Mikee

Hi Guys,
After having sold the Cooper S to make way for a Mazda 3 to transport our baby boy we are now in the joyful position of finding it still too small!!! I have tried the "maybe we don't need this much crap" line of attack but got nowhere, turns out "this much crap" is nessecary. Mrs Mikee thinks differently to me (or anyone else). Also Mrs Mikee is keen to knock out baby 2 real soon.

So now having owned the Mazda 3 2.0 Sport we'd quite like to have a look at the Mazda 5 Sport (petrol or diesel)- same ***** and dials and suprisingly good ride and build quality. But thrown into the mix is the Focus C max (2.0 diesel Ghia preferably). Both cars are large enough for our carrying needs but which gets the bigger thumbs up? Our budget is 7k... I'm aware that won't get a very recent Mazda 5 but thats what we're working with.

Any help from you people is much appreciated.

RAJ27

Hi,

I thought the C-Max shared the same chassis/platform as the Mazda 3? Much the same car although no idea about the Mazda 5?

I suppose for reliability they would be similar, but the set up in the C- Max should be better for UK roads. Also the insurance might be cheaper and the dealer network would be more extensive with the Ford.

Depreciation...... probably be better off with the Mazda?

God that helped didn't it!!!? LOL

Drive them both and best of luck,


Jay

SimonD

We had a 2.0 5 Sport for a couple of years and thought the layout was fantastic. The sliding doors were outstanding, the extra row of seats were surprisingly useful - partly because you could fold the middle second row seat out of the way to allow kids to walk through to the back. Great for taking the out-laws out with the kids.

We got rid of it because it was such a a pain on long runs. It is a very noisy car. The engine vibrates and booms at high speed and the road noise is intrusive. The glove box is so big that there is very little legroom on the passenger side - a problem if you are tall and want a rest from driving on a long motorway run. There were recalls on the back-box (if it points down at the ground at an unlikely angle the recall has been done!), the sliding door latching mechanism and the suspension geometry. All four tyres on ours were illegal before the first service at 12k miles (we're pretty light on tyres too). The 17" tyres on the Sport were affected by this far more than the other models.

For me it was a "nearly" car. Great concept but some annoying details. Funnily enough I was looking at a few on-line this morning. I would have one again as a local run-about but not as an only car for long distance driving. Avoid the Sport model though. Personally I like the TS with the steel wheels and light interior but the TS2 is probably the best bet. Most of the good spec of the Sport without the oversized wheels and pimp tints. I seem to remember the 1.8 being a sweeter engine but that could be a rose tinted view following my annoyance with the 2.0.

Mikee

I think you're right Raj- although I don't know how they have magically found some extra space!

Simon- thanks for your thoughts. We will obviously be popping out to drive a few cars to get a better idea. Our Mazda 3 is also noisy at speed- to the point I thought it had a wheel bearing or something worn. It's very revvy too, over 3.5k @70mph in 5th.

If it were bigger I'd have no quarms about keeping it (Except fuel consumption). Our relatives are all in the South West so long runs will be fairly regular.

Thanks guys.

SimonD

Another thought - the 5 at least offers a significant advantage in terms of space and utility over the 3/Focus/C-Max. I wouldn't bother going through the hassle of a car change for the minimal advantages of the C-Max over the 3. These cars are based on the same platform so the noise issues will be there to some extent in all of them.
Have you considered the Corolla Verso? There is less space than the five but it is better put together.

Mikee

Biggest issue there Simon is budget- we are looking to get just over 6k for ours and don't really want to be adding more than a grand to the pot. I think the Toyota would be an expensive car. A friend of ours has one and loves it- he does has 3 kids though!

SimonD

There are a few around at dealers for between £7&8k which is roughly the same money as the cheapest fives (again through the dealer network).
I was surprised to see that Tourans are available much cheaper than this. They are a bit noisy too but have plenty of room and are better finished than the Mazdas.

Mikee

Haven't looked at Tourans yet but they are definately on the list.

£7k would be the upper limit of our spending. Anyone else wanna throw anything else into the mix? Have already written off Zafiras in that my bro is on his 3rd one and I've hated all 3! Poor build quality, ride and handling.

SimonD

I'll shut up after this but I'd go for:
2004 SUBARU Legacy 2.5i SE

AndyMoody

iTrader: (2)

My wife has a Honda Stream 2.0 SE Sport, that goes quite well.

salsa-king

you get loads of goodies with taht, just need a big roof spoiler

Mikee

You'll also get only 25MPG!!!

SimonD

Official average figure is ony 2mpg worse than a 2.0 Mazda 3.

Mikee

We want to head towards better not worse Simon! Nice idea though- scoobs were my first suggestion to mrs Mikee but running costs concerned her.

Mikee

Roadtesting/viewing an '06 C-Max 2.0 Tdci Ghia tomorrow... any hints or tips on what to look out for?

Mikee

Road tested the car- very impressed. Drives nice, sounds okay, pretty clean. Only real prob is that it hasn't been serviced since 2007...would you steer clear of it or go with it???