Which one is right for me?

[Jess]

Hello, this is my first post. My wife and I are expecting twin girls, our 1st and 2nd, after the new year. We have been looking at family haulers to replace our ford focus sedan and have both been taken with the Mazda5. I haven't driven one, but looking it over it is affordable, larger than most wagon's and has good styling. The misses is not ready to be a minivan driver but likes the size and styling of the 5. What are the pro's and con's you all have found trying to take two adults with two children 500 miles or more. Is the car really a good fit or do you feel it is too small or to much of a compromise? What about the GT's leather seats? Are they a good fit for family life or do the touring's cloth seats make more sense? My father in law has been pushing the Subaru Outback down out throats but it is too small. What about having the front four seats full and folding the back row? Can you fit a Twin stroller, four overnight bags, a pack-in-play, and all of the other stuff in the car with room to spare? Can your kids in booster seats kick the back of your seat?

I really think this is the right car for us. I'm just hopping for a little real world experience that will help us in our decision making. We live in Central Ohio so most of our driving will me on the highway and on fairly flat land. I keep waiting to see the 08's show up at the dealers, they keep trying to sell me a CX-7 which is nice but it is too big for my wife and the sliding door of the 5 would make putting a car seat in while in the garage a lot easier.

Thanks
Jess

 

[mountjonas]

if the twin stroller is on the smaller side of the strollers, it'd probably be a little tight, but should fit. you'd have to sacrifice seeing out of the back to get everything in there, but you'd be surprised how much stuff you can cram into any car if you really had to.

 

[Chris B]

...you'd be surprised how much stuff you can cram into any car if you really had to.

This is very true. We just completed a round trip of ~600 miles each way over a 4-day weekend in a 2000 VW Golf with our 4-mo. old son and almost-4-year old daughter. No real cargo problems (kids' footwell space accommodated overnight bags) though we have a eschewed the standard "SUV Stroller" for a much smaller, lighter stroller for our son.

The Mazda5 should have plenty of room, especially with the third row folded down. We're pretty sure this is our next car once the '08s start arriving.

 

[slvrsleeper]

For the size of the vehicle over all you won't find a better bet for your needs than the 5. I isn't really a lot bigger than the Focus wagon (no longer available) A large amount cheaper than the Jetta wagon (not available yet) gets a minimum of ten MPG better fuel economy than any full size mini van. The sliding rear doors will save your life daily loading and unloading two little ones. And yes you can fit all of your stuff in the back with the third row folded. Now go drive one and the car will sell itself, trust me! Oh and welcome to the site.

 

[doctorz]

We've taken a bunch of road trips with two kids (and a dog before she passed earlier this year), two of them over 2500 miles round trip. The 5 is the absolute perfect size for our family. All of the stuff you mentioned will fit; we didn't have the double stroller, but we had everything else, and we've fit large pieces of furniture in for long distance trips. The versatility of the 5 cannot be beat.

As for kicking the seat, if the middle seats are slid all the way back, my preschooler cannot kick the driver seatback. If we are trying to maximize cargo room, or if there is a third row passenger, we'll slide the middle seat forward and the preschooler can in fact kick the driver seat, but those occasions aren't too frequent. Like everything else, it's a tradeoff; the 5 offers all the room we need, but it'll require a little planning, unlike when we had the minivan. But we'll take the smaller size.

 

[GreenTea]

Like everything else, it's a tradeoff; the 5 offers all the room we need, but it'll require a little planning, unlike when we had the minivan. But we'll take the smaller size.

can't agree more...
we have two kids, and the 5 is perfect size around town and i don't find the 5 too small for road trips.
i had full size minivan too(2002 Odyssey) and that was nice to just get in and go without any planning ahead. but the 5 is MUCH MORE FUN TO DRIVE!!!

 

[07MZ5SA]

To increase cargo capacity, we removed 3rd row seats last year during ski trip from Houston to Santa Fe.

2rd seats can recline more that way, too.

 

[Jess]

Thanks for the replies so far. I think it would be the best compromise and I can't wait for the 2008's to show up around here in the next couple of weeks. I drove a Subaru this week and it is a very nice car, but doesn't offer the usefulness of the 5.

Thanks
Jess

 

[jujube]

...Can your kids in booster seats kick the back of your seat?
...

Here is how I educated my two boys not to kick the seatbacks:

Each time we passed an accident by the side of the road, I mentioned that the driver probably got distracted because his seat was being kicked. After seeing about three or four accident scenes (over a couple of months), the boys decided to stop kicking the seatbacks.

Might be worth a try regardless of how much space there is between the two seat rows!

 

[doctorz]

Each time we passed an accident by the side of the road, I mentioned that the driver probably got distracted because his seat was being kicked. After seeing about three or four accident scenes (over a couple of months), the boys decided to stop kicking the seatbacks.

I gotta try this one with my three year old.

 

[mrbwa1]

Mazda5 on Baby Duty

Jess,

I think that the 5 will make a good choice for you. My wife and I are expecting our 1st in Feb. and have purchased an '07 Sport for our family duties. One thing that my wife brought up when looking was that without a middle seat, the 5 seemed like a stretch to turn back and attend to a child. The dealer was nice enough to show the range of the 2nd row seats, which will come far enough forward to easily tend to a child.

Since having our 5, I have also been out with my freakishly tall 2-yr old nephew in his booster. With the middle seat slid all the way up, his feet were on the back of the front seats. I may have to look at one of those plastic kick guards in the future, but he was comfortable enough. The spot between the bottom of the headrest and the top of the seat seemed to make a pretty good foot rest.

So far we haven't had 6 people in the 5, but have have had 5 on several occasions. My 6' frame has been in the 3rd row in relative comfort, though I had a leg stretched out between the 2nd row seats.

WE really like the sliding doors. My 2yr-old nephey can pretty much operated them. My 93 yr-old grandmother also had no problems either!

 

[jujube]

Just a suggestion FWIW:

Before our second child arrived, the first infant and one parent always rode together in back seat (normal sedan). On long trips, the parents would alternate.

Eliminated the need to reach back, baby could see one parent, parent and baby could play/interact during the trip, no need to stop driving to change diaper or feed, etc...

In the case of M5, you might want to consider a similar arrangement, either with the 2nd row far back for max room for tending parent, or folding the 2nd row seats flat, and using the 3rd row for baby and one parent.

 

[raspykart]

For your situation the 5 is thee absoulute perfect fit bud. We're in a similar boat, don't have our 2nd on the way yet but intend to. The 5 trumps all your other possibles in gas mileage, fun to drive factor, functionalty and value. Unless you need AWD look no further. Eventually you'll just be totting 2 umbrella strollers around. We've had our infant on several 3000+ road trips and had plenty of room to spare.... tons of comfort and with the GT leather trim we didn't feel road wary in the least. For $20g it can't be beat, and when you turn it on, it returns the favor. The wife'll get over the subtle minivanness in a hurry

 

[Jess]

Great insights, thank you all. Now if the darn 08's would arrive, there are very few in the local used market and the passenger side arm rest and rear seat air sound like good improvements.

Jess

 

[raspykart]

the 5at seems to be a good improvement over the 4at too.... eh well in a few years I may trade up... espec if a Mazdaspeed 5 with 250hp 2.3l disi turbo with 6mt comes out.

 

[AIMWO4]

We recently went shopping at the AF base. We had the 1 and 2 year-olds in the 2nd row. I put 6 paper bags of groceries behind the 3rd row, a doll house and unassembled trike in one of the 3rd row seats. On the way home, my wife wants to stop at Costco (not part of the plan). We picked up 2 boxes of diapers, wipes, a case of Coke, 2 gallons of milk and a few other items. All of it fit in there with room left over for the 7 year old in his 3rd row slot. I have no idea how the heck we did it!

I usually take 2 smaller strollers when we take a trip. Two smaller strollers actually fit better than a double stroller. You can get a stroller behind the 3rd row if it folds like the umbrella type. I find the Mazda5 has as much room as my Saab 9-5 wagon did... just a bit different layout. We used a cargo box on the back of our wagon for the pack 'n' plays and strollers.

I haven't bothered on the 5, as our second car is a real minivan (Town & Country).

 

[Jess]

Well, it looks like I will not be getting the 5 this time. The wife and I drove a Mazda5 and tried a Odyssey the same day and she picked the Honda. We have put a deposit on a New 07 Ex with thousands off of the original sticker price and 4.9% financing. I know I'm going to hate the gas mileage but it will make less space compromises for out growing family. The 5 is still high on my list to replace our 2nd car but that will have to wait. Thanks to you all, and enjoy the kewl car. Maybe I'll be back in a couple of years.
Jess

 

[coolmazda5]

As I usually say, you have done the right thing, you have let her decide (lol2). Oh, and I hope that in a couple of years the Mazda5 model still exists