I was in a car accident and my company vehicle a Mazda Protege5 was destroyed. I am fine but the car is no longer with us. I am shopping a vehicle with good gas mileage, decent cargo capacity, fun to drive. I have narrowed it down to the Mazda5 and the Element. I will be honest I can pick up a Mazda5 5speed sport for 16,890.00 it is hard to pass up but will listen to other suggestions or comments on either vehicle.

pic of crashed p-5

 

Get the Mazda. Better handling car. Plus, you might want to pick up the recent issue of C&D. They did a comparo and the Element came last. They universally panned the car for its awkward driving dynamics and the silly things you have to do just to open the rear doors.

 

Isn't there a Subaru Forrester with a 230hp WRX engine? I'd take a good look at that, frumpy styling aside.

 

Well if you want to open up that can of worms.... We can talk about a ton of cars. But it looks like he wants to keep it under 20k based on the two cars listed. You can't get a base non-turbo forester for that much.

 

We had an element for 50k miles. The car drives more like an accord than an SUV, but with significantly poorer gas mileage.

I do miss it every now and then though.. especially when hauling large items (TV's, Ikea, snowboards, MTB's), but this was rare and too far inbetween to justify owning the Elephant.

Check out the silverstone element if youre seriously considering one.

 

Drive them both.. I have and would not buy an Element but thought the 5 was really good.

 

exactly

 

We love our element, but with only two people plus our animals it makes great sense. Having said that it looks like you have kids from your avatar so the mazda is a much better bet.

The doors really are a pain in the butt if you are constantly dropping people off or picking them up. If you are not then its great, your dog can jump in to the back of the element covered in sand and water from the beach and a few paper towels and a rags swipe later the car is clean.

 

Charlie, your talking new MAZDA 5 correct? As in mini-van 5 (not 5-door Mazda 3).

I do not know a lot about the 5 but my parents have an 04 Element EX and I've driven it quite a bit. My family has a cabin in northwoods Wisc and it seems that until I got the Ridge last month, the Element was the extended family's utility vehicle to and fro. That meant city/HWY/country road/rough gravel&dirt road to cabin. Here is my assesment:

Good:
-Tight susp/tight engine very Accord-like, nimble
-Excellent interior quality esp the unique rugged fabric seats
-plenty of interior room for 4 adults (I'm 6-3 and I've rode back-seat for 4hours+)
-Double roof openings are nice touch
-large square "cube" for cargo bay when rear seats are flipped
-4wd model is decent in snow..its not a Landrover but for $20K you get 4wd on-demand that actually does keep you out of trouble. A good set of Blizzaks would turn this thing into a real snow-mobile.
-for $20K you get H quality and a great utility vehicle. With the proven Accord 4-cyl, the Element will run for years.

Bad
-only 4 bucket seats (middle of back seat row is not a seat)
-interior is love it or hate it
-exterior is love it or hate it (2006 models have less-plastic option that adds to its "sharp-ness")
-driving position (read: bus) is somewhat awkward but I'm used to it
-yes, the goofy door config is cumbersome if your going to carry 4 adults often

 

I really like the new Mazda5. It's shocked me how much fun I had driving it. The seats are nice, plenty of room in the back seat and the doors are a breeze. While I am a fan of the Element and wouldn't mind having one I like the 5 better.

BTW, the dealers in this area will not order a manual Mazda5 and I really want to drive one. How do you like the way it drives? That price also sounds really good to me.