mazda5 racing / autoX?
 

hi there, new to the forums. i've been considering the mazda5 as my next car, possibly purchasing it by the end of this year. while it's a little more than a mommy-mobile, most of the reviews i've read about the 5 say that it's got quite a bit of pep to it, so it stays true to the "zoom-zoom" credo.

that being said, i came across this vid yesterday: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zU4paH8qcQ8

found out that the 5 is called the Premacy in japan, and from the looks of the vid, keiichi tsuchiya is piloting it. quite a run against a honda stream/fit, an odyssey, and a mazda mpv.

and that got me thinking: are there any companies or people considering/building the 5 for racing/autocrossing applications? bit of a silly question, but worth considering since it's built on the mazda3 platform.

The mazda 5 is a good car/van with a good amount of pep. If you are planning on it being a daily driver with the kids, and all that stuff, then it is great, but by the time you spend the money to make it more autoX suitable you are going to get close to the SPEED3 (which is a hatch/wagon/5door or whatever else you want to call it) price range. If it is going to be a daily driver with no kids, and for autoX etc..., I would just spend the extra $4000 and get a MAZDASPEED3, it includes the good little naughty bits for racing and autoX right out of the box. I myself am 6'2 and fit very comfortably in my protege' 5, but have driven many Mazda 3's. Either way you go, you'll get a good and reliable car, but not many people at an autoX event are going to have a Mazda 5 I'll grant you that.

hey, im new to, how do these engines stand up with forced induction(turbos or superchargers)?

IIRC Premacy and Mazda 5 seem to co exist - At least in Europe. I think there you can also get the 5 without the third row of seats. At least this is waht I noticed on a trip a few weeks ago.

Patrick