'Other' Mazda 5 Competitors?

[Silentnoise713]

I recently found out you can add two foldaway seats to the Toyota Rav 4 (no MT), making it a 7 seater like the Rondo (good/bad -no sliding doors) but with CUV utilities. I would put this on the list of potential Mazda 5 competitors and made me wonder if you folks have come across anything else that is compact and seats 6-7?

 

[Heat]

The Volvo V70 station wagon used to have an optional third row for small kids, under 80 pounds. And you could get it with manual transmission. The problem was that the base model was around $30,000. I used to drive an older Volvo station wagon ('93 940 turbo) with the jump seats, my kids loved them.

And keep an eye out for the Ford C-Max which will be released at the end of 2011 as a 2012 model. It is very similar to the Mazda5.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Post '02 V70 is a nice Ford but I would still love to own a '04-'07 V70R. But I parallel park in the city everyday and size/space is a premium.

That said, the V70 is way bigger and is in the size of the Mercedes E class wagon (+2 rear facing seats) or R class (+2 forward facing seats) which seat 7.

Without going into large SUVs/Minivans, there seems to be only 3 options for compact people mover and the Mazda 5 is the only one that has a MT option...

 

[thaxman]

Post '02 V70 is a nice Ford but I would still love to own a '04-'07 V70R. But I parallel park in the city everyday and size/space is a premium.

That said, the V70 is way bigger and is in the size of the Mercedes E class wagon (+2 rear facing seats) or R class (+2 forward facing seats) which seat 7.

Without going into large SUVs/Minivans, there seems to be only 3 options for compact people mover and the Mazda 5 is the only one that has a MT option...

As an owner of both (Not the R, just a T5), I can tell you that the V70 is not really much wider than a 5. Especially when mirrors are taken into account. It is longer, of course, but the V70, although it is based on the S80, is not in the same league with the E-CLass, A6, etc. It's Achilles heel is the turning circle. It turns like a truck, not kidding! No good for tight urban parking.

 

[mpvue]

as a kid we always had 9 passenger wagons! the old chrysler and buick wagons could seat 3 across each row comfortably! we had a '77 chrysler, full leather, lots of room, and a 440! the rear jump seat was pretty cool, todays kids don't know what that is.
just mentioning it because you can hardly even get a 7 pass vehicle anymore, and it certainly won't be a car.

 

[Heat]

I see that the V70 is in it's last year, and they no longer offer jump seats or manual transmission though they may be options if you pick up the car in Sweden. Anyway, you would still be looking at a base price of around $30,000. The Mercedes runs around $50K.

I'm not as crazy about the Mazda5 as some people here, but for the price it's the best car out there that can hold 6 or more.

 

[Silentnoise713]

the V70 is way bigger and is in the size of the Mercedes

I don't think anyone is saying the V70 is in the same class as the Benz.

The funny thing about expensive cars is they depreciate like a rock. They make great pre-own cars!


Side note: may have to look into Volvo 240s -I like old cars

 

[twintrbo]

FWIW the back seat in the RAV4 is unuseable if you have feet.

 

[Mazda5wannabe]

Actually, feet are okay, its the legs that don't fit!

 

[DKaz]

The back seat of the Toyota Highlander is super comfy though.

 

[twintrbo]

The best 3 row vehicles I have experienced are the:
Mazda CX-9
GM crossovers (traverse, etc...)
Land Rover LR3/4

All of the compact SUV/CUV with a third row are a joke.
I'm 6'1" and well into the 200 lb range so I'm a little critical, but I would not make someone sit in a seat that I myself would not consider comfortable. I can adjust the seating in the 5 so that I could sit in each row at the same time and access to the 3rd row is the deal maker in my opinion. Getting to some of those third rows is just ridiculous. I could only imagine my mother in law climbing back there to sit with my 4 yo, just not going to happen!

 

[DKaz]

I'm 6'-1" and the Toyota Highlander 3rd row was just fine. I haven't tried the other vehicles you've mentioned but the Ford Explorer was just terrible terrible terrible.

The Traverse is a monster, I'd be surprised if the 3rd row wasn't comfortable.

 

[twintrbo]

I dont remember the highlander specifically, it either was not that memorable to me or the model at the auto show did not have the option. I know all of the available models with 3rd rows because I was looking for my sister-in-law. She bought an infiniti QX56, now thats huge! Personally I love the LR3, its got great room, lots of style and street cred, reasonable price and mega offroad ability. I also love the Buick Enclave but I just dont know about GM. The only vehicle I honestly considered other than the 5 was a used Chrysler Pacifica but the 5 was such good value we just went new.

 

[x10dude]

This thread has drifted towards a discussion about comfortability of 3rd row seats. I'm surprised that the regular minivan hasn't been brought up. The 3rd row seats of the the big 3 minivans are all fairly comfortable and the egress and ingress beats any SUV.

 

[mpvue]

This thread has drifted towards a discussion about comfortability of 3rd row seats. I'm surprised that the regular minivan hasn't been brought up. The 3rd row seats of the the big 3 minivans are all fairly comfortable and the egress and ingress beats any SUV.

been in lots of chrysler T&C's, lots of room, easy 3rd row like you said. I had an '00 MPV I bought new, liked the room in that van also.

 

[doctorz]

usable third row, compact vehicle, good fuel economy - the Mazda5 is really the only choice. I could barely fit in the Rondo's third row.

That's not saying the 5's third row is as comfortable as a minivan's or a full size SUV (although I find it surprisingly better than some full size SUV's), but that's what you'd expect with a much larger vehicle.

My in-laws have a Pacifica. It's gigantic, yet the 5's third row is more comfortable. It's criminal how Chrysler couldn't find more room in the Pacifica's third row.

We had an '04 MPV. Third row was pretty decent, bigger than the 5's, not as good as Chrysler or Odyssey, but those "mini"vans are bigger.

The bottom line is that the 5's third row is usable, although the second row passengers need to scoot up a little.

 

[2003protege]

This thread has drifted towards a discussion about comfortability of 3rd row seats. I'm surprised that the regular minivan hasn't been brought up. The 3rd row seats of the the big 3 minivans are all fairly comfortable and the egress and ingress beats any SUV.

(mswerd) Bingo. Plus minivan floors are lower and easier to step into. I actually would like to get springs for my Grand Caravan to make it even lower to the ground.

The problem is that no one wants to drive a minivan. I guess they don't cost enough or get poor enough gas mileage. (shrug)

 

[2003protege]

BOOM! And I'm seriously thinking about replacing my protege with a 5 when/if it blows up...but that shouldn't happen for a while.

 

[twintrbo]

This thread has drifted towards a discussion about comfortability of 3rd row seats. I'm surprised that the regular minivan hasn't been brought up. The 3rd row seats of the the big 3 minivans are all fairly comfortable and the egress and ingress beats any SUV.

The OP wanted to know about 3rd row seating and what competes directly with the 5, as of model year 2011, nothing else does. So natural progression of the topic it had to cover what else had a 3rd row and was not a full size minivan I think no one brought up a full sizer because no one really wants to be in a minivan, its the whole family vehicle stigma coupled with very little "soul" in the driving experience. Minivans speak utility and sensibility exclusively. Toyota is trying to do more with the new Sienna and I think its working, if I had to buy a van, that would be it, the third row is cavernous and the second row with the lounge chairs is just too cool. The sport model has some look to it and I can also get AWD which puts it way out in front of others IMO. Price would be the only drawback, adding options makes these things very expensive.

 

[x10dude]

I just brought up minivans because others were talking about the third row seats in the Toyota Highlander and infiniti QX56. Those are very big vehicles too...

I thought it was related but I apologize for taking the thread on a tangent.