Food Fun Family

A family lifestyle blog about food, family, entertainment, travel and family-friendly products.

  • Home
  • Food
    • All Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Desserts
    • Side Dishes
    • Vegetarian dishes
    • Delicious Dishes Recipe Party
    • Recipe Round Ups
    • 15 Minute Suppers
    • Recipe Box
  • Family
    • Tips for Moms
    • Family life
    • Holidays & Celebrations
    • Savvy Living
  • Creative Life
    • Crafts + projects
    • DIY Bath & Body Products
    • Printables and Activity Sheets
    • Photography Tutorials
    • Give Me Your Best Shot – Photostory Friday
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Giveaways
    • Book Club
    • Movies
    • Printables and Activity Sheets
    • Blog prompts
  • About
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Advertise
    • Site Map – Find Your Way Around
  • Lollidale Goats
    • Our Does
You are here: Home / Reviews / 2013 Mazda5 Grand Touring Review

2013 Mazda5 Grand Touring Review

Monday, April 15, 2013 by Lolli Leave a Comment

When I drove the Mazda5 Grand Touring for the first time, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and turned to my daughter and commented that the car felt really familiar. A quick text confirmed that my sister owns a Mazda5…so we’ve had plenty of experience piling kids and bags into the back.

2013 mazda5 grand touring

So here’s the thing – I didn’t want to love the Mazda5. I thought it was too small. But by the end of the week I had fallen in love and didn’t want to give it back.

Looking at the outside of the car, it doesn’t look like a minivan (I suppose that’s a good thing for most people!). On the inside, it looks a little bit more like a minivan, but the legroom and cargo space in the back are quite limited.

My problem is that I tend to look at vehicles through my “mom of many kids” eyes. After driving the Mazda5 for a week and falling in love with the way it handled on the road, I started looking at it differently. Instead of looking at it as a standard minivan, I was able to see it as an incredible larger option for a family of 4.

2013 mazda5 grand touring

Our Mazda5 Grand Touring

Perfect car for a family of four

Take my sister as an example. The Mazda5 is a perfect car for herself, her husband, and their two girls. When it’s just the four of them, the girls have plenty of space in the middle row, and the back row of seats can be folded down for extra cargo space (44.4 cubic feet of storage space when third row seats are folded down). When they need to tow around a few extra friends or cousins, the back row of seats does the trick.

My favorite feature

The Mazda5 is insanely easy (and fun) to drive, but my favorite feature is the maneuverability. I have been driving for over 22 years – I’ve had plenty of opportunities over the years to parallel park, but until the week I drove the Mazda5, I dreaded parallel parking situations.

2013 mazda5 grand touring
As it happened, I had the Mazda5 through the week that my oldest daughter was in the hospital for an appendectomy and recovery, and there was a lot of back and forth driving between the hospital and home and the store. There was also an insane amount of parallel parking. I have never loved parallel parking so much. The Mazda5 zipped in and out of the parking spots, and I was literally exhilarated every time I made it into a tight space in just one try.

Another thing to love about the Mazda5 is the sticker price. The 2013 Mazda5 Grand Touring (the model that we drove) is priced at $24,470 – a great price for a family car with extra space. The two other models are priced even cheaper. The Mazda5 is not loaded with luxury features, but it has the RIGHT features – the features a small family needs.

2013 mazda5 grand touring

Would I buy the Mazda5 for my family? No. I wouldn’t recommend it for a family with more than 2 kids, even though there are technically 6 seats (I still have a hard time calling it a minivan). But I would highly recommend the Mazda5 for a family of four.

2013 mazda5 grand touring

2013 MAZDA5 specs

The following features are just a few of the things that come standard on the 2013 Mazda5:

    • Rear back-up sensors
    • 44.4 cubic feet of cargo space with the 50/50 split fold-down third row seatback
    • Convenient sliding rear doors and easy-access rear liftgate
    • Two-seat-per-row layout: Three rows. Six passengers
    • Second-row captain’s chairs recline for extra comfort and relaxation
    • Standard safety features: advanced front air bags, front side-impact air bags and side-impact air curtains for all three rows
    • New rear backup sensors on Touring and Grand Touring models
    • Automatic climate control with pollen filter standard
    • 2nd-row foldout table with dual cup holders and storage bin
    • 2nd-row under-seat storage
    • Cargo area under-floor storage

2013 mazda5 grand touring

  • Bluetooth® Phone & Audio Connectivity
  • 157-hp 2.5L DOHC engine with variable valve timing
  • 5-speed Sport AT
  • EPA-EST 22 city/28 Highway MPG with AT

2013 mazda5 grand touring

Note: I received a Mazda5 to drive for a week. No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

© 2013, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.

About Lolli

Lolli has written 3740 post in this blog.

I became a mom in 1996, and in 2005 I had my fifth. Yes, 5 kids. In 2007, this blog was born (my 6th baby that will never grow up) and I've been sharing recipes, photography tricks, parenting tips, and everything in between. (Formerly Better in Bulk)

  • View all posts by Lolli →
  • Blog
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: automotive reviews, car review, reviews

« Ham and Spinach Mini Quiche
Disneynature’s Wings of Life Review »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.