Mazda #7 = Mazda5

[Foolish]

Last January, my wife and I picked up a 2005 Mazda6 S Sport to replace the Mustang convertible I bought and never really liked. 11 months later, we've traded the 6 in on a 2010 Mazda5 Sport with the manual 5 speed transmission. It will be replacing both the 6 and the 2000 MPV in our fleet.

We're very excited. I loved driving it home. I remember driving an '06 model and finding it very nice, but a bit gutless when merging onto the highway. I had no such problem with this one. I don't know if they improved performance in the intervening years, if I remember incorrectly, or if I remember correctly, but from a drive in a 5 with an autotragic transmission, but this little hauler is more than adequate for getting on the Beltway and running away from the semis!

The ergonomics on the 5 are fantastic, too. The position of the stick is just perfect, forward visibility is almost alarmingly great, and everything just feels right in there.

Plans for the 5 include a trailer hitch for my bike rack, and/or a Yakima rack on top. I've already got extra Yakima stuff, enough for two cars, actually, but I need the proper Q-clips for the 5 and longer crossbars, apparently. I think my 48" bars should fit, but we'll see. Other than that, we're just going to enjoy having a nice fresh car with a warranty. :-D

 

[J.P.]

I hear ya! We just did a 6500 km highway trip in ours, and never felt lacking for power once. As a bonus, we figured the same trip would have used about US$140 more gas in our Honda Odyssey even with VCM. Nice Avatar BTW... Welcome!

 

[skiph]

Plans for the 5 include a trailer hitch for my bike rack, and/or a Yakima rack on top. I've already got extra Yakima stuff, enough for two cars, actually, but I need the proper Q-clips for the 5 and longer crossbars, apparently. I think my 4" bars should fit, but we'll see. Other than that, we're just going to enjoy having a nice fresh car with a warranty. :-D

Don't get the 'clips', get some Yakima #11 landing pads, and the 'control towers' that fit the landing pads and the round cross-bars.

The #11 landing pads screw into the 4 rack mounting nuts located under small plastic covers in the black trim that runs the length of the roof-line on both sides of the car.

The 'clips' that clamp into the door frame crush the weather stripping and are hard to put on and take off (I had some on another vehicle). On my 5, I just leave the landing pads on all the time, so just have to attach the control towers that have the cross-bars clamped on.

There are several 'roof rack' threads on this forum with lots of pictures, so search around and you will see the 2 mounting systems, and and see the pros and cons of each one.

FYI, your 48" long bars should work just fine with the control tower/landing pad system. The 'spread' across the vehicle on the front is about 41", on the rear about 39.5"

 

[Foolish]

Don't get the 'clips', get some Yakima #11 landing pads, and the 'control towers' that fit the landing pads and the round cross-bars.

The #11 landing pads screw into the 4 rack mounting nuts located under small plastic covers in the black trim that runs the length of the roof-line on both sides of the car.

The 'clips' that clamp into the door frame crush the weather stripping and are hard to put on and take off (I had some on another vehicle). On my 5, I just leave the landing pads on all the time, so just have to attach the control towers that have the cross-bars clamped on.

FYI, your 48" long bars should work just fine with the control tower/landing pad system. The 'spread' across the vehicle on the front is about 41", on the rear about 39.5"

Interesting... So why doesn't the Yakima site say you can use the landing pads on this vehicle? I was going to go Q-tower 'cause I have them, but a friend just offered me control towers, so if that's an option, I may go that route. It's a nice, clean look.

I wondered about the bars, too. Again, Yakima's site says go to the 58's, but I've seen pictures on here of someone's set up with Q's and 48's, and it looked fine to me!