I am the proud owner of a 2007 Mazda 6S 5-Speed. I love my car. My wife wants to look at minivans and small SUVs for her new car in a few months. We have one child but i want the car to have room for more and ease of access for car seats. I am not a fan of the Mazda SUVs but i like the look and price of the 5. My wife likes the 5 and the dodge journey as her top 2. Any opinions on the better ride for the money would be helpful.

Matt
'07 6S MT

 

Thanks everybody. I really appreciate all the replys and opinions. Such a great amount of help and insight from everyone who read my post.

 

The 5 forum ain't exactly the most popular here, bub. But, based on your attitude, it sounds like you bought the Dodge.

 

And in addition, you have to realise that this forum is read World-wide, and those of us in Europe wouldn't know a Dodge Journey if we were run over by one.


For what it's worth, I don't think a family of 3 require a 6/7 seater car.

Dave.

 

I'm sorry no one replied to your query. Sometimes that's just the way it goes on the boards. People may not have an opinion to offer, or perhaps the 5 owners were busy with other things? I don't know. I don't mean to be insulting here, but also realize that we get a lot of questions like this from many one-timers and sometimes get tired of answering the same question over and over again. You may have caught us at a collectively bad time. That's all.

What I do know is that anything Chrysler is liable to be terrible in the reliability department and cost tons of $$$ to fix. Chrysler's reliability has been in the toilet for years and that statement I can back up by CU who recently rated them the worst cars built in America for being reliable. Plus, do you want to buy a car from a company that may not even be there tomorrow? They're in worse financial trouble than is GM!!
I also know that the Mazda5 is the same car as the Mazda3 under the skin. Same chassis, suspension and drivetrain.
Are they perfect cars? No, but their overall reliability and "fun to drive" factor is proven. they are safe cars too. The 3 series at least, rides a little harsh imo. If you want a luxury ride, look elsewhere. But as a fun little grocery getter that gets decent mileage and gets you there and home again safely, the 5 is what I would choose.

 

Sorry, I don't check here that often.

The 3rd row seats on the U.S. models are an absolute nightmare for installing carseats. If you've only got 1-2 kids, it's great because the 2nd row seats are awesome for carseats, and then you just fold down the 3rd row so you've got plenty of cargo room. Or you flip them up if you need to carry a couple more people.

I think it's a nice compromise between a minivan and a car. When you only need the room of a minivan infrequently, it's a bit annoying to be putting up with the low gas mileage and van-handling the rest of the time.

 

I have read through all of this thread. However I would still welcome peoples thoughts.
I am shortly due to be a proud dad for the 4th time and therefore need a bigger vehicle to cope wityh my growing family. (ages 11,9,6) I have narrowed down my current preferences to either a Mazda 5 or Mitsibishi grandis.

Thanks to this forum I am aware of the tyre wear issue and whilst the sport was my original choice I now think its not an oprtion to go for as I will be buying second hand and as far as I can see there is no way of knowing for sure if you are going to get a tyre eater or not.

Would I be correct in thinking that a TS2 will give me the practicality without the tyre eating headaches experienced by so many?

On a related point is the diesel DPF issue a common one. To be honest the main use of the car will be ferrying the kids to and from school ( a round trip of about 5 miles).

Any advice much appreciated.

The other main plus for the mazda opposed to the mitsibishi would be the sliding doors. although the extras on the TS2 seem a little thin on the ground

 

Go for the 5 it's a fantastic car, my kids love it 8 and 6 and we often take friends as well.

 

i doubt the original author even looks anymore, but it's somehow nice that people still have responded.
It's hard to understand how someone can join a group, and then not do a search on "hi i'm looking to buy a...can i get your opinion?" . THAT'S why i don't respond to each one....today i'm talkative i guess.
as for the tire wear; you get low profile, softer tires, GREAT ride, and they will wear out faster. It's just the compromising of what type of tire/ride you want.

 

Normally the case but not in the Mazda 5 Sport's case.

Inside wear on the rears is very unusual & is in fact a fault or a design flaw.

On a FWD car I would expect 25-30k on the rears not 6 -7 k as we got.

My father even got 40k to a set of rears in a mk5 Golf.

I had a 350bhp 4WD Escort Cosworth that did a lot more miles to the tyres & they were a lot softer (140 rating oposed to a 220 rating) My 280bhp 4WD Impreza STI got 15k to a set all round as did a 225 BHP 4WD Audi TT (both fitted with soft Pirelli P-Zero Rossos)

They should have been the tyre eaters not a family car, pity as it a good car for what it is.