This week's car: Mazda 5

I've been wanting to try out a Mazda for some time now. I've been generally impressed with the styling, Tom and Ray over at cartalk have said that the reliability is good, and even the tough crowd at TopGear liked the three Mazda models they tested (the MX-5, RX-8, and Mazda 6).

So I was kind of excited when I saw a Mazda on the rental car lot when I flew in this morning. I'm not sure how to describe it except as a shrunken minivan. A microvan? Here are my thoughts so far:

The good:
1) The steering is nice and tight. There's almost no play in the steering wheel.
2) Plenty of low-end torque. Enough that I accidentally broke one wheel loose when I left my first traffic light. However, this relates to Bad #1 and #2.
3) Wind noise is very low. But see Bad #3.
4) The rear doors are power-assist sliding doors, but you don't have to use that feature--you can slide them shut yourself if you're in a hurry. That gives it an advantage over my wife's Honda Odyssey.
5) The sound system is just fine. No complaints there.
6) Automatic climate control. I like it.
7) Excellent forward visibility.
8) Handling is very good. Smooth but sharp. At least compared to other cars I've tested.
9) The key and the remote are in one package, and the key flips out of the package like a switchblade. On most other cars, you either have the key separate from the remote (putting more things on your keychain), or the remote is integrated into the top of the key (giving you a key that might not make it through airport security). I like the way Mazda have handled the problem.
10) Fit and finish is very good. I haven't seen (or heard) anything in the car that's loose, rattling, creaky, or poorly-fit.

The bad:
1) The gas and brake are a bit touchy. You've got to have a sensitive touch to make a smooth start from a standstill.
2) Torque steer. And lots of it. Yeah, the first time I pulled away from a traffic light, I just about lost my grip on the steering wheel because of the sheer amount of torque steer.
3) Road noise. Holy cow, this thing lets through more road noise than the horrible Pontiac Vibe.
4) As seems to be typical of 5-door vehicles, the visibility off the rear corners is horrible.
5) Flooring the gas pedal on the highway gives just as much delay as I saw last week with the Aura. I think the car is switching down one gear at a time, which accounts for the enormous wait.
6) In many ways, this car has all the disadvantages of a minivan without any of the benefits. It has three rows of seats (making it larger, uglier, slower, etc), but the back seats have very little legroom, and you have to be a gymnast to get to them. Only kids can use the second and third rows of seats comfortably. This car is marketed as a 5-door, 6-passenger car, but practically, it's a four-passenger hatchback.

And the miscellaneous:
1) The front seats are close together like a sedan, but have individual arm rests like a minivan. I think the traditional sedan approach, with a taller center console/storage compartment/armrest would have been a better approach, but I'm nitpicking here.
2) The particular car I have is black with a black interior. Not the greatest thing to drive around in sunny SoCal when the temperature is near or over 100F.
3) There's a multifunction display on the center top of the dash which displays information for both the stereo and the climate control system. While it works just fine, it takes some getting used to, and doesn't match (stylistically) with the rest of the console.

Overall: I really wanted to like this car. And there's a lot to like. But this car is an oddity. Often, you'll see "good concept, poor execution"--like the Vibe and the Aura. This car is a (mostly) brilliant execution of a poor concept.