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 On the upside, the 2011 lowers the taillights and eliminates the clear-lens-over-chrome style, which is outdated at best.

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    Front Seat Belt Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems
    For optimum protection, the driver and front passenger seat belts are equipped with pretensioner and load limiting systems. For both these systems to work properly you must wear the seat belt pro ...

    Exterior
    How could Mazda not get attention with a sedan this good-looking? My Sangria Red test car didn't necessarily draw stares, but it stood out when parked in my driveway on a suburban street. It looke ...

    Cabin environment - sense of oneness between car and driver
    Aboard the all-new Mazda 3 is a new Human Machine Interface that contributes to the sense of oneness between the car and driver. The cabin interior is designed to allow the driver to concentrate o ...