2006 Mazda 5 Four Seasons Test

Call me a nerd. It's November 2004, and I'm on a media tour with Mazda in Japan. I've already flogged the Mazdaspeed 6 sport sedan around the Okayama International Circuit, and I've just joined 125 other journalists for our first look at the new MX-5 Miata. There is excitement in Hiroshima. And now a small group of us are ushered into a styling studio deep within Mazda's sprawling factory complex to hear all about . . . the Mazda 5?

I had missed the 5's debut at the Paris show two months earlier, but now I'm instantly smitten and quickly forget about the other two Mazdas. Grabbing Mazda North America PR man Jeremy Barnes by the sleeve, I whisper, "I really think we'd like to do a Four Seasons test of one of these."

Confusion creases his brow. "You mean the Miata, right?"

"No, this, the 5. I'm sure the new Miata will be brilliant, but this is different."

Barnes quickly regains his composure, launches into full spin on the 5's merits, and promises that he will see what he can do.

And that is how a cardinal red Mazda 5 landed in our Four Seasons fleet in July 2005. As soon as everyone learned that this miniature minivan was my idea, there was a stampede to my office door.

"Why do we have a pink, four-cylinder minivan for an entire year?"

"Who is going to drive this thing?"

"What were you thinking?"

What I was thinking was that the 5 represents a new class of vehicle in America: the European-style people mover. And we all agreed that it was brave of Mazda, of all automakers, to test the waters of the U.S. market with such an unlikely entry. Was the diminutive 5 a reasonable vehicle for American families, or was it a reprise of the early-1990s Mitsubishi Expo LRV, a funky Japanese miniwagon that found few friends? Over twelve months, we would seek an answer to the classic question: "Will it play in Peoria?"

Like all good people movers, the 5 relies on its packaging for its appeal. With three rows of seats; a low step-in height (lower than that of the old Mazda MPV); and lightweight, manually sliding, wide-opening rear doors, it's more convenient to load six people into this Mazda than most of the compact and mid-size crossovers that lately have sprouted obligatory third-row seating. Yet the agile 5 is far easier to maneuver in urban traffic than a typical full-size minivan, even while, as copy editor Rusty Blackwell pointed out, "it offers a bit of that command seating position that SUV owners prefer." The driver and front passenger also enjoy excellent outward visibility, aided by the little triangular windows at the A-pillars.

As is the case with any vehicle that has three rows of seats, the quality of accommodations diminishes as you move rearward. A week into our test, Blackwell loaded up three passengers and headed to a Chicago wedding in 98-degree July heat. His second-row occupants appreciated the easy ingress/egress of the comfortable buckets but "moaned incessantly about the lack of armrests and dedicated rear-seat ventilation," complaints that were echoed by many others. At least they could lower the second-row windows, and their seats reclined, slid fore and aft, and folded quickly and easily for access to the elevated third row. The two rearmost seats are best for kids or wedding presents.