I'm a big fan of the platform. Bought a 2006 when they were first imported. Got an invitation to get a $20 Blockbusters gift card for a test drive. Went to the dealership to collect my card and was hooked. I came back for the car a couple of days later.
1st generation (2006, 2007) lacked a few things that were added in model year 2008. Namely, rear a/c, aux. input for the stereo, quite a few armrests, and a 5 speed tranny. Many 2006-2010 models had issues with noisy rear sway bars (big clunks over bumps or on rough roads) and many cars have terrible tire wear problems. Lots of owners report wearing out a set of tires in 15K miles or less despite religious rotations. Rear camber is extremely aggressive and not adjustable without adding an aftermarket camber kit, which I did on my current 5.
I put 80K miles on my 2006 and then bought a used 2009 Grand Touring with 47K. It now has around 72K miles. My '09 has a slight intermittent shimmy that I've just accepted will never go away. After reading about some owners replacing virtually every part in the front and still having some shimmy, I decided to not go down that path.
It's extremely practical, hauling 6 people, a lot of stuff, but not both at the same time. I'm always surprised that on road trips where I'm driving 75-80mph, I tend to get 28 mpg. I keep thinking about getting the newer body style, but prefer the high tail lights of the earlier cars and still haven't warmed up to the swoosh on the side. Mine is also a GT and would have to have the same trim level in the replacement. I recently drove a Touring model and found the seats way to soft for my liking. The leather of the GT seems to fix that.
One of my favorite features is that there still aren't a huge number of Mazda5s on the road. People still come up to me and ask about it. Just a couple of weeks ago someone stopped me at a garage sale and said they'd never seen one before and wanted a closer look. Pretty interesting for a car that's been out going on eight years. I know two people driving Mazda5s who bought them after seeing mine. Keep waiting on Mazda to send me a commission check.
