What have you done to your Mazda5 today?

I put on my brother's dearly departed Mazdaspeed Protege Racing Harts onto my Mazda5. Perfect size and fit:

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The MSP was an early model so the wheels are silver. Newer versions are hyper silver and are darker.
These look great! Unfortunately aren't they extremely heavy for being Japanese-made Racing Harts?
 
These look great! Unfortunately aren't they extremely heavy for being Japanese-made Racing Harts?
I didn't weigh them prior to tire installation but they feel just as heavy as stock. I'm not too concerned about performance since it's just for commuting
 
I always liked those wheels. Almost bought a set when I had my Miata, but was turned off by the weight compared to the OEM Miata wheels. I can't imagine they weight more than the OEM Mazda5 17" wheels.
 
I always liked those wheels. Almost bought a set when I had my Miata, but was turned off by the weight compared to the OEM Miata wheels. I can't imagine they weight more than the OEM Mazda5 17" wheels.
I'm totally hard up for the NC 17"s, too. How much is a set going for in your neighborhood? I saw a BANGED up (1 so bent it won't hold air) for $300!!! Crazy prices for OE rims 10+ year old.
 
These look a little nicer for a little less:
dude these are a BARGAIN. you should totally get them.

I installed AEM/K&N drop-in even though OE filter wasn't THAT dirty:

the new K&N sticker is worth 1hp, amiright? :)
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Ceramic tint, good investment and looks good. But the Mugen (exclusive Honda tuner) knob belong on Hondas only or at least cover the logo. You can replace the hard shift plate with the soft boot from the manual and really max it out.
Its more of a gimmick for the time being, I've only had this thing for a few days and the shift knob it came with was really rough. I will admit tho, even tho it was installed as kind of a joke, now that its on, I actually like it haha.
 
Went fishing over the long weekend. Took the 5 over a stretch of sketchy Northern Ontario logging roads with plenty of large rocks, dips, mud, and washouts. The van handled it surprisingly well — and made me really happy to see it parked amongst trucks and ATVs at the end.

Took this picture just past the logging road on my way home. Only thing that broke was one of the clips holding the front mudflap on. Rear sway bar links were already toast, so I wasn't concerned about them taking the beating.

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Went fishing over the long weekend. Took the 5 over a stretch of sketchy Northern Ontario logging roads with plenty of large rocks, dips, mud, and washouts. The van handled it surprisingly well — and made me really happy to see it parked amongst trucks and ATVs at the end.

Took this picture just past the logging road on my way home. Only thing that broke was one of the clips holding the front mudflap on. Rear sway bar links were already toast, so I wasn't concerned about them taking the beating.

View attachment 300804
Love it. Everyday I keep running into ground clearance issues in my 5.
 
Love it. Everyday I keep running into ground clearance issues in my 5.
Yeah, I used to have 18" wheels with 225/45 tires at stock height — don't think I'd have made it with that set up. Crazy what a slight lift and taller tires can do.

If I had infinite resources (time & money), I'd love to do an AWD conversion and proper lift on the van. Would be like a modern day Bongo!
 
Well, things escalated quickly over the past couple of days — ended up parting ways with the Mazda5. I'd gotten yet another code thrown after the dreaded CEL illuminated. I figure I could just bite the bullet and replace a few valves/solenoids to rid the three codes stored. However, I took an inventory of everything else that needs fixin' and it came to around $4000 — give or take a couple hundred.

So, with a mix of research and desperation, we traded the Mazda5 in for a 2016 RAV4 LE AWD. I really like what I read about the RAV4. It's not the pickup or hardcore off road SUV I was looking for, but I couldn't resist the ridiculously low KMs and the price, the added benefit of AWD over FWD, and the ability to tow smaller loads.

So yeah, it's been a slice! I really enjoyed being a part of the Mazdas247 community and appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm still a Mazda fan and will pop in to see what everyone's up to!

In the meantime, here's a quick Photoshopped look at where the 'new' RAV4 is headed:
rav-4.jpg


Take care!
 
Well, things escalated quickly over the past couple of days — ended up parting ways with the Mazda5. I'd gotten yet another code thrown after the dreaded CEL illuminated. I figure I could just bite the bullet and replace a few valves/solenoids to rid the three codes stored. However, I took an inventory of everything else that needs fixin' and it came to around $4000 — give or take a couple hundred.

So, with a mix of research and desperation, we traded the Mazda5 in for a 2016 RAV4 LE AWD. I really like what I read about the RAV4. It's not the pickup or hardcore off road SUV I was looking for, but I couldn't resist the ridiculously low KMs and the price, the added benefit of AWD over FWD, and the ability to tow smaller loads.

So yeah, it's been a slice! I really enjoyed being a part of the Mazdas247 community and appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm still a Mazda fan and will pop in to see what everyone's up to!

In the meantime, here's a quick Photoshopped look at where the 'new' RAV4 is headed:
View attachment 301017

Take care!
Good luck. RAV4 will serve your needs well.

given your quest for lift, have you thought about the Mitsu Outlander (not the 5 seater Outlander Sport). Regular Outlander comes with standard 3rd row seats for 7, decent reliability (people underestimate Mitsu), cheap purchase (brand has no resale value), 8.5” ground clearance and can easily add additional 1-2” via cheap body leveling kit, and most importantly of all, a very capable AWD system (a trimmed down version of their S-AWC with 4 wheel lock) -youtube what people can do with that thing.
 
Did the upgraded fomoco rear engine mount, the mz5 mount was in surprisingly good shape in my case, with zero cracks and tears, though the car is a '15 with < 50K mi.

Drained and filled the ATF with Type M, the fluid wasn't as bad as some I've recently seen (90K mi ATF never changed ewwww), but I'm going to drop the pan, install new filter and do another drain and fill as soon as I find some time. It really helps to have a torque wrench cause the drain bolt requires so little torque to reinstall.

Did see the front struts leaking, so I'll be looking at new struts and endlinks probably after Xmas bonuses.
 
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