The 5 completely negates the need for any of those stupid behemoths that people buy on the premise that they have three children. It can seat six easily (yes, I am 6' and sat in the last row, though I admit that if you're 300lbs, you're going to have a hulluva time getting back there, but maybe you should walk anyway...) and with 5 people or less, carry an amazing amount of stuff.
My DREAM Mazda 5 would have a diesel and get <6L/100km. My ULTIMATE DREAM 5 would have AWD and a diesel.
The whole concept is so perfect, I can't understand why all makers aren't selling their versions in North America. I guess they figure we're all still addicted to stupid overweight crap-mobiles...
You are, of course entitled to your opinions. I really like the Mazda5 too and came oh-so-close to buying a black GT with the leather package and the DVD player but.....it couldn't pull a trailer and it was under-powered with my whole family and their stuff on board. Plus its gas mileage sucks when loaded because it's underpowered. I wasn't willing to make all the compromises that this vehicle would entail for my situation.
My overweight crap-mobile 2007 Hyunda Santa Fe can pull a trailer, haul all our stuff *and* return pretty decent fuel mileage all at the same time. I made two recent sorties from Ottawa the last 2 weekends, one to Presqu'ile Provincial Park (500 km round trip) and another one to Syracuse NY (400 km round trip) The trip to Presqu'ile we averaged 12.5 l/100km loaded to the gunwhales with camping stuff, my wife and two adult-sized kids and with a rooftop box and hauling a 2200 pound tent trailer. The trip to Syracuse, minus the trailer we averaged 11.1 l/100 km, or about 25 mpg. Overall, the vehicle's highway average is about 9.5 l /100 km (we have the 3.3 litre with AWD) and it's one year old so the engine is nicely broken in. While you're talking about everyone's overweight crap-mobiles, why don't you look into the published fuel mileage figures for the Mazda5. Google for people's real-world mileage results with this vehicle and you'll find that they're not that impressive to be honest...another factor that went into our decisions.
BTW, we ended up compromising and buying a Galaxy Grey 2007 Mazda3 GT Sport 5-spd w/ sunroof for our second car.
Hopefully your ultimate dream Mazda5 w/ AWD and a diesel is equipped with a turbo.