![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The New Wheels
Nov. 9th, 2009 11:18 amAs a few of you know, we've been looking for a smaller car for the last year and have been test driving and researching various models. I wanted something smaller than a minivan, hopefully with European styling and MPV utilities such as space and comfort.
The challenges:
A couple of years old, so not brand new, preferably under $15000.
We needed something that sat 4 people comfortably, with room for our dogs.
I wanted a wagon of some sorts, without the narrowing down at the roof-level of so many of that type.
Josh wanted something that was a bit truck-like and not so 'station wagy".
I needed something that handled wet roads (duh) well and had spunk.
Sliding back doors, both sides. (I'm so very tired of walking around to open the passenger side then crawling in to grab something behind the driver's seat)
Dealer's willingness to take Brunhilde in trade.
Individual seats in the back row.
This weekend we hit several auto places and found the perfect car for us. The 2007 Mazda5 (aka Prevacy) in Galaxy Gray (which is a sort of graphite gray until the sun hits it, then you can see the lilac undertones). If you check it out on the Wikipedia site, it's the color shown in the 2nd generation pictures. I'll post pictures tonight. :)
She's a lot of fun, very zippy - the Zoom, Zoom! ad campaign is absolutely spot on. The Mazda5 is a tall wagon, so lots of room in the trunk/back when you pop the third row seating down. We got an automatic, with sports-mode manual shifting which I don't really think we'll use except when on the freeway. We've managed to buy seat covers for the front seats - black with sun/moon celestial motif but had to order covers for the rear rows.
Right now, I'm calling her Mica but it will take awhile for her to let us know what her name is.
The challenges:
A couple of years old, so not brand new, preferably under $15000.
We needed something that sat 4 people comfortably, with room for our dogs.
I wanted a wagon of some sorts, without the narrowing down at the roof-level of so many of that type.
Josh wanted something that was a bit truck-like and not so 'station wagy".
I needed something that handled wet roads (duh) well and had spunk.
Sliding back doors, both sides. (I'm so very tired of walking around to open the passenger side then crawling in to grab something behind the driver's seat)
Dealer's willingness to take Brunhilde in trade.
Individual seats in the back row.
This weekend we hit several auto places and found the perfect car for us. The 2007 Mazda5 (aka Prevacy) in Galaxy Gray (which is a sort of graphite gray until the sun hits it, then you can see the lilac undertones). If you check it out on the Wikipedia site, it's the color shown in the 2nd generation pictures. I'll post pictures tonight. :)
She's a lot of fun, very zippy - the Zoom, Zoom! ad campaign is absolutely spot on. The Mazda5 is a tall wagon, so lots of room in the trunk/back when you pop the third row seating down. We got an automatic, with sports-mode manual shifting which I don't really think we'll use except when on the freeway. We've managed to buy seat covers for the front seats - black with sun/moon celestial motif but had to order covers for the rear rows.
Right now, I'm calling her Mica but it will take awhile for her to let us know what her name is.
