.

I think you are right about most people having a theme to their automotive history. Most of mine was hand-me-downs. I will always miss my '77 Volvo though. It wasn't an awesome sports car or anything, but it was very comfortable for even 5 large guys, had a huge trunk and handled decent.

Well it wasn't that it had great handling, but that the tiny tires meant the the limits of the car cam at pretty low speeds. the chassis was fairly well sorted, but it would doing into say a 50 mph highway corner and transition from understeer to a hint of oversteer if coaxed while keeping within the legal speed limist.

On snow, it was an awesome chassis, as I could modulate it perfectly and drive down the street in a full powerslide if I wanted. I even managed to one time get the car to do a perfect circle with the front passenger tire as the pivot point. My other um "trick" was that I could do a 180 on snow and slide into a parallel parking spot like they do in the commercials (with no cars around!). No front drive car will ever be much fun to me on snow....

Would I have like a nicer, sportier car? Heck yeah! But it gout me through high school and college ticket free, while still being somewhat exciting to drive.

And for those that complain about high freeway RPMS on the 5, my Volvo has a 4spd, non-overdrive MT. At 70MPH, it was turning about 4200-4500 RPM! IT think I exceeded 90MPH once, but it was literally downhill, with a tailwind and the tech at or above the 6200RPM redline!

Another time, the alternator burned the supply wire while I was driving across the stat at night, so I have NO charging system. That volvo had mechanical fuel injection and drove 200 miles on the battery charge... Of course, I had to drive at night with no lights on, as turning them on would kill the fuel pump. also the mechanical fuel injection meant that when the starter died I was able to roll-start the car by popping the clutch until I get get a new starter in!


Ah the crazy old days!

 

[coolmazda5]

Ah the crazy old days!

That is so true. I think the key of all the fun was a) being student, b) very limited budget and c) most of the technology in my banged-up cars was mechanically/electrically controlled, not electronically/computer controlled. I still recall being stuck in the middle of a flooded street with my carburetor engine and with nothing else in hand, took my sock off to dry the wet distributor. My chicken friend looking at me laughing inside the cozy car, until I dried the thing, closed the hood, came back and turn the switch on, and bam, car running again (with me sockless, but hey) (2thumbs)

I'm sure many of you remember these:

 

[rweatherford]

Mechanical points and all.....

 

[mrbwa1]

That is so true. I think the key of all the fun was a) being student, b) very limited budget and c) most of the technology in my banged-up cars was mechanically/electrically controlled, not electronically/computer controlled. I still recall being stuck in the middle of a flooded street with my carburetor engine and with nothing else in hand, took my sock off to dry the wet distributor. My chicken friend looking at me laughing inside the cozy car, until I dried the thing, closed the hood, came back and turn the switch on, and bam, car running again (with me sockless, but hey) (2thumbs)

I second the simple / crazy fixes. I thought of yest another crazy adventure with that Volvo. The fan clutch seized up one day on the way home and the fan literally sheared off. That car had 2 side-by-side fan belts for safety! So after removing what was left of the fan and fan shroud shards from the engine compartment, we headed for home.

So off we go, with the engine doing ok on the open road due to an oversize radiator and flow-through ventilation... But as soon as we hit traffic, the engine temp rose up. In a pinch, the heat went on full blast (on an 85 degree day of course). We made it home with the engine running in the normal range...

 

[sensinitas]

Current
08 Mazda 5
06 Subaru WRX Wagon

Past
04 VW GLI
00 VW Jetta
95 Civic SI

 

[coolmazda5]

Past
04 VW GLI
00 VW Jetta
95 Civic SI

Oh look, VWs and a Civic

Why did VW did not call the VW GLI the VW Jetta GLI, it is not like they call the VW Golf GTI the VW GTI, right? (scratch)

I like the latest VWs, Golf R32 topping the list. I'm not a mods person, but other forums always say it got really heavy though. I don't care, it sounds awesome (if you can forgive its fuel economy)

Edit: Just shame it does no longer come with Manual Tranny

 

[sensinitas]

Oh look, VWs and a Civic

Why did VW did not call the VW GLI the VW Jetta GLI, it is not like they call the VW Golf GTI the VW GTI, right? (scratch)

I like the latest VWs, Golf R32 topping the list. I'm not a mods person, but other forums always say it got really heavy though. I don't care, it sounds awesome (if you can forgive its fuel economy)

Edit: Just shame it does no longer come with Manual Tranny

It is technically a Jetta GLI.

The MKIV R32 is one of my dream cars. I don't know if I'll ever own it, but it has a special place in my car heart. (thumb)

Yes...the MKV R32 is heavy and only comes in DSG. You could take the difference in price from the 2.0t and the R32 and dump it into the 2.0T and have an R32 killer. But you will never have all wheel drive! (rockon)