failboat's family truckster (08 Mazda5 GT)

I recently picked up this 2008 Mazda5 GT for DD Duty.

Its replacing a 2009 Hyundai Accent SE. Nothing wrong with the Accent but we have a little girl on the way and I wanted something bigger and more practical. I was also tired of the "Cheapest car in America" (in its time) interior after 5 years.

I know the GRM move is to get the Mazda5 with a stick but I had enough of base model trim-itis. I am more than happy with the 5 speed auto + leather and heated seats, hid's and led taillights and such.

No really huge plans for the 5, but I cant leave anything completely stock, so a bit of lowering and some different wheels are certainly in order, and some other things.

Its still cold out, and I've only had the van a few weeks. For now it will remain stock while I get a feel for what it needs and to monitor tire wear before making bigger changes.

It has 80k miles but new tires and new brakes. Runs down the road smooth and straight. Ive noticed some slight clunks up front on some really cold mornings (and they are worse the colder it is) and after a little digging around on mazdas247, I think its the sway bar bushings which seem like they are a maintenance item. Also get a little bit of a vibration at idle at stoplights sometimes, so I'll have to inspect the motor mounts which are also common to replace.

For now, I've done what any self respecting, responsible, (soon to be) family man knows in their heart. Accept that I'm all about dat Grocery Life.

Now I need to find my faded GRM license plate frame and paint the GRM logo gold.

Over the weekend we were out looking at baby stuff, and came across a carseat that matched the 5. I convinced my wife that not getting this exact seat would be a mistake. (Well we WERE specifically looking for a Graco Click Connect seat anyways..) It literally matches the green and tan exactly. The little perforated cloth padding even sorta looks like the perforated leather seats.

Where to find that Grocery Life decal?

Nice 5. They have a few negatives to be sure, but they're much more fun to drive than any Minivan.

you can order the decals and stuff here
http://grocerylife.bigcartel.com/

Yes I am finding a few little things that annoy me. But otherwise I still think its a huge improvement over my old car. With only 1 kid I think it will be a good size for us.

MPG so far has been 29, 24, and 27.5 on the first 3 tanks. super cold temps and high winds all week for the lower tank. my commute is all highway with few traffic lights and not that high of speeds so I think 30 is certainly attainable once it starts warming up.

That's a nice sticker you have there. Wonder who designed that?

I'll be watching, springs, sways and an ECM change next, right? Lol.

35% tint is imminent. Once it stops snowing once or twice a week and starts warming up it'll be time to take a closer look at everything underneath. Inspecting suspension components and fluid changes and all that.

Springs first, I am considering the Mazda5 Megan springs since I was satisfied with them on the Accent, even after 100k miles. It seems most of the Mazda5 crowd steers clear of them and go with H&R, maybe out of unfounded fear as far as I can tell. I think they sit a little lower than H&R so if I find I need to be replacing struts/shocks, I see there are KYB gas-a-justs available for the rear and GR-2 or excel G's for the front. Also with lower I'll probably have to go with the mazdaspeed rear camber arms to correct the camber from what I am reading.

Yes there are Koni's but I am trying to be budget minded so SWMBO doesnt complain, she has at least already accepted that there are things I am going to change. She even offered to take my new tires and put them on her focus so I could order new ones for my Enkei's. Unfortunately the tires are a bit too small for her car I think. Her car needs tires soon so my rims might not make it on the 5 till next spring or something. Dagger.

JBR rear swaybar eventually, or maybe some used takeoff from someone in the Mazda3 crowd if those fit.

VIP style puddle lights maybe later????

Do yourself a favor and carry a gallon of milk around in that car seat for a while. Put it in and out of the car a hundred times. I was not a fan of the straight-handle design. I went with the Baby Trend with the triangle handle. WAY more options for carrying and adjusting your grip with less fatigue and strain on the wrist. Highly recommended.

Thats a good idea about the gallon of liquid. I get what you mean, I was looking for one with the handle thats turned about 90 degrees in the middle. We were in a baby store for cryin out loud and at a glance it appeared none of the seats had a handle like that. I guess I better start working on my arm curls.

For better or for worse we specifically were trying to get a Graco because my sister and mom already have the Graco seat bases. And I can get the most modestly priced click connect stroller that the seat pops into for $25 all day long on craigslist.

Weather finally starting to warm up here this week, just by watching the gauge and the mileage it is obvious that fuel economy has improved. The past few (cold and snowy) weeks have been 25-27mpg average or so. Will see today what this last tank was but I am anticipating 28+.

Unfortunately...the warmer weather has brought out some occasional creaking from the rear suspension.

pinchvalve wrote: Do yourself a favor and carry a gallon of milk around in that car seat for a while. Put it in and out of the car a hundred times. I was not a fan of the straight-handle design. I went with the Baby Trend with the triangle handle. WAY more options for carrying and adjusting your grip with less fatigue and strain on the wrist. Highly recommended.

I went with the "sorry honey, I have to work overtime so you need to use the chair you wanted"...

:P

the chico setup we did had a stroller, so we just had to lift the seat out and into the stroller... click, done.

Lately auto related spending has been limited to mostly maintenance items. Front brakes for the Accent, Brakes and tires all around for my wifes Focus. I did get some new moog swaybar bushings for the Mazda but its kinda cold and windy out today so I'll wait for a warmer evening to install.

I did get some fancy new lugnuts for the Mazda. I was itching to do a quick test fit of the wheels I bought last summer. I went with gorilla lugnuts because price. Bling bling, ya'll.

also aside from the super high ride height, I am pleased with the proposed wheel fitment. Also had 35% tint all around done yesterday.

The mad tyte jdm license plate frame is being replaced with a faded GRM plate frame that I am breathing some new life into. I'll wait till my new vanity plates arrive from the DMV to show that off.

Nothing much new the past couple months. Getting 28-29 mpg on the reg. Ordered Megan Racing lowering springs this morning and some moog camber bolts for the rear camber arm to give a little adjustability. Baby due in 2 weeks!!

While I had the van up and test fitting the new wheels, I noticed one was pretty grimy on the inside, but didnt think much of it. A week or two later when putting in new swaybar bushings, I noticed it again but that the other 3 wheels were clean. Turns out the passenger front axle is flinging grease from the outer CV boot. No noticable tear in the boot, but will probably replace the axle when I swap the springs so I dont have to worry about it.

Go figure, maybe 9k miles now since we bought the van, the super premium high quality Velozza tires are wearing quicker on the inside all around and getting noisy and having an occasional vibration around 55 mph. Did oil change at 5k and swapped tires side to side since that is what I'll have to do with the new wheel & tire setup, didnt really help. Need alignment checked but I don't want to pay for that twice so might as well get the lowering out of the way first.

Also brought home my old wagon a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure my 'rents bought me this new when i was a kid. I rode and pulled this wagon everywhere. This will get modded a bit, lowered, spoked radio flyer trike wheels on the front, maybe paint the rears to look like cragar style wheels since they have the spokes indented on them already. some mild tidying up and some clearcoat for patina preservation, possibly a laminate hardwood floor since I have some scrap leftover from the house. May try to get our daughters name pinstriped across the back at a local hot rod show in October

been a while since an update. haven't made any changes to the van until this week. this awesome little girl has been taking up my time lately and that's okay.

last week i tinted the foglights yellow and today replaced the axle and installed springs with my brother in law. this is lower than my accent was, i have to drive up on blocks to get the jack under the van. also have to build ramps to drive up on the ramps for oil changes. must be the lighting in the photo because my paint is not mismatched like that. i think i want to plastidip the oem wheels white.

since you own one, any chance three child seats would fit in it?

I was just talking to my sister in law about that today. The seats will fit. Her sister had a 5 and they loved it but when they had 3 kids in carseats it was hard/impossible to get to the back seat. They actually unloaded one kid from the trunk. They ended up moving up to a bigger minivan.

Having taken a 6 hour road trip with just our family of 3 this summer, it was a little cozy with just the 3 of us but part of that was having to bring so much baby stuff. like a small swing and bassinet. rear seats folded down of course. I think its probably a good vehicle for a family of 4, maybe more if your kids can buckle themselves in. but with the back seats up you have subcompact car size "trunk" space.

Whoa. That thing looks amazing on the ground like that. Also, your kid is freaking cute.

Wife uses her mustang gt right now as a daily so.. yeah. we have a second boy on the way so now she's talking three... Long trips would be in my f150 but for daily to the daycare use etc we are looking at teh focus/mazda3.

its not tough to get the infant seat in my wife's focus but it is easier to get it into the 5. sliding doors are where its at.

mndsm wrote: Whoa. That thing looks amazing on the ground like that. Also, your kid is freaking cute.

Thank you sir. On both counts.

Wow, that looks great. I have H&Rs and wish they were that low.

Awesome looking van.

The poor wearing front tires are wearing even worse now....just about bald on the inside. I'm a little worried they will be near cording by the time I can get it aligned at the end of the week..

Really tempted to just order the tires for the enkei's now so I can have them mounted when it gets aligned.

sure enough the van was toed out like crazy all around. now we are toed in up front and just a little in the rear. did not make any camber modifications/adjustments on either end. I didnt end up installing the camber bolts in the rear based upon a wheel test fit last weekend. so i am between -1.0 and -1.2 camber front and -1.8 and -2.0 rear.

That is a cool ass van.

Dude. Dude. Slaying it.