Behold! The Millenium Falcon! (Mazda5 content)

Yes! THey are a great value!

whoa! Which issue was that, March 2016? I missed this thread bump, life's been hectic.

chandlerGTi wrote:

failboat wrote: finally making a little progress on some changes.

Way to make internet hot rod of the month Matt!

So, one week in, I'm asking myself "Why didn't I buy this car 3 years ago?" I can't believe how much fun it is to drive. Mrs. Kazoo and I are fighting over the keys. It drives more like car than an van, and a pretty competent car at that. The only thing it really needs is a Mazdaspeed version.

Looking at a '10 with 60k on it tonight to replace the VUE. Can get pretty good pricing on it as my brother in law is the manager of the dealership. Granted the VUE was pretty cheap, so this has to offer a lot more life & utility for the price difference.

Anything in particular to look for?

How well does the rear-hvac work in these? One of the biggest issues with the VUE is the vents. My wife doesn't like how it can be like 10 degrees warmer in the back of the car than the front... and even warmer than that in a car seat which doesn't have a lot of ventilation.

How well does the auto hold up & what how is the service?

The Mazda5 has vents in the center armrest/console to provide air to the back seat.

Only A/C, no heat through the center console. Heat comes from the duct work under the front seats. Haven't heard any issues with the auto, only real issues are life of rear shocks and front/rear seat bar endlinks.

Correct on the heat vs air issue out of rear vents.
My wife's '10 Mazda5 only has 50k miles on it. It has been trouble free other than it goes through tires quickly. Some of that may be her running it with low pressure and the TPMS light on.
Now, at 50k there are lots of squeaks from the rear so I suspect swaybar links gone bad in the rear.

I also have a '03 Vue with over 250k miles. I have not experienced or am not aware of the temp difference front and rear.

We like our Mazda5. The Mazda CX-5 did not exist at the time. Had the CX-5 been available, we may have bought that instead.

In reply to ProDarwin:

I replaced my Vue with an 08 Mazda5 and have loved every second of it. The 10 should be functionally identical except with traction control added. The automatics are a 5-speed unit and very robust. FYI, the manual mode is a true manual mode. You can drive down the road in 1 and it will bang off the limiter all day. You have to shift for it to go to 2, etc. It's awesome.

BTW, the new Falcon got new shoes yesterday:

Those look nice, I tried that style but couldn't get it in the new body style.

In reply to chandlerGTi:

Thanks! They were a CL pick up that had (poorly) been painted white, and before that blue. I cleaned, stripped, prepped, and painted them (with DupliColor wheel paint). They aren't perfect, but they were cheap and now I won't cry when I curb them .

To much tire and to low offset lol

This is what mine are: http://www.msrwheels.com/auto_car_wheels.cfm?id=2003#

18x8 +35

Looks great! I love that first generation 5, it looks so good.

I have a 10 MZ5 with 114k miles on it. I bought it with 55k on the clock and the rear shocks took a dump at around 70k miles. I've also gone through numerous tires, two bent rims got knocked back into shape due to potholes and front brakes. Also, the cd player stopped working so i've been using a Discman plugged in through the aux port. Other than that, its been a great car. It will swallow a bike whole with the front wheel on. I've hauled anything and everything in it. My average mpg is 28-29. I've gotten as high as 35 mpg. Lowest i've ever gotten is 23 mpg.

Can you control rear A/C independently of front? Or the fan at least? I.E. leave front on low, rear on high?

So several comments regarding tires... do they wear oddly, or wear quickly, but evenly? In other words, is there a suspension alignment/wear issue to take note of? Or is it just because it runs a 205 width car tire on a 3500lb minivan?

JohnRW1621 wrote: I also have a '03 Vue with over 250k miles. I have not experienced or am not aware of the temp difference front and rear.

I may be exaggerating, but its noticeable... there just isn't a lot of space for the air to make it to the back of the car. When its 100F outside and the front is cooled to ~70-75 with everything on high/max but the rear is 80, even a small difference becomes pretty big.

With heat it isn't really an issue.

Do any of you guys have hitches on yours? I know it isn't rated to tow :( but I could still use one for carrying bikes.

Is rust a problem on these? (it is a Mazda...) If so, where do I look? The car will be coming from the DC area.

In reply to ProDarwin:

It's like the Vue, the rear vent is tied to the front, not independent at all, even fan speed. That said, it's usually cooler in the back than the front. You can have the front on/back off though.

I've never had abnormal tire wear with either Mazda5, and strongly suspect it's more to do with not getting rotations and an improper alignment.

They do tend to wear through rear shocks and endlinks. They can tow everywhere but the US, so go right ahead. Get a trans cooler.

I've never seen one with rust, but they don't salt roads out here. We don't get much of any cars with rust.

My 12 doesn't have any rust; it has 145k on it and hasn't eaten tires. I did run some 205/50/16 Falken on some Porsche wheels and it are those but the 205/50/17 Bridgestones I had got 48k when I sold them...someone else got 10k before replacing them.

Javelin wrote: It's like the Vue, the rear vent is tied to the front, not independent at all, even fan speed. That said, it's usually cooler in the back than the front. You can have the front on/back off though.

I'm not sure if there is a difference with years, but my 08 sport does have a low/high fan speed control below the rear vent that is independent from the front fan speed (it only works when "rear" is selected on the front HVAC controls). Temperature is not independent, and as mentioned earlier, the rear only provides AC, no heat.

I have been diligent about tire rotations and keeping proper alignment, 40K miles on the first set of tires, and 35K+ so far on the second set with even wear. I did have to replace the rear shocks and all sway bar end links just before 70K miles. I also have some very minor rust starting to show up at the lower front portion of both rear wheel wells, but I am in New England where everything seems to rust...

In reply to SlowNB:

LOL, so it does! My kids can't reach the vents back there and I've never looked before to see if there were any buttons.

Well, it didn't work out :( His trusted mechanic gave it a thumbs down due to some "issues". I didn't get the details, but as a family member he doesn't want to risk selling me something that may have problems, which is totally understandable.

That said, the search is still on... kinda. The Winston-Salem area used car market is a joke. When I do find a hole large enough in my schedule to go look at one 45mins-1.5hours away, its kinda the last thing I want to do. So I'll set some alerts and see what pops up locally and continue using the VUE until then. Trying to hold off on doing some work (although relatively minor) to the VUE in the meantime as I know its money I'm not going to get back out of it.

Everytime this thread comes up, it makes me miss my 5 more and more.

Anyone know how to lift one?

Like I want to do this to one...

My 5 seems to go through tires due to nasty potholes more than anything.

Chassis wise what is the difference between a Mazda5 and a Focus....

Flight Service wrote: Chassis wise what is the difference between a Mazda5 and a Focus....

There are quite a few similarities, but the 5 is wider and longer. I am the original owner of a 2010 Sport, it's been a fantastic car. I was worried about the interior build quality, but the materials have held up very well and it is mostly squeak and rattle free. 75K miles with almost no issues - I replaced the rear sway bar with a Mazdaspeed3 bar, bushings and endlinks, and replaced the rear shocks which started leaking at about 50k miles. You can run 215/50 17's on the stock wheels for better ride quality, and if you use XL rated tires they seem to last longer. On the downside, almost all 3's and 5's of this vintage seem to have shimmy's and shakes at certain speeds. They are very alignment and wheel balance sensitive.