Mazda 5 (2005-) Review

Overview

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Five or seven seats in your MPV? That's the question facing buyers and manufacturers alike of compact, Scenic-size MPVs. Toyota clearly considered seven the way to go when it stopped selling the original Corolla Verso in Europe and hastily brought in a new seven-seat version, while Ford did almost the opposite and canned the planned seven-seat Focus MPV in favour of the five-seater C-MAX. Renault, meanwhile, does both sorts of Scenic and Vauxhall's Zafira is a seven-seat pioneer in the segment.

Then there's the three-plus-three six-seater approach of the Fiat Multipla and Honda's new FR-V... and now there's Mazda's new offering. Previewed at the 2004 Geneva show as the MX Flexa, the Mazda 5 replaces the slow-selling Premacy (a five-seater, except in Japan where it could be had with two more miniature seats) and breaks new ground as a six-plus-one-seater. It's a two-plus-two-plus two, in which the rearmost seats are as big as those ahead, and which has a slender fold-out seat able to bridge the gap between the two centre-row seats. When the seat is folded away, there's a walk-through area right to the front of the cabin, and the centre seat-zone is host to several other clevernesses.

Also unique to the sector are the sliding rear doors, although they lack electric power ('No demand,' says Mazda).

The platform is related to a Mazda 3's, and therefore a Ford Focus's, and the frontal structure is the same as far as the bulkhead. Thereafter it's unique, with a higher floor, a 100mm longer wheelbase and competitive torsional stiffness despite the long door-slide slots cut into the sills. Suspension front and rear is Mazda 3/Focus-based, and the four engines are all Mazda.