I own a 2007 Mazda5 Grand Touring. Probably one of the best cars I have ever owned. Before my first oil change I drove it from Chicago to Denver and back with wife, child and a full load of cargo. Gas mileage was above what was listed, the navigation system was surprisingly helpful, the ride was very comfortable and the engine did well in the mountains. It cruises, my wife found out to my chagrin, at 100mph for long straights quite well
I routinely haul five or six people around in it, engine blocks to and from Fedex, stacks of cold air intakes or headers with the AC on full blast and it never skips a beat. Keep in mind now that you need to have certain expectations with this car. Its a 3300 lb vehicle with a 160hp engine. its easily a good 500 lbs heavier than a mazda3 with the same engine. On a good day it would probably run a high 16s quarter mile time and i'd not autocross it if someone paid me a gazillion dollars to do so. Its a vehicle with a clear purpose and manual transmission or not, that needs to be kept in mind when considering it. I had no expectations of a race car when I bought it and still don't.
That said, the 5 is alot of fun for what it is. It corners well, accelerates decent, rides smooth and gets a lot of looks. I didn't want a truck or a minivan or a full size van, but I did want something that could haul alot of s*** while not getting drunk at the fuel pump. There really isn't anything other than this or a Kia Rondo (ugh) that can really do all that with the same characteristics. I often finding myself driving it alot harder than I probably should be, because to a point the car encourages it if that makes any sense. I've never met one person who has been unimpressed with it. My sister just bought a Jeep Commander and commented that the seats in the 5 were better and she dropped her jaw when I told her what kind of mileage it got next to the Commander.
I bought a GT because there were literally no manual transmissions to be found anywhere. I would have flown to California and driven one back if there had been one. There was not even one on special order or in the production queue when i bought mine. After driving the GT, I figured I could deal without the manual transmission and I don't really regret it. The price was right and its relaxing in Chicago style or suburb style traffic to just not have a clutch to deal with sometimes. I have other cars for that.
Not to tempt you either, but the car is more or less a stretched 3. Virtually every modification from the 3 will transfer over. Intakes, headers, motor mounts, springs, shocks, etc all swap on as if they were made for the car. I just welded a factory Mazdaspeed3 exhaust to the car and it sounds utterly asinine "for a van" I am told.
My gripes are few. More power would always be nice. Throttle response off the line is a little subdued for me. Bigger brakes would be real nice when you have a full load. The ones from the Mazdaspeed3 do fit soooooooo.......yeah, maybe down the line
Factory roof rails like on the Protege5 would have been real nice too.
Other than that, its a great car and I'd buy it again given the chance. The 07 to 08 changes were of little signifigance to me, but I know a few owners are up in arms about it. Besides, 2007 brown leather PWNZ 2008 black leather on a hot day
