I got a card in the mail from Mazda in 2006 when they first started importing the Mazda5. If I test drove the 5, I'd get a $25 Blockbuster video gift card. Cool! Went straight to the closest Mazda dealership to collect my card. Our daughter was 6 at the time and I was driving an Isuzu Trooper, with barely any A/C and getting 15 mpg on the highway. Still... I wasn't in the market for a new car.
The salesman spent quite a bit of time going over the features of the 5. Wow... cool vehicle, but figured it would drive like a brick. Well, 5 minutes into the test drive I was fairly hooked. I went back a week later and bought one. Kept it until it had 80K miles on it, then in 2012 bought a used 2009 GT - not because of a problem with the the first one. I just wanted the rear a/c for my daughter, additional arm rests, 5 speed instead of 4, etc. Kept that one until last year when I bought my Audi A6. Between the two of them I drove about 130K miles in the Mazda5. When I sold the last one, it wasn't because of the vehicle as much as it was that I just wanted something different for difference's sake.
When I was car shopping this weekend, I saw some new 5s sitting on the Mazda dealer's lot and started to walk over, but made myself stop. I was afraid I'd end up in another one... not that that would be a bad thing, but just not the "different" I was seeking when I sold the last one.
I still like the lines of the 5, both old and new body styles, and it's really hard to beat the utility of the seating arrangement. When I bought the Audi A6, I quickly realized that all the stuff I had stored in the various compartments in and around the Mazda wasn't going to begin to fit in the Audi.
Personally, what other people think about my choices aren't on my list of concerns in life. The Mazda5 is a ridiculously practical vehicle that's really fun to drive. Plus you aren't going to see yourself coming and going like you would driving a small SUV. They should have sold like hotcakes here, but too many people wouldn't begin to drive one because of the minivan image. Sad that they're being discontinued here.
During my ownership I had several cases of young dudes in Hondas with coffee can exhausts coming screaming up on my tail heading into a clover leaf interchange. I'd let them get close enough so that I could see the frustration on their faces from being "stuck" behind a little vanlet heading into a curve. Then I'd shift into manual mode, bump it down a couple of gears and start pulling away. They'd usually accelerate to match my speed only to start backing off as the corner came closer and I wasn't slowing down. Threshold brake, downshift, apex, accelerate, track out, upshift... by that time there'd be 8-10 car lengths between me and the Honda that was previously climbing up my tailpipe. Usually, they'd then pass me, but always looking out the window with a terribly puzzled look trying to see what and who just outcornered them.
Man card? Eff the man card concept. That suggests membership into a club where others decide whether or not you're worthy. You picked a vehicle that works for you and your family. That's not something to be ashamed of or seek penance for.
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