One video that Mazda shows its employees depicts, among other things, a kid playing with a toy car. He's whisking it across a tabletop with obvious delight. "Zoom-zoom," he says with a giant grin. "Zoom-zoom."
Then it shows kids maturing into adults, assuming responsibilities, jobs, and kids of their own. But a fun-loving few never stop having fun. They take good care of their responsibilities but continue enjoying their hobbies and sports, making time to play as hard as they work.
Mazda has positioned itself as the car for those people, the zoom-zoom car. It's about spirit, attitude, thinking young. In marketing speak, that's the "brand DNA." It's a good position for smaller maker Mazda to occupy. If people understand and buy into it, it sets the brand and its products apart?provided they live up to that positioning.
What is it?
Now comes Mazda5. Looking like a car-based crossover (CUV) or tall small wagon, it's a crisp, sporty execution of the two-box shape that's fast becoming popular in various sizes - from Scion xA to Chevrolet Equinox to Cadillac SRX. But what it really is?shhh, keep this to yourself?a mini-minivan.
There, we've said it. Mazda calls it a "multi-activity vehicle," would never use the dreaded "M" word in referring to it and won't appreciate our doing it. But it's a small three-row vehicle with sliding rear doors. What would you call it?
"This segment doesn't exist in the U.S. market," says Mazda Dealer Affairs Manager Weldon Munsey, who was Mazda5's vehicle line manager in his previous job, "but it's huge elsewhere." In Europe, he says, it amounts to 800,000 units, on its way to more than a million.
The primary factor that sets Mazda5 apart from anything else in North America is its seating for six, in three rows of two, combined with its modest size. There are no other three-row vehicles this small (think Chrysler Pacifica, Ford Freestyle, Subaru's new B9 Tribeca) or small CUVs or wagons this flexible, with reasonable room for six, or two and a lot of stuff.
Since each individual second and third row seat folds down flat for cargo, it's can be a two-, three-, four, five- or six-seater, depending on the mix of people and stuff you want to haul. There are cargo bins under the second-row seats and a covered tray behind the rears, but precious little room behind those third-row seats with their backs up.
Because the second-row seats adjust fore and aft, occupants can trade off legroom sufficiently for full-size adults to ride reasonable comfortably in the far-back row, though we wouldn't recommend it for long rides. Each row is also about two inches higher than the one in front ("stadium" seating), so everyone can see out the front.
Sizing it up
Though built on the compact Mazda3 platform and powertrain, this versatile wagon/van it is a bit larger than you might expect. It's the same width but roughly five inches longer and six inches taller than the Mazda3 five-door (hatchback) on a four-inch longer, 108-inch wheelbase. Total seats-down cargo capacity is 13 cubic feet better at 44.4 cu ft.
The Mazda3-based suspension is MacPherson struts front and multi-link independent rear, the latter designed to help suppress cornering lean that might result from the vehicle's relatively tall height. Brakes are large four-wheel discs with vented front rotors, ABS and Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), while steering is electronic power assisted rack and pinion. Given that one of Mazda's strong points in recent years has been well-tuned chassis dynamics (zoom-zoom), handling, braking, and steering are not at all surprisingly good.
The nicely turned out instrument panel has its center section raised for easy visibility and reach to HVAC, audio, and other frequently used controls. Fits and materials throughout are as good as anything in its price range and better than most. The large manual rear doors slide open and closed with remarkably low effort for easy access to the middle-row seats, which flip forward with a single motion for third-row ingress and egress. Mazda adds standard front, front side, and three-row side curtain airbags.
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