First Drive : Mazda Is Back in the Minivan Game With an All-New MPV
After a year off for relatively good behavior--actually, the company halted production to allow “down-selling,” which is dealer speak for deflating bloated inventories--the MPV is back in the family business, and Mazda is back in the minivan business.
And what a spry, happy, nifty little carter of seven souls and several hundred pounds of recreational and domestic clobber it is. This MPV shares nothing beyond its initials with the decade of Mazda vans that went before, which always showed promise but really failed to impress anyone.
The latest generation, which arrived in showrooms in July, has more power than its antecedents; offers a gaping 127 cubic feet of cargo space with rear seats removed or folded flat; steers tighter with reduced flapping topside; and, at a base price of $19,995 (based on the Earl Scheib system of illusionary pricing to within a fin below critical mass), is the least expensive comparably equipped minivan on the market.
That translates to about $500 cheaper than most and $2,500 better than some, and therein lies a solid argument for considering Mazda (currently out of intensive care and enjoying a mild sales recovery after four years of floundering off radar) if you are shopping for something smaller, sensible and smart among the competition of Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and Dodge Caravan.
Smaller? Visually, the 2000 MPV is no school bus. At 3,657 pounds it weighs about the same as a mid-size sedan, and it is actually half an inch shorter than the Mazda 626 sedan. It has a real hood and the definite lighter, less cumbersome look of the less sporting, less utilitarian wagons and SUVs. Such as the Subaru Legacy Outback or Honda CR-V.
Sensible? If only for measuring real-world family needs and resisting the expensive temptations of elephantine dimensions, all-wheel drive, all-wheel disc brakes and power sliding doors that are currently experiencing chronic difficulties, mechanical and social. Or haven’t you endured the thrill and chill of standing in the rain while a power side door was opening or closing at a creep?
Smart? With total concern for buyers small of biceps, Mazda has built seats weighing 37 pounds (compared to the average 50-pounders in competing brands) for easier removal when cargo room is required. Extraction is a snap and a click but without compromising the heftiness and security of the mounting. And the rear bench rotates and flips back to form a tailgate sofa-cum-porch swing perfect for picnics, nursing wounded soccer players and wondering where such a convenience was when drive-in movies meant so much to our lives?
Additional smarts: Second-row captain’s chairs adjust fore and aft and laterally to allow easier access to the rear. There are more cup holders than occupants, and that means three of your passengers will be two-fisted drinkers. The CD player (with a 180-watt, nine-speaker Panasonic sound system) allows six discs to be loaded into a single slot in the dash. Mazda asks you to think jukebox.
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MPVs offer a single type of engine--a 2.5-liter, 170-horsepower V-6--and come in three packaging flavors. First, the DX model with its $19,995 come-on price but also four-speed automatic transmission mounted uncomfortably on the steering column, power steering, air conditioning, AM-FM radio with CD player, tilt steering wheel and rear wiper.
The MPV LX costs $22,040 and includes an anti-lock braking system, power windows up front and on the sliding doors, cruise control, Ray-Ban privacy glass and height adjustment for the driver’s seat.
Top of the totem pole is the MPV ES at $24,540--still the mini-priced of all top-of-the-line imported minivans--and certainly built to the luxury levels of Chrysler’s Town & Country with quality leather seating, wood trim (albeit faux), air conditioning for rear-seat riders, side air bags, key-less entry plus systems immobilizer and that over-amped jukebox.
Externally, with its five-bar, chrome-rimmed grille and multi-reflector headlights that twinkle, the MPV has the look of a warm friend with money. There’s the same feel to an interior that, with its flowing, contemporary dashboard, gives some idea of what a Lexus-built minivan might look like.
The V-6 isn’t rich with urge and has a tendency to protest and snatch at the gears if asked to accelerate with any degree of vigor. And that was with just two people on board. Performance with seven people, with baggage and at campsite altitudes, is something that should be examined closely. Steering is balanced, the turn-in far from mushy, but the seats could be a little more supportive.
Doors, although large, are nicely weighted and operate easily. So does the tailgate, which opens high enough to avoid noggin knots.
For suburban puttering, as a weekend carrier of African daisies from the local nursery, this is a perfectly fine minivan. Although not an enthusiast of many vehicles more than 5 feet high, I found that the 2000 MPV observed Dean’s Law. Which states: After driving a vehicle all day, would you want to find it in your driveway the next morning?
We wouldn’t mind. We just wouldn’t arm-wrestle Mrs. Dean for the keys.
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Paul Dean can be reached at paul.dean@latimes.com.
