Quick Full House Mazda5 Seating Report

[coolmazda5]

I had a full house this week with family visiting. A total of 5 adults, a baby, a Graco Quattro Travel System stroller and a Graco SnugRide car seat (installed on one of the middle row seats) made it through a couple of 1.5hr trips without the need of a 2nd car ride.

I wouldn't perform this adventure on a daily basis but for this once in a while event I was happy with the Mazda5 flexibility.

The stroller made it on the back of the 3rd row, but not without performing some tricks first. In order to close the liftgate with the folded stroller we needed to first retract the 3rd row seats lightly, close the liftgate and, once closed, "re-lock" the seats back into their "normal" position from the inside.

Being realistic it was pretty tight back there (limo comfort, hmmm, not really). Actually, one of the front stroller wheels sticked out of the backseat by an inch or so , yet everybody in the 3 rows was riding safely (all seatbelts fastened). Going in and out was fast and easy thanks to the sliding doors.

Oh yeah, any bulky purchases during the trip were banned (lol2)

Of course, the car felt heavy and low, but with decent power to ride and accelerate plus no weird bouncing or bumping was noticed

Take care!

 

[jandree22]

An Odyssey it's not... but that's mostly a good thing. Awesome to hear how the 5 and that little 4-banger handled the crew

 

[coolmazda5]

An Odyssey it's not... but that's mostly a good thing. Awesome to hear how the 5 and that little 4-banger handled the crew

Yup, that little 4 cylinder engine, 5 manual tranny and the pretty effective Gear-RPM ratio (we also have a 5MT Honda but Mazda is much better) seemed to be doing the job just right.

The only thing I had to do, when fully loaded, was to rev up the engine a little bit more than usual but, hey, What is that Zoom-Zoom thingie for anyway?

 

[jandree22]

Yeah, I once had a crew of 6 adults in mine, and for some reason I didn't notice a performance hit in the city... maybe I was naturally just staying in gear longer. Where I DID notice a hit, was when I was cruising on the highway. In 5th gear at 65mph, the RPMs were just low enough that I noticed the little guy was working hard to maintain a steady speed up gentle hills. Wasn't life or death though, just barely noticeable.