When you ask for family car recommendations from your average car buying public, the typical recommendations are usually crossovers and SUVs since they are deemed a lot cooler and their not the family vehicle our parents had. The 60s brought the era of big station wagons, the 70s for full-size vans, the 80s for minivans and the 90s for SUVs. The most recent trend for family vehicle is the crossover, a vehicle that blends the car-like ride quality that minivans brought with the rugged looks and high ride height of SUVs.
However, as a car enthusiast that enjoys spirited driving, crossovers and minivans lack the driving dynamics offered by a small car. On the other hand, small cars lack the space of a crossover and the practicality of sliding doors on a minivan. Mazda thought it had the answer for the requirements mentioned above when it debuted the 5 back in 2006. The Mazda 5 is essentially a Mazda 3 that was longer and taller with sliding doors, but retained the zoom-zoom Mazda spirit.
Unlike your typical crossover or minivan, the Mazda 5 offers a good ole-fashion row-your-own manual gearbox. The first generation had a 5-speed while the current second generation, which debuted for the 2012 model year, has a 6-speed. Journalists loved the 5’s fun driving dynamics and available 6-speed, but the car simply did not resonate well with the American car buying public.
Nevertheless, it’s a car that makes perfect sense for a family of four that wants to step up from a compact car without losing the fun-factor while gaining a little more space and the amazingly practical sliding doors. It’s a utilitarian vehicle that doesn’t exactly portray sexy or cool, nor does it have the latest tech gadgets, but it’s a practical vehicle at a good price point. So we bought a 2014 Mazda 5 Sport with the 6-speed manual to use as a project car to spice things up visually and give it some tech upgrades that brings it up to par with modern compact cars.
When we brought the car home, it was pretty basic with cloth seats, 16-inch alloy wheels and a six-speaker stereo. There isn’t even factory window tint either, so we negotiated a 20-percent all around tint job as part of the car’s purchase price.
The most technologically advanced amenity in the car is a USB port for the stereo, there wasn’t even Bluetooth. We didn’t keep the car stock for very long and immediately began installing interior upgrades to bring the car technologically up to date.
The first thing installed was an integrated Qi wireless phone charger to charge our Nexus 5 smartphone. We simply dismantled a micro USB ADATA Elite CE700 wireless charging stand and hot glued it beneath the storage pocket below the shifter. A standard hardwired micro USB charger was sourced from EDOTECH Supply to power the wireless charger.
While the factory stereo was sufficient for basic music playback, a navigation system upgrade was a must. For that task we sourced Sony for a XAV-602BT double din head unit and matching TomTom navigation upgrade. The combination gave us an intuitive TomTom navigation system, Pandora Internet radio compatibility, Bluetooth hands free with audio streaming, greater audio tuning capabilities, DVD playback, a 6.1-inch touchscreen LCD and MirrorLink compatibility.
Backup Camera
We also installed a back-up camera to help see any potential obstacles behind us. Since we didn’t want to run a composite cable through the rear tailgate of the car, we opted to use an Audiovox wireless RCA video transmitter with a back-up camera designed specifically for the Mazda5. The back-up camera clips onto the license plate light and gives the installation an OEM-esque appearance.
Next up is a hard-wired dashcam from Papago. We opted to use a GoSafe WiFi due to its small size, lack of display and standard mini-USB port that makes it much easier to hardwire and conceal behind the rear view mirror. We used another EDOTECH supply hard-wired mini USB connector for the task as well.
Dash Camera
Lastly we addressed the lack of a rear seat entertainment system for the kids. Mazda offers a flip-down DVD player for around $1000 USD, but we wanted something that had better functionality that delivered a better bang for the buck. So instead of going with the traditional flip-down or headrest DVD systems, we simply repurposed an old iPad 2 for car duty. As safety is a major concern, we picked up a Scosche backSTAGE pro II headrest mount that’s been crash tested, charges the iPad and can output to IR headphones. The iPad mount was hard wired into the car and the power cable hidden in the seat.
That’s a start for our Mazda 5 project car right now. We have many other plans for the car including a set of Mazdaspeed 3 wheels painted with graphite gray plastidip, Megan Racing coilovers, ECU tuning via OrangeVirus tuning using MazdaEdit and a Tactrix OpenPort cable, a complete stereo makeover from Alpine and a Blind-spot monitor system from Gosher’s. Further down the road, we’d like to turbocharge the 2.5-liter MZR motor, install heated and cooled leather seats, thicker front and rear sway bars, a big brake kit, side skirts and spoiler from the higher trim models, and either the Nissan Lafesta Highway Star or Autoexe front fascia.
If you want to read more details on the first round of mods, check out the detailed write up at Tom’s Hardware – Mazda 5 Technology Project.
See Mazda 5 Mazda Cars and Trucks for sale on eBay.
