Exterior & Styling

The sliding doors say "minivan," but many see the Mazda5 as a wagon. Minivans tend not to set hearts aflutter, but there's one thing I appreciate about the 2010 Mazda5, and that's its styling. It's nothing special, but it's also not the redesigned 2011 Mazda5 that's due at dealerships early in 2011; Mazda has already released photos (click on the thumbnails to the right). The 2011 has a less restrained design, including the smiling grille most new Mazda models get, plus a new characteristic: wavelike accent lines in the bodyside sheet metal. On the upside, the 2011 lowers the taillights and eliminates the clear-lens-over-chrome style, which is outdated at best.

    See also:

    Supplemental Restraint Systems (SRS) Precautions
    The front and side supplemental restraint systems (SRS) include 6 air bags. Please verify the air bags equipped on your vehicle by locating the “SRS AIRBAG” location indicators. These indicators ar ...

    Seat Belt Precautions
    Seat belts help to decrease the possibility of severe injury during accidents and sudden stops. Mazda recommends that the driver and all passengers always wear seat belts. All of the seat belt r ...

    Safety
    A solid list of safety features is the price of entry in the family sedan arena these days, and the Mazda6 has standard all-disc antilock brakes, side-impact airbags for the front seats, side curt ...