Why is it so good? Mazda is the first manufacturer in the compact MPV sector to offer rear sliding doors. These are a godsend when loading kids into the back. They are also super when parked in tight spaces for rear access. Up until now rear sliding doors were the reserve of much bigger machines like the Previa, C8/Ulysse/807 and Voyager. The test car is the entry level 1.8 litre and starts at a respectable €26,950.
Underneath the Mazda 5 there lurks a Ford Focus C-Max chassis so the handling is very decent. But unlike the C-Max, which is bizarrely a strict five-seater, the Mazda 5 has a party trick. Seating is in a two/three/two configuration with the centre middle seat being storable. So the versatile Mazda can be a spacious two-seater van or a comfy four-seater, or with the two rear seats popped up into place the 5 becomes a six-seater, and finally on the school run that small but effective middle seat brings total capacity to seven seats. A nice touch is that when the car is configured for six you can move from the middle to rear or vice versa by tilting the middle centre armrest on its side.
The rear two seats could not be easier to stow or raise into place. You don’t have to move the middle seats (which can tilt and slide). All that is required is a gentle pull of a fabric loop in the seat back and up rise the seat back and base into position. No straining whatsoever – brilliant. There is only one downside and that is the fact that there is no convenient place to store the cargo load cover when the back two seats are up, unlike with the Opel Zafira.
The 1.8 (110bhp) engine delivers power to the front wheels and is smooth and reasonably refined. Other engines include a two-litre diesel and two-litre petrol. The cabin itself proves a bit noisy on the open road (a Mazda failing generally). That said my test car was on tasty alloys and wider rubber, which always increase road noise. All the driving controls are effortless to use. On the safety side the car secured five stars from Euro NCAP and features a host of airbags too.
The interior is decent but lacking a little in storage areas up front. The glove box is not big enough for a pack of wet wipes. The instrumentation is good but I have one main gripe concerning the very poor positioning of the 12 volt/cigarette lighter socket. I use a well-known brand of speaker/charger with my mobile phone that until now fitted neatly in all my test cars and I drive on average 300 or so annually. I could not access the socket and in this day and age that’s unacceptable. There is a socket in the boot, which would be fine for a cooler box but this is the era of the iPod and gizmos like 12 volt bottle warmers, so please Mazda put a couple of 12V sockets in accessible places up front.
The Mazda 5 is a very useful MPV and well worth a closer look.
Michael Sheridan
