Minivan vs mini-minivan

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 11/29/2016 at 19:48 • Filed to: None

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Whilst not as dramatic as some of the pics on the Mini wagon article or the Mustang/911 comparison, it’s still striking how small the Mazda5 is in comparison to the usual suspects in the minivan class:

Yes, that is an Oppo sticker. The ‘Save the Manuals’ sticker was peeling up at the edges and so it was reluctantly removed; I’ll need to find another one.

dogisbadob > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 19:52

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The 5 and Rondo are awesome!

duurtlang > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 19:52

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More like minivan versus giant minivan. Or, you know, minivan versus van.

mcseanerson > dogisbadob 11/29/2016 at 19:53

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I love the 5 and the Rondo but they both freak my wife out by how small they are.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > duurtlang 11/29/2016 at 19:54

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I’d like to see how the dimensions of the Mazda5 compare to a 1st/2nd generation Caravan/Voyager. Given the lack of legroom when the 3rd row is up in the 5, I’d venture to guess that the Chrysler product is probably a little roomier.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > mcseanerson 11/29/2016 at 19:57

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Taking a lesson from the world of real estate, they’re ‘cozy’, not small. That being said, I adjust the passenger seat in mine so that I can use the armrest on the passenger seat rather than use the one attached to the driver’s seat.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 20:02

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Mazda 5: 181" L x 69" W x 64" H

1st Generation Dodge Caravan: 175.9" L x 69.5" W x 64.4" H

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 20:22

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Every time I get a rental minivan it feels like I’m piloting a 3-D parking spot around. It’s like those people who buy parking spots in Japan and build houses in them, only it has wheels.

facw > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 20:30

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The real problem here is that you are comparing an MPV to a mini-van.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > facw 11/29/2016 at 20:51

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OK, which is which? Is this like the SAV/SUV/CUV question? In many buyer’s guides and similar documents the 5 is lumped in with wagons rather than minivans despite the 3rd row and sliding doors.

facw > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 21:03

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The 5 is an intermediate sized MPV (Wikipedia actually lists it as a compact MPV, but that seems a bit of stretch to me, while mini-vans would be considered large MPVs). I’m guessing they put the 5 with wagons because it is clearly smaller than a “normal” minivan, and because we don’t really have MPVs here (The Ford C-Max is a genuine compact SUV, but there’s really nothing else), so there’d be nothing to compare it to.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/29/2016 at 21:09

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BigBlock440 > duurtlang 11/29/2016 at 21:19

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Or Microvan vs Minivan, full-size vans are still bigger.

bhtooefr > facw 11/29/2016 at 21:50

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Although the 5 is really just a Grand C-Max, which is the long version of the C-Max.

We do also have the Prius v, and it’s worth noting that MPV doesn’t require sliding doors in Europe, AFAIK.

bhtooefr > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 11/29/2016 at 21:54

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Worth noting that per allpar, the 1984 Caravans had 38.3/36.1" legroom, but I’m not sure what third-row legroom was. 2015 Mazda5 is 40.7/39.4/30.5.

However, not sure how meaningful that is, so...

facw > bhtooefr 11/29/2016 at 22:16

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I think the 2nd Gen 5 shared a platform with the C-Max (also with the Focus, 3, and S40), but the most recent one is back to being its own thing?

And yeah, sliding doors are not an MPV requirement, and indeed are rare, even a large MPV, like the Ford Galaxy, which is obviously a mini-van doesn’t have them:

bhtooefr > facw 11/29/2016 at 22:47

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Looking through things, I’m finding a lot of chassis parts that date back to the previous generation. As far as I can tell, the 2012 Mazda5 is really just a refresh of the ~2005 Mazda5, just like how the 2009 Mazda3 is really just a refresh of the 2004.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 11/30/2016 at 01:13

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Wow - that’s closer than I expected...

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > bhtooefr 11/30/2016 at 01:17

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I think that you’re spot on. Although I haven’t looked at parts lists or anything technical, I can see a lot of similarities in the greenhouse, especially around the third row windows.