I'm purchasing a Mazda 5 in Toronto (Canadian spec.)

I've been reading reports that the air conditioning on the mazda 5 is weak. I'm trying to decide if air-condiationing is worth the extra $1100. As the GT has a moonroof anyway, how effective is a moonroof at removing heat from the cabin?

 

i think you should stick with the air conditioning purchase because i've driven my mazda6 with just the sunroof before to try that out and see what it was like without using air conditioning... it simply just doesn't do that much. it allows a little bit of noticeable cool air in but not enough from keeping you from breaking out a sweat. also, you have to keep in mind how hot your car is going to be when you sit down inside it after being out in the heat. you are going to get roasted!

that's just my 2 cents to offer to you, but i'm not too familiar with Canada too much with the climate... i have an idea but not enough to let you know anything but what i'm accustomed to.

 

I've also heard that the A/C can be a bit weak, mostly for passengers in the rear. Honestly, I expect that to be true of most vehicles with similiar interior volume and no rear vents, so, even if most are better, I won't know the difference...

 

I just came back last week-end from a 10 day trip to southern Florida where temp. went up to +30C.
In heavy traffic on I-95, from Miami to West Palm Beach. , the A/C system set at full blast could barely keep-up for the front seat passenger and driver.
I don't think I would have liked to be a rear seat passenger in those conditions.

 

30 degrees celsius (86 degrees fahrenheit) is nothing... that is sad. I didn't realize it could be that weak.

When it gets warm enough locally for me to run the A/C, I'll make sure I post about it's performance. In Ohio, it might be a while before it gets that warm though...

 

that is pretty weak...wow

 

I had problems with the A/C performance my '03 Protege'5. Not the strongest system in the world. I found out that if I run it on recirculating instead of fresh air, the outlet temp was noticably cooler (If I recall-34 F vs 42 F), and it was dry air, not humid. Big difference in our mid-south humid summers. Also, there is still a bit of fresh air that gets through on Recirculate, so don't worry about it getting stuffy. Give it a try.

 

The air has been fine for me so far. We experienced a 98 degree (F) day and it was adequate. I had the windows tinted and it helped tremendously. I'll report back when we get back into the triple digits and my kids are in the middle seats.

Matt

 

Here's a pic of the outlet temp. The A/C works great, I think the system might be just a tad overloaded for the large space that it is trying to cool. We still haven't had any scorchers yet, so I can't report on its effectiveness.

Matt