Mazda5. What to look out for?

Looking still for a family car and the mazda5 seems well liked here.

What are the problem areas on these? Looking at the second generation , 2012+ I believe.

Although I would prefer manual they are not that common and SWMBO prefers auto.

Are the autos reliable and fun to drive.

Plans in the future may be to add a rear sway bar and better shocks, nothing else.

For everyday driver and texas clover leads and hopefully

Sorry, posting from the phone and won't let me edit it, won't scroll in the little window.

Intended usage would be everyday driver with the ability of having fun in on ramps plus an autocross if the planets align.

Thanks for the wisdom to be shared by all ;->

As far as I've seen, better shocks and sway bar links. I'm at 86,000 on my '12 and I've done a couple synchros and wheel bearings.

Here is the long version answer, The GRM, 14 page, Mazda 5 thread.

My wife has had a '10 since new. It is an auto since it is her DD. We have no kids and we find it very useful.
I just recommend that you look at the Mazda5 as a 4 seat car and ask yourself if your happy with that?
Sure, there are two more "jump seats" in the rear but they are limited to the young, small and flexible. More suited for temporary use than they would be for full time use.
If you plan to have any cargo brought with you, it will then be reduced to a 4 seater.

Don't buy Javelin's. Its been wrecked.

jstein77 wrote: Don't buy Javelin's. Its been wrecked.

It's in a junkyard. Buy the trans for a manual swap.

We bought our '09 new. It's got 140,000km on it. 2 repairs done on warranty. Outside temp sensor for the climate control and rear sway bushings. Both done under warranty. That's it, nothing else. Ours has the 5 spd auto. It's been great so far.

John is right that the car is basically a 4-seater at heart. A 5-seat CX-5 might be more usable for many families, and get better gas mileage.

Rear suspension seems problematic - dampers go bad early, and uneven rear tire wear is common. Squeaky rear suspension is common, at least in the 1st generation. Dunno if they fixed it in the second generation. Some have had difficulty fixing the squeak. Brakes seem to love to squeal, no matter what I would do.

Don't expect more than 25 mpg. The auto will not be much fun. The manual is a very slick unit. Steering feel is also good.

If you're in the salt belt, they tend to rust first around rear wheel arches.

I enjoyed mine a lot, but it did feel cheap at times, especially in the back.

The tire wear was fixed in the second gen, basically stronger springs. I concur that it is a four seated with two jump seats. I've had my family in it possibly twice. If you want a mini van buy a GC or a sienna. I use it as a pickup, car and van having hauled engines, semi tires (4 11r24.5 fit) and whatever else I need to haul.

I will also mention that the synchros that were replaced were from me not aligning the short shifter properly(probably); there were no other '12+ with trans issues when we looked it up.

Mine has a JBR short shift, JBR rear sway and H&R springs. It drives like a car and is a little sporty while having a ton of utility.

Thank you for the input. I've read the 14pg thread but it has been a while.

I am debating still between this and an SUV (Kia Sorento which is bigger and seems to be more money), I like that the Mazda5 should drive better for 99% of my usage. The other 1% would be for camping and my dream of traversing the US on dirt roads (mud guards and a skid plate could help with that).

Do seem to lose a middle seat on the second row so as to have the third row which may not be very useful. Can't put an adult there for long and I heard here that a car seat won't fit well. That limits ability to take grandparents along. Agree that the second row seems spartan but I don't mind that.

I've only driven one on city streets and I was not impressed, but would need a longer test.

Do also have a German Shepherd to carry often and need to check if she can stand and turn around behind the third row.

I like that they seem to be a good driver with some sporty DNA, fairly reliable (rear end shocks and bushings keep getting mentioned), have a good knowledge base and aftermarket support. Probably best to borrow one for a couple days so that SWMBO can also spend some time on it.

Thanks

I've had a 10 for 6 months now and love it. I only have passengers in the back once in a blue moon and have only had passengers in the third row once or twice. I use the back for hauling anything more than anything. Mine is a stick shift and I usually average between 28-30 mpg on my commute. I have eeked out 31-32 mpg on a couple tanks. Rear shocks tend to take a dump around 60-70k miles. I've replaced one rear shock at about 66k miles. I see it more as a grown up version of the Honda Fit due to all the different cargo configurations.

I saw a few on the lot at Dollar Rent a Car the last time I was there, so you might try them for a trial unit with some usage already applied.

The weakest point of our '13 Sport Manual in its first 15k miles is the lack of room. With two adults and a 7, 6, and 5 year old in the car, a grocery trip is out of the question. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy driving it down the Tail of the Dragon with just the wife and I in it. I don't think it would have been as enjoyable in a CX5 or a "normal" minivan.

In reply to NoBrakesRacing:

I think even a Pomeranian would be a tight squeeze behind the third row seats. No way would I put my dog back there.

It it's av tight squeeze behind the third row, although we could then fold down half of the seat then lose people capacity and becomes a five seater like any suv.

Probably after thinking about it we are going for the kia sorento, hopefully in manual. Not as good a driver but should do everything else well enough.

Our '08 has 150k on it and the auto transmission has been holding up well. It needed new rear shocks at 100k and the sway bar end links just started making noise in the rear. The problem with rear tire wear is that the toe in increases as the suspension compresses to add stability with heavy loads. I changed out the rear trailing arm bushings with polyurethane units meant for a focus. Now I don't get as big of a toe change with a load. The second generation accomplishes something similar through higher rear spring rates. I also changed out the 205/45R17 tires for 215/45R17 tires with a higher load rating. The tire wear is normal now.

Ours gets 21-22 city and 29-30 highway.

With the rear seats folded down a German Shepherd will be happy. No way with both rear seats up but you can put one at a time up. I've ridden in that back row locally and it was ok. Once you get to a family of five with car seats it's a bit tight with all of the paraphernalia children tend to bring along.

Overall it's been the perfect vehicle for us with great mileage and interior flexibility. We will be moving on to an Odyssey or some other monster van in a year and a half. I'm thinking we'll keep the Mazda5 until it dies because it's handy and cheap to operate.

Excessive panty drops.