TEST DRIVE AND REVIEW – 2012 Mazda5 Minivan

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Not long ago we decided to travel to Ohio, to see my brother and meet my brand new nephew. We wanted something that would be more economical than our trucks so considered taking a car. Problem there is a car just isn’t roomy enough for a family like ours to travel any distance. I was very fortunate to receive an offer to drive a new Mazda5, a new 6 passenger minivan. I love driving, and testing out different cars, so this was a great fit. I’d like to share a photo tour of the Mazda5 with you, along with some of my thoughts on features, and then my thoughts on driving it. (I was having a problem with the camera, a few of the pictures look a bit bluish. Sorry about that.)
This is the front end of the Mazda5.

That front end contains one of our favorite features – the windshield. I drive a Ford Expedition, so I’m used to big windshield. I can say that hands down the windshield in the Mazda5 Minivan is the deepest windshield I have ever had in front of me while driving. I can only describe it as driving with a picture window in front of you. The view is great, and we all really liked that.
Now, come around to the drivers side.

Once in the first thing you will probably look at, after the huge windshield, is the drivers cockpit.

Just about everything is right in front of you, within arms length from the steering wheel.

I like the wheel a lot, it’s leather and just feels nice. I am a big fan of thick, stubby sticks when it comes to controls for things like windshield wipers, so these were perfect for me.


In the center, to your right, is the console with controls for the stereo and climate. Up top there is a display where you can see the clock, temperatures and information on the music being played.

I was very happy with the sound of the stereo The Mazda5 I drove had AM/FM stereo with a 6-cd changer, as well as the Sirius/XM Satellite. The minivan has six speakers. I thought that that the six speaker system had a full sound and there was no shortage at all of volume when desired. Even though the stereo controls were close by, I still liked that some of the audio controls were located on the steering wheel, it’s just so convenient. You can also control your Bluetooth phone through the system if you like. I was surprised, and a bit disappointed, to find no way to connect a cell phone (more on that in a bit).
Just below on the floor there are the emergency brake, buttons for the heated seats, two cup holders, and two power outlets.

Here I should note that when my whole family was in the van I didn’t have a place to put my purse. This is not a huge issue, it would really only come into play at all on a long drive like this. I like to keep my purse somewhat nearby. If alone I put it on the front passenger seat, if not alone usually on top of the console or armrest or something. The Mazda5 front space doesn’t permit that. I did put my purse right there but then you couldn’t get to the drinks, which if you’re driving any distance like I was you’re likely to have.  I tried putting it slightly forward of the cup holders and found that my purse would accidentally turn on the seat heaters. The seat heaters get very toasty by the way. We couldn’t find a way to control the temperature of the heat but I can say that the heat worked really well. I’d enjoy having those in cold or damp weather. From there if you look up you find the sunroof controls and interior lights. Or to use a phrase people often use when discussing weight, my problem area.

The interior lights and the button to open the sunroof are right there next to each other. I’d imagine that if you owned this vehicle you’d get used to the placement and not have any issues. I, on the other hand, kept pressing the wrong buttons in the dark. So when I was looking for the interior light at 2 am in the middle of a thunderstorm with lightning and pouring rain, the last thing I really wanted to do was open up the sunroof. My copilot, my 16 year old son, laughed when that happened. He laughed even harder the next two times it happened. After that I was banned from pressing anything up there. Between you and I, his laughter alone was well worth the choice of button placement.
Speaking of my 16 year old son, he sat in the other front seat for quite a while. He’d been in the far back but we needed to change things up. More on that later. Anyway, he fit in the front seat with no major problems, and he is just over 6 foot tall.

Exiting the front of the van you can get a look at the entire front row.

The next area you’re probably wondering about is the middle row. The middle row of the van can be accessed from either side, both of which have sliding doors. I like that these are sliding doors, rather than doors that open. Sometimes rear doors that open don’t open quite all of the way, so things can be hard to get in and out. Also, most parking lots aren’t the roomiest of places. How many times have you barely been able to open your door without worrying about your door dinging the car next to you? You don’t have that worry with sliding doors, which is nice, especially on a windy day. The doors slide back and forth quite smoothly and easily, and didn’t seem overly heavy.

The middle row of the Mazda5 that we were driving had Captains chairs.

The middle row was a pretty comfy place to be. It’s got its own air vents, so people sitting there don’t have to wait for heat or air to make its way back to them from the front. I’ve been in many cars like that, and it’s just not comfortable. Underneath the Captains seats are small storage bins, about the size where kids might put a DVD or video game. As someone who spent a couple of years with VHS tapes and then DVDs floating around the back of her truck loose, I can appreciate that these travel necessary items can have a home of their own.

In between the Captains chairs was another console.

Now the console is cool because it’s got cup holders, and a place to rest something. But it’s got something else too, a compartment inside it that can hold all sorts of things including a game system controller.

Yep. the Mazda5 Minivan has an option for an entertainment center with built in game system! Hubby had a great time with this while he was in the middle row.

Its screen flips up and down so it isn’t in the way when it isn’t being watched.

The right side is where the DVD player is located.

The left side has a USB port, headphone jack and auxiliary input.

Now partway through Pennsylvania the Sirius/XM subscription stopped working, leaving us with no music. We had two iPhones and two iPods with us, as well as an iPod USB cable, so we figured we’d just connect one of those and listen to music that way. We found no way to connect to the stereo in the front so we thought we’d try the entertainment center. We were able to physically connect, through the USB port, but we weren’t able to find any way to get the sound to come out through the stereo.
Before we move on to the rear set, one more thought on the middle row.

The captains chairs are surely very comfy. Comfy to sit in but not comfy to nap in. My 12 year old had a very hard time falling asleep, even in the middle of the night. Yes, these chairs to tilt back a little but you can’t do that when someone is in the rear row, which is where my 16 year old 6 foot tall son was at that time. Have you ever fallen asleep somewhere sitting up, like in a car? Maybe your head tilted over to one side and the discomfort woke you up, or maybe you woke up a little sore? On a bench seat a child could just lean to the side and lay down. I’d love to see the headrests in these captains chairs reconfigured to provide some support to the head and neck if the person sitting there falls asleep.
On to the back row.
The rear row is a split seat, so you can fold down part or all of the seat. I’m not going to lie, I’m just going to come out and say it. The third row seat is small. It can fit an adult but it is not comfortable, particularly if the adult is tall. It is, however, a good size for children. We shifted seats partway on our drive and put my youngest back there. I don’t typically like him so far away from the front but my husband was in the middle row so he was close by. My youngest doesn’t require nearly as much leg room as the rest of us and was happy back there. Plus doing this gave him a comfortable [lace to nap and gave my 16 year old could have more room.

The headrests in the third row are adjustable, which I thought was great because I’ve seen third row seating that doesn’t even offer a headrest. When my 16 year old was back there he liked them up. When my 12 year old was back there we lowered them. There are cup holders in the third row, which is great because some vehicles don’t have those either.

As far as storage space goes, there’s plenty if you’re driving local or if you don’t have a full family. Don’t get me wrong, the Mazda5 had lots of little storage spots – a totally huge glove compartment, inside the front console, in the front doors, those bins under the middle row seats, pockets in doors, and other little spots here and there. But as far as big, not so much. There were five of us and there was not enough room for storage. I asked that everyone pack reasonably light, something like a gym bag. That seemed reasonable, since we were going to be gone for three days and two nights. Plus we were bring out some things as well. This is a look at the storage space in the back of the van.

Now here’s that same space with the bags in it. Some of the bags, that is.

We had to pack the bags in there and close the hatch in a hurry so nothing fell out. It’s a pretty small space and we filled it in the blink of an eye. I had thought about buying an Exersaucer for the baby here and driving it out, good thing I didn’t because we wouldn’t have had anywhere to put it at all. The rear seat is split, so part or all of it can be folded down if you like, but if you do that you lose seating. We did learn, after our trip, that there is an additional storage space under the floor under the third row seat. I don’t know how big it is or how easy it is to get to.
For any of you that change your own flat tires, the tool compartment is located in the far back under the floor deck. Or, under all of those bags I showed you, if you prefer to think of it that way.

Just pick up the carpeted panel and voila, there are the tools.

So what did I think about driving the Mazda5?
I’m used to driving a very tall SUV. The Mazda5 is smaller than most of the minivans I have seen. The Mazda5 is much lower than my truck so I expected to feel like I was sitting on the ground, as I often do when I sit in cars and such. That wasn’t the case, the drivers seating actually seems quite a bit higher than I expected. The front seating is very comfortable. I found there to be a decent amount of room up in the front seat, definitely sufficient for two grown adults. The view out of the windshield is incredible, by far the biggest I’ve ever seen. It just seems to make everything easier to see for me. Speaking of the view, the headlights are also incredibly bright. I’ve driven many cars, and the headlights on the Mazda5 seemed brighter than other headlights. As far as driving, I enjoyed it. I found it to ride smoothly. It didn’t ride a bit like I expected. I expected it to drive like a van or crossover, I was a bit surprised to find that it drives more like a car. It’s a front wheel drive vehicle. It responded pretty quickly and cornered decently. Being a bit of a lead-foot I admit that I was curious if the van could move. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Mazda5’s 4 cylinder had some get up and go to it, I had no problem at all zoom zooming along the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 85 mph. (And yes, it could have gone faster had I been so inclined. I wanted to but had a car full of family, you know how it is.) I drove the 5-speed automatic transmission, the Mazda5 is also available with a 6-speed manual transmission. My fuel mileage was excellent! The Mazda5 has a 15.9 gallon fuel tank is rated at 21/28 mpg, I did almost all highway driving and did get about 26.9 mpg. Seriously, it gets really good gas mileage. Not only does the Mazda5 drive more like a car than a minivan, it also parks like a car. It’s super easy to park because of its size.
The Mazda5 has a lot of good, solid features. This would be a great choice for a family of three or four, as it would the have room for the family and room for transport and storage in the back.
Pricing for the Mazda5 starts at $19,625.
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I was provided with a week long test drive of the Mazda5 featured in this review free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.