What was tested: 2012 Mazda5 Grand Touring ($23,875).
Options: Rear bumper guard ($50).
Price as tested (including $795 destination charge): $24,720.
Why buy it? It holds six people in a family-friendly layout like a minivan, but it's infused with the fun-to-drive Mazda spirit. The sliding doors and small size make it great for urban environments.
Why avoid it? You can get more practicality from a normal minivan and more fun from a sports sedan.
Mazda fans will tell you that the Mazda2, Mazda3 and Mazda6 are all four-door passenger cars that come in different sizes. The 2 is smallest and 6 is the biggest.
You'd think the 2012 Mazda5 would fall into the same vein, right? Well, Mazda is being tricky with this one. It has nothing whatsoever to do with those other Mazda numeral cars, for reasons we can only guess.
But it is, more than likely, one of the most interesting cars you've never heard of.
The Mazda5 is actually a pygmy minivan that's rarely seen in the wild. No other car company makes a vehicle quite like this one, and Mazda doesn't sell many of them. It's a rare species for a simple reason.
Most people who want a minivan will buy a minivan; most people who want a sedan will buy a sedan.
This odd Mazda slots precisely in between a sedan and minivan, though, and it's been redesigned as a 2012 model with better styling and a more enjoyable driving feel.
Just like a minivan, the back doors on the 2012 Mazda5 slide back instead of swinging open. It's an unusual feature on a car this size, but it makes sense for families and for people who frequently need to park in tight spaces
It has four bucket seats plus a third-row bench, which means it can hold six people. It's shaped like a minivan, with two sliding back doors, but it drives more like a sporty family sedan.
That means it's aimed at a very small segment of the car-buying population. For that tiny sliver of a demographic group - small families with an enthusiastic driver - the Mazda5 makes perfect sense.
It's close enough to the size and capability of a minivan that it works great for families with a couple of small kids. The bench seat in back would be cramped for adults and doesn't leave much room for cargo when it's up, but it's really useful when you need it in a pinch.
The cabin also has some minivan-like features, including second-row bucket seats with storage spaces hidden underneath them.
And the smaller size gives it several key advantages over the bigger, bulkier minivans. It gets better gas mileage - 28 mpg on the highway - and seems like it's designed for urban driving. Those sliding doors can be especially useful in tight parking spots where there's not much space to swing doors wide open.
Its best feature, though, is its driving feel.
Even though it looks square like a minivan, it's tuned like all Mazdas for a sporty ride. It's obvious from driving it that Mazda put a lot of thought into the suspension setup, steering weight and brake pedal feel. I've never gotten that impression from real minivans.
If you know you need a minivan soon but dread having to drive one, this could be a good option.
The downside is that the Mazda5 is just not as practical as a real minivan. You'll get a lot more space in a minivan, including a big area for cargo even when the third-row seat is filled with passengers. While it's about the same size as a Dodge Caravan from the 1980s, the Mazda5 feels tiny in comparison to today's Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna.
That's really what the Mazda5 is all about, though. If you want a shrunken minivan - a family-friendly design that's more fun and efficient - then it's your only option. It's in a class by itself.
RATINGS
Style: 6
Performance: 8
Price: 9
Handling: 9
Ride: 8
Comfort: 6
Quality: 7
Overall: 7.4
