Anything over 70 and my car can't hold a straight line. Twitchy steering, which probably is what makes the steering feel so responsive at lower speeds.
And yes, wind and draft from larger vehicles makes it worse.
"Mazda5 to be phased out for U.S. in 2015." - Automotive News
- Thread starter ChEPhD
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Anything over 70 and my car can't hold a straight line. Twitchy steering, which probably is what makes the steering feel so responsive at lower speeds.
And yes, wind and draft from larger vehicles makes it worse.
They don't really get away with it. Every journalist mentions it, but the cars end up being fairly refined overall. The cars sell themselves and the demographic doesn't quite care about the boringness. Mazda always gets praised for everything and sells about a fraction over the entire lineup of what Toyota sells Corollas. Does it make the Toyota and Hondas bad cars? No, they're not bad cars, just extremely boring and bland and a safe buy.
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- 2008 Mazda5 GT
Hush your mouth! You are bad mouthing zoom-zoom!! It's not twitch, it's responsive!
Its all alignment. Mazda is sporty b/c they toe-out (negative toe) their rear for a responsive turn-in at the cost of stability (and tire wear!). Theres always a double edge sword. Zero toe would be the balance but then Mazda cant claim zoom-zoom, which I interpret as sporty mid-speed curves not top speed cruising. The proper way to get it set is quality suspension components + RWD (BMW).
If you want to make the Mz5 track straighter and increase stability/less twitchy, have it alignment for more toe-in (small increments have a big impact, any extreme will accelerate tire wear). Decent tire and fat tire would help too.
http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html
The engineers at Honda/Toyota know exactly what they are doing/after!. Enthusiast, while prevalent in cyber space and publications which seem to represent the majority due to the outward visibility (forums, magazines), are a tiny minority of the general buying public who could give a rats arse. This is America. We want HWY cruising end.
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- 2015 Soul Red 6 Sport Auto 2016 Accord EX Auto
New tires erased some steering feel and turn in urgency but also made it more stable at higher speeds. This and the added sound deadening make it a much more pleasant car to drive on the weekly grind.
Interesting mention on what a true car enthusiast really is. I hear a lot of nonsense at work from the uneducated/inexperienced guys and mostly keep my mouth shut. Last discussion was how hard it was going to be to change out the sparkplugs on a 15k mile OHC I4...
I only know one guy with a Leaf and he's a true car enthusiast. His driveway also holds a viper gts, a porsche cayman, and a vette.
Interesting mention on what a true car enthusiast really is. I hear a lot of nonsense at work from the uneducated/inexperienced guys and mostly keep my mouth shut. Last discussion was how hard it was going to be to change out the sparkplugs on a 15k mile OHC I4...
I only know one guy with a Leaf and he's a true car enthusiast. His driveway also holds a viper gts, a porsche cayman, and a vette.
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I'm getting ready to buy a Mazda 5. My local dealer's inventory listings just showed a 2015 Mazda 5; I called and asked, and they think they'll be getting it in a couple of weeks. I asked if they had any brochures or more info about the 2015 model, and he said yes, he had gotten a box of materials but hadn't opened it yet, but that I could stop in to pick one up. I went in, and sure enough got a booklet about the 2015 Mazda 5. So it seems it is not being phased out just yet. (I am in the Northeastern US.) I was surprised, since the mazdausa site still only lists info for the 2014 model.
I was just at Liberty Mazda in Hartford and they had 2015 Mazda5 brochures. So it will solder on in 2015 as the last model year.
Yes, I picked up a brochure for the 2015 Mazda 5 several weeks ago, and could find absolutely no differences between it and the 2014. They even re-used some of the photos. I ended up buying a 2014 model since it was a bit cheaper. I'm fairly happy with it so far! I've gotta say though, the vehicle really gets no love from Mazda or the dealers. The weekly newspaper ads I see from our Mazda dealer never shows the 5, and national ads never seem to show it either. At least in my area, they mostly sell by word of mouth. My street (which only has about 20 houses) has 3 Mazda 5's on it, and there are 2 more within a mile (and this is a fairly small town), and everybody loves their 5.
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- mazda5 GT 2009
2014 Mazda5 SkyActiv launch in Malaysia - AutoBuz…: http://youtu.be/5W5-8J8yJgs
So we are not going to see this here in the U.S.?
So we are not going to see this here in the U.S.?