2012 Mazda 5

2012 Mazda5 is small for a minivan, but delivers big performance.
Reviewers say the 2012 Mazda5 has the practicality parents need and the fun-to-drive personality most minivans lack. The 2012 Mazda5 isn’t without compromises. It’s fun to drive, less expensive and gets better fuel economy than most other minivans, but doesn’t offer as much space. For some families, however, the Mazda5’s lack of space will be a deal breaker. If seating and cargo space are why you’re shopping minivans, you probably won’t like the 5. If you’re dreading buying a minivan because of how they drive or don’t quite need all the space and seating they offer, reviewers say the 2012 Mazda5 makes a great choice.

Other Minivans to Consider
The Sedona is a full-sized minivan, but has a lower price than the better-known Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna.

Details: 2012 Mazda5
The 2012 Mazda5 has been completely redesigned. Mazda skipped the 2011 model year. The Mazda5 seats six in three rows.

Right now, there is only one choice on the market: the 2012 Mazda5. We took the reins of a nicely equipped 2012 Mazda5 Touring to see if Mazda's nifty little van has the chops to take on the big boys.

When you compare the Mazda5 to the behemoths that rule the minivan segment, it's easy to understand why we'd classify this as a microvan. Mazda hopes to increase that momentum, slow as it may be, with a freshly reworked 5, complete with a thoroughly redesigned exterior inspired by Mazda's recently-nixed Nagare design language.

Mazda says the Mazda5 was penned "as a single bead of water with ripples intentionally left on the surface, such that the body's lines express the flow of motion." Mazda has queued up more Nagare up front, with an expressive and elegantly stamped hood that flows nicely into Mazda's Prozac-infused happy face grille. The last Mazda5 featured an information center at the top of the center stack. Mazda's 2+2+2 arrangement is a largely carryover affair. Filling the 5 with people does severely limit storage space, a problem Mazda has attempted to remedy with a shallow and mostly ineffective storage beneath the second row seats. Fortunately, if you stow the third row seats, you're rewarded with 44.4 cubic feet of cargo-swallowing space.

There's a reason the minivan is considered the quintessential vehicle for parents. No other vehicle can match the minivan's huge interior space, three rows of seating, sliding rear doors and low ride height. With two seats in each of its three rows, it only seats six compared to the seven- or eight-passenger seating of a big minivan (now that's an oxymoron). There's another advantage the Mazda 5 has over its quasi-family mobile competitors -- it's fun to drive. Like the Mazda 3, it goes around corners with control and poise. Some automakers may boast that their minivans or SUVs "handle like a car," but the Mazda 5 actually does. The Mazda 5 also isn't available with certain features common to regular minivans, like power-operated sliding doors, sunshades or factory-installed navigation and entertainment systems. The 2012 Mazda 5 is a three-row, six-passenger compact minivan available in three trim levels: Sport, Touring and Grand Touring. The base Sport comes standard with 16-inch alloy wheels, full power accessories, keyless entry, cruise control, automatic climate control (with rear vents and fan controls), a height-adjustable driver seat, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a six-speaker sound system with a CD player and an auxiliary audio jack.

This package is standard on the 5 Grand Touring, which also gets automatic xenon headlights, heated mirrors, automatic wipers, driver lumbar adjustment, heated front seats and leather upholstery.

Every Mazda 5 comes with standard stability and traction control, four-wheel antilock disc brakes with brake assist, front side airbags and side curtain airbags.

Interior Design and Special Features
The front seats provide respectable comfort, though taller folks may wish for more rearward seat travel.
Driving Impressions
On the Edmunds test track, the 5 nearly matched the handling numbers of the much smaller Mazda 2.