truemagellen

A nice gem not found in the pdf:

Voice Activated Navigation option :D (bet we'll see that on other Mazdas soon)

See Attached PDF for the rest of the info.

truemagellen

here is another PDF with more info

this is where the info on 'voice controlled navigation' comes from.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

intriguing.... but the big question is, HOW MUCH?????

the price will make or break the mazda5 in the NA market.

dmp

HORRIBLE...

OMG...wow...NO V6??? Please tell me I read that wrong - 157hp 2.3L? Can you say 'puke'? 'Slow'? 'Lethargic'?

There goes any idea I had to buy one.

GotZoom

Best thing is the Sat Radio.

khtm

Puke! Slow! Lethargic!

DreRX8

It supposed to be like a miniminivan--so it should base below $20K is what I read in a press release.

truemagellen

this is not a very large car...that 157 is the same as in the S model Mazda3 right...and it performs fairly well for its price bracket

therm8

It does, however, weigh about 550lbs more than a Mazda3 4-door. And it's ugly :p

dmp

You Complete Me.

truemagellen

ahhhhh how cute

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

it should give Toyota Matrix some good competition

truemagellen

exactly

Cattywampus

Well now that we are on the navigation subject. Is it me or for 2k the RX-8 navigation system look cheap. It looks like a piece of cheap plastic. Maybe this is some hope that Mazda will either reface the system or maybe give the 8 voice activation.

MikeW

Where is the 6 speed automatic, or even a five speed automatic.
What is mazda thinking, launching a new vehicle with an obsolete drivetrain?

DreRX8

Remember folks--this is an entry level vehicle--its is like a miniminivan, and with only around 150HP in a people hauler a 4spd auto is sufficient.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

methinks there'll be quite a few 5's ordered with the 5 speed manual... an enthusiast's people hauler!

FamilyGuy

Gentlemen:

My wife and I have two kids. Fitting them, their car seats, the diaper bag, and other gear into my 2001 Chevy Impala* is a pain in the neck. I want to replace it with something that has three rows of seats but some fun-to-drive factor.

The Chevy has a listed weight of 3389 pounds and reasonably good acceleration. It has 205 peak pound feet of torque at 4000 RPMs and peak horsepower 180 at 5200 RPMs. Final drive ratio is 2.86, and gearing 2.92, 1.57, 1.00, and 0.71.

The Mazda5 auto also has a listed weight of 3389 pounds. It has 148 peak pound feet of torque at at 3500 RPMs and peak horsepower 157 at 6500 RPMs. Final drive ratio 4.416 and gearing 2.81, 1.55, 1.00, and 0.70.

Multiply out the gear ratios.
Mazda 12.41, 6.84, 4.42, 3.09
Chevy 8.35, 4.58, 2.86, 2.03

Multiply out the gear ratios by peak torque
Mazda (@3500 RPMs) 1837, 1012, 654, 457 pound feet
Chevy (@4000 RPMs) 1711, 938, 586, 416 pound feet

.... so even though the Mazda5 has a pretty small powertrain for its size, at least on paper the aggressive gearing and the nice fat gap between peak torque and peak horsepower should make the acceleration competitive. And that's with an automatic transmission. The Mazda5 manual should be somewhat quicker. On the other hand, the Impala fuel economy 21/32 massacres the Mazda5 auto economy 21/26 and even the Mazda5 manual economy 22/27.

I suggest everyone looking for a six passenger vehicle test drive the Mazda5 before calling it slow.

*I bought my first car fresh out of college, before I had any interest in 'fun to drive' vehicles. I can recommend the Impala for being reliable, safe, fuel efficient, spacious, and exceedingly practical. But for driving excitement it's horrendous.

mkaresh

If you're interested in comparing the Mazda5's pricing to other vehicles, I've created a site for just this purpose. Url should be in my sig. It's priced just hundreds above the Mazda3, much less than I personally expected.

I'm in the same boat as FamilyGuy, with one twist: I've got three kids. For years I've been saying that if someone offered an agile, three-row vehicle with a manual transmission I'd buy it. Well, now Mazda is offering such a vehicle. Problem is, I didn't count on the 2-2-2 config. With three kids, I probably need 2-3-2 to be able to go on trips and big shopping trips. The only way this might work is if folding just half the third row opens up plenty of room.

It will also depend on how much room Mazda managed to carve out in such a compact package. I recently drove the new Subaru Tribeca, and in seven-passenger form both the second and third row are too cramped for adults. (The second row slides back further in the five-passenger Tribeca.) If the Mazda5 is similarly cramped all bets are off.

My current plan is to replace the Protege5 I love (but everyone else thinks is unsafe as a kid hauler) with not one but two vehicles in about a year. One will be the 2005 RX-8 my father just bought. The second will likely be either the Mazda5 or Ford Freestyle. With the RX-8, it will be less important that the utility vehicle be fun to drive, so the Freestyle currently has the edge.

army_rx8

cool little site you have kickin' there :D

mkaresh

Thanks. It's taken up a lot of my time over the past year. Especially since I didn't know any PHP or mySQL when I started.

I don't know if you took at look at the reliability part of the site. I'm hoping that enough Mazda owners sign up that I can include them in my research. As someone who just vicariously bought an RX-8 I'd really like more precision behind CR's "worse than average" rating.

Similarly, as someone considering the Mazda5, I'd like an early read on how reliable it will be. Like the 3, or like the 6? Probably like the 3, but maybe not. Sliding doors can be temperamental, for one thing. With CR you have to wait a year and a half. With enough participants I should be able to provide an early read within three to four months of the on-sale date. I don't think this will happen with the Mazda5, as I'm just getting started. But within a couple of years I hope to have this capability.

FamilyGuy

Well, my wife and I are planning on having a third and maybe fourth kid, starting in about four years. I would love for the Mazda5 to be a good people-hauler for us.

But I share the same misgivings you have. It may be too small to transport 5 or 6 people and our gear. If I have to trade it in as soon as my third child outgrows his infant car seat, I'm not going to bother with one.

FamilyGuy

seconded :D

mkaresh

Thanks. I'm hoping I can get enough of you guys to sign up to include the RX-8 in my reliability research.

Call me crazy, but my #1 reason for not having a fourth kid is because that would force me into a three-row vehicle virtually all the time. As it is, I should be able to make an RX-8 work as much as 70 percent of the time. (Planning to get a kill switch installed for the front passenger airbag.)

Mazda worked packaging magic to fit an adult-sized back seat into the RX-8 without harming the car's agility. Hopefully they've worked the same magic with the Mazda5.

mkaresh

I just discovered that some other site with which I've been sharing a server was dragging down everyone's performance. As a result, page loads that usually take a second or two on my site were taking up to a minute. My site has been moved to a different server to fix the issue. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this caused.