Mazda 5 Owners or Small Minvans/mom and Kid Friendly - Looking for Advice

I had dodge minivan and it was a good car...then the next dodge minivan needed new transmission at 49000 miles (covered under warranty but I became very frustrated that it needed this major repair so soon). My household now uses Sienna minivan by Toyota and it has 146000 miles on it and still the original transmission etc. All of the cars at my house are now Toyotas because the engine etc lasts longer. I drive my father's old camry and it just received new alternator at 169000 miles. I don't think Dodge and some of the other car makers can build their cars to run as long as the competition. I did try to buy American at the beginning but then I voted with my pocketbook for what runs and runs and runs. Sometimes we get used cars at carmax but we are still careful with the brand that we get. BTW Toyotas are now made in the USA.
C.
mom of three

I have a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan and I love it. It handles like a car, but easily seats my three children (5,2 & 7 months) with room for two more! It takes about $40 to fill up the tank in Chicago, cheaper in Indiana. Hope this helps.

I have to say that it isn't helpful for people to bring up a political discussion (buy American) when people are asking for advice on cars. Furthermore, most "foreign" cars are made in the US, providing many Americans with jobs. It's a very complicated issue and telling people to "Buy American" just doesn't seem helpful.

Hubby and I are going to buy a bigger car sometime this year. I'm torn, not wanting a Minivan, but knowing that vehicles like the Mazda 5 just don't have the same space. I was dead set against a minivan, but I've decided that that may be the way to go. Everyone I know that has a minivan swears they are way easier because you just don't have to worry about space issues.

If you are looking for something smaller, but with the seating of a Minivan, you might also want to look at the Ford Freestyle. They don't make it anymore, but it's a crossover that supposedly has a lot of space without a large footprint -- of course it isn't as sporty or as nice looking as the Mazda 5 ;-)

at least the dodge is American made!

Hi A.,
I've owned 2 Dodge Caravans. After the first one needed a new transmission early on, we thought we had a lemon. We kept up the maintenance on it & still other things went wrong. We bought another one not too long ago, and the transmission is acting up even though we have low miles. When we asked our mechanic about Dodge Caravans, he said he has fixed a lot of them & he advised us to stay away from them. What are the odds that we would get 2 used "lemon" caravans? A friend of ours has a Honda Odyssey and loves it. They've had it for quite some time & nothing has gone wrong with it, just kept up basic maintenance. That's what we're looking for now. I hope this helps! S.

I love my Dodge Grand Caravan-lots of stow-n-go and plenty of storage.

We've had the Mazda 5 now for 1 1/2 years and really love it. It does not feel like you're driving around in your living room, yet you can easily transport 4 children or use the back for dog/stroller/luggage/groceries. My children are 8 and 10 now and they often get to each bring a friend along on an outing. The gas mileage is pretty standard which was disappointing to me. Also, I had checked the passenger safety record on a German consumer guide website and was very impressed.

Hello A.,

We purchased the '08 Mazda 5 Touring last June and I really have had a great experience with it thus far.

PRO: MPG - I average around 23 mpg, with the majority of my driving being on local roads-- about 60-80 miles each tank of gas goes to hwy driving.

PRO: Sliding side doors - just like the convenience of a minivan

PRO: Small and extremely easy to park

PRO: Zoom Zoom!! Very zippy for its little size and very manueverable

PRO: Optional 3rd row - gives us versatility when needed, although doesn't help us much for the times when my 6'4" brothers fly in from out of town--once baby #2 is born we won't be able to take any adult sized passengers with us.

PRO: Convenient storage/cup holders that flips out from under the middle seats -- great for sippy cups, books, toys, wipes...

PRO: With the 3rd row down, I am able to put my Graco Dou Glide (double stroller) in quite easily and still have a bit of room for groceries, etc. Also, I was able to put an in-the-box snowblower in the back of the car by having both the 2nd and 3rd rows folded down. The guy at Sears was SHOCKED that it fit in there! (And so was I.)

CONS: There is a fan that blows air to the 2nd row, however it is only cold air. Not sure why they didn't think that people would want their kids to have HEAT in the back.

CONS: Not sure that there would be enough room for us to have 2 kids on a road trip. Luggage might be tight, especially if we have the stroller with us.

CONS: Probably will not work for us once we have a 3rd child... so for us, we'll probably have it only another 3-4 years.

CONS: Not the BEST on the snow, but adequate for those times when I did need to venture out in inclement weather.

Overall - a great car if you have 2 little ones and don't do a whole lot of loading up your car.

I love my Mazda 5! The sliding doors are great! It gives me the sporty car feel, but with more room. It's a great "transition" car.

I've had my Mazda 5 for 2 years. Here's my thoughts:

Pros
It is smaller than a minivan, easy to drive & easy to park. I like the style - a little more sporty than a minivan. I haven't had any problems with performance. Both the second and third row seating fold down, which is convenient if you ever need to move larger items. One of my favorite features of the Mazda 5 is the hidden storage under the seats in the middle row. It's nice for holding small things.

Cons
Not sure what a regular minivan gets, but I drive mostly in the city and I average 17 mpg (not the 23 mpg that was in the vehicle specs). There is not much extra room inside. The seats are close together so if you put the middle row all the way back there's no room for people in the back row. If you move the middle row up, it's too close to the front seats. This isn't a problem for small children, but my kids are getting older and could really use more leg room. I have 4 kids so we need to use all 6 seats when traveling as a family. There is absolutely no trunk space when the third row seats are up. That is my biggest complaint. We can't go to the grocery store with everyone in the car because there will be no space for the groceries. All I can fit in the trunk area is an umbrella stroller, and even that is a tight squeeze. In your situation it probably wouldn't be a big problem, though, since you only have one child.

Overall, I'd say if you have only 2 children or less, then the Mazda 5 is a great choice. But for larger families it's better to go with a minivan.

We've been thinking of the Mazda 5 also and wanted to wait until my brother-in-law's family made a decision on what they were getting to kinda "test drive" through their experience. They were between the Mazda 5 and Toyota Rav-4. My sister-in-law loves, loves the Mazda 5 for all the reasons a previous person has already written. She feels it is enough room for her two kids, 3 years old and 5 years old, plus they can easily fit in another booster for playdate friends. She feels the third row is comfortable enough for an adult during a short trip. She thinks the size is sufficient for their needs.

We have a Tucson and a Grand Caravan. The Tucson is better looking than the Caravan, but I will say the Caravan has 3 rows of seating, built-in kid seats in the second row & enough storage behind the third row to put our double stroller, a pack-n-play @ several bags. There's also roomy stow and go compartments under the floor between the first and second row. It's plenty of space for me, my husband, two toddlers, teenage stepdaughter, elderly dad & all the stuff we all have to bring with us everywhere.
Have also heard good things about the Mazda 5.

Hi! We purchased the Mazda 5 3 1/2 years ago when my daughter was 5 months old. Now that we have another child, we feel like we have outgrown the Mazda 5. We are a tall family, so we do not have enough room. With my daughter's seat all the way back she is touching my husband's sit. Also when we have family in there is VERY little room in the third row. We have to overlap our feet. Even with my children's friends in the third row there is very little room for them. Plus with the third row up, you can barely get an umberella stroller in there. Also as someone else stated already, the Mazda 5 does not handle well in the snow. I would strongly suggest looking into a small minivan or larger SUV.

I thought the Mazda was WAY too small. Not worth it in my eyes, just stick with the SUV. With the 3rd row up, there is practically no trunk at all and getting to the 3rd row seemed impossible. My Odyssey gets about 17-20 mpg. Not awesome but not horrible considering its size. I love it.

I love my Mazda 5. My kids are 5 and 2 and can easily get in and out and if my 5 yr old opens his own door, I don't have to worry about whether or not he is going hit the car next to us, because of the sliding doors. For the 4 of us, there is plenty of space and cargo room for road trips (and I am not one to travel light). We occasionally use the 3rd row of seats if we have friends or grandparents visiting. You do have very little cargo space with the 3rd row up, but we have not found that to be a problem, since we are usually just driving around town with people visiting. The middle seats slide pretty far forward, making it relatively easy to get into the third row, though there is not a ton of leg room back there and you can't really slide forward a seat that has a carseat in it. My son is in a booster, so we usually move him to the way back, but both my parents and my inlaws have sat back there and said it is fine for a short trip (they are in their 60's and 70's respectively). It is an easy car to drive and I love that the windows on the sliding doors open. I don't pay that much attention to actual MPG numbers, but I would say it is about in the low 20's around town and closer to the mid-20's for road trips via the interstate.

We love our Mazda 5! We had looked at a lot of minivans and were almost ready to buy the Dodge Grand Caravan until we found the Mazda 5. It doesn't have as much space as a true minivan, but has all the conveniences like folding 3rd row seats, sliding doors (love them!). But we live in the city and it's great for both driving around town, fitting into a small garage and small parking spaces and for road trips. We drove it to Florida with plenty of room for our gear with the 3rd row down and got very good mpg. Our boys are 5 and 3 and we think this will last us several years because of the versatility.