Behold! The Millenium Falcon! (Mazda5 content)

jrw1621 wrote: If it were 5 vehicles it could be known as The Pentaverate.

hehe... i love that movie.

tuna55 wrote:

FlightService wrote: I do this quite frequently for members of the Grassroots Motorsports forum and would gladly save any of you thousands when purchasing your next vehicle!

Wow! Thanks!

Creative editing there...Maybe for a discount once the site is up

I have had a few people as about my Mazda5. My wife isn't ready to jump just yet, but when she does I will post it here.

Thanks for the interest.

I bought one also, I got a 2012 with a 6spd. 900 miles on it so far but I am really enjoying it.

Any updates with yours?

chandlerGTi wrote: I bought one also, I got a 2012 with a 6spd. 900 miles on it so far but I am really enjoying it. Any updates with yours?

Oooh, nice! How's the 6-Speed?

Mine's still doing great! Going in for snow tires tomorrow, actually.

The six speed is very nice. Great action.

Last weekend was the first time we put 6 people into out 5.
We went to a minor league hockey game with another couple so it was 2 guys in the front, 2 wives in the middle and a 13yr old and 8 year old with booster seat in the way-back. Everyone was comfortable for the 1 hr trip with zero complaining. Considering the 800+lb human payload, I was still happy with the acceleration and drive-ability.
There was zero room for luggage or much else but there was a dvd and DS game system brought for kid entertainment.
My favorite feature on our low trim sport model is the standard climate control style hvac. Not once on that trip did I hear comments of too hot or too cold.

Time for some updates:

Snow shoes

The winters here can amount to snow, sometimes even a lot of it. Since the Falcon came equipped with Toyo T1-R’s, which are a very nice summer tire, and it was getting to be November, I switched them out for a brand new set of Hankook I-Pike’s in the original size. The new tires are actual winter tires and have performed superbly in the snow, sleet, and rain since their installation.

Boy am I glad I did that!

Thankfully it was a SMART idea to get the snow tires on! We had a very mild winter last year, but this year has been pretty crazy. The 5 handles the snow great with the new tires (and e-brake slides like a champ in the deserted parking lots!)

She rolled over 80,000 miles yesterday. Hopefully I'll have a chance to change the oil today. Have some other maintenance to do too, so stay tuned.

Aaaand, I'm off to CL to look for a 5 again.

Quick oil changes!

The 5 came up for it’s second oil change under my ownership and being familiar with it now I was able to knock it out in under 20 minutes start to finish. Nice! The cartridge filter makes an ungodly mess, but at least it doesn’t drip onto suspension parts or anything like that. And YES the van is on jackstands, you can see the foot of one behind the passenger tire. I never work under cars without them.

Dammit!!

The Falcon took some damage, and unfortunately it wasn’t while doing something cool like fighting the Death Star. A kid in an uninsured fox Mustang backed into me in a parking lot then took off. Luckily the cops brought him back, the damage was only cosmetic, and I have uninsured motorist coverage on our policy.

All fixed (well, mostly fixed)

After being quoted some insane numbers to fix the 5’s damage, I decided to fix it myself. I ordered a used bumper from LKQ in the same color and ripped my old one off. The physical bumper doesn’t wrap around, just the cover, so I had absolutely no damage behind the cover. The metal quarter panel did take a bump, so I hammer and dollied it back out and polished the scratches. The new bumper cover was a perfect match and bolted right on. There’s still a tiny crease in the quarter, but it just adds to the character of the already scratched-and-dented Falcon. Besides, I saved $1000 in labor costs.

Javelin wrote: Quick oil changes! The 5 came up for it’s second oil change under my ownership and being familiar with it now I was able to knock it out in under 20 minutes start to finish. Nice! The cartridge filter makes an ungodly mess, but at least it doesn’t drip onto suspension parts or anything like that.

i had the joy of doing this job the other day. not my favorite thing about the car.

in other news, i figured out why i haven't been warming up to these even though they check a lot of boxes for me: It's because my neighbors have one. Besides not having much respect for them personally, they don't know a damn thing about cars (recently bought their daughter a haggard '96 neon for THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS). In short, it's kind of like how you can never name your kid that one name because you associate it with a particular person in your past.

and i resent that you refer to it as the millennium falcon, since it does not look like a piece of crap and it's not fast. i should probably keep that to myself but i think it's also a factor so i'm airing it.

belteshazzar wrote: and i resent that you refer to it as the millennium falcon, since it does not look like a piece of crap and it's not fast. i should probably keep that to myself but i think it's also a factor so i'm airing it.

Trust me, it does look like a piece of crap. It has two giant puntcure-type dents in the hood, the crease in the quarter, and a gunshot-looking wound in the tailgate and has numerous road scrapes, rock hits, and door dings.

As for the fast, I'm working on it. Suspension changes are afoot

Ours is just about to roll 100k with no problems. I changed out the plugs about 10k ago and did the motor mount. I don't get a big mess when I do my oil changes, I usually pull the plug on the cartridge before unscrewing the cartridge itself. Ours needs new floor mats, new front rotors (due to SWMBO induced warpage), and some buffing. It's been a perfect vehicle for our needs.

Javelin wrote: As for the fast, I'm working on it. Suspension changes are afoot

Koni FSDs are a great deal on Tire Rack right now. I'm trying to convince my mom she needs a set .

Nice job on the arch repair. Totally does NOT look like it's been DIYed.

In reply to Jay:

Well the bumper turned out nice, but the actual metal arch is still pretty fubar'd. The 5's dented all over though, so at least it's not the worst dent anymore.

To all:

Mmmmm... Koni's...

Solid and thrifty repair job, brah.

Osterkraut wrote: Solid and thrifty repair job, brah.

Thanks mang!

Better than a pickup

We built teepees for the beans in the garden this weekend and to do so we needed 10 foot pieces of wood. A trip to the home store solved that and the 5’s center section easily swallowed them. The load stayed inside so we could make more stops, and it fit with the car seat in place. Vans are just so versatile and useful!

I saw a new one on the highway this morning. I could not believe how hideous that thing looks. Cngrats on getting one that doesn't look like that

nicksta43 wrote: I saw a new one on the highway this morning. I could not believe how hideous that thing looks. Cngrats on getting one that doesn't look like that

Hey! I resemble that remark, I did pull down an average of 31.6 over the last couple tanks driving in and out of Dearborn in my "ugly one".

On the oil filter cartridges. I converted my 2.3 Mazda 3 to the 2.0 style oil filters (conventional spin on). It's perfectly placed and oil changes are a breeze.. a tidy breeze.

If I remember correctly, the part was a standard Mazda part and was about $20 - 30.

and i resent that you refer to it as the millennium falcon, since it does not look like a piece of crap and it's not fast. i should probably keep that to myself but i think it's also a factor so i'm airing it.

LOL!

Thats why im leaving all the Falcon paraphernalia off my caravan until it's 'done'.

chandlerGTi wrote:

nicksta43 wrote: I saw a new one on the highway this morning. I could not believe how hideous that thing looks. Cngrats on getting one that doesn't look like that

Hey! I resemble that remark, I did pull down an average of 31.6 over the last couple tanks driving in and out of Dearborn in my "ugly one".

Wow, thats great!

Maybe it wouldn't look so bad with some better wheels on it or a different color? It stood out so much to me I actually took a pic of it to show my wife