Is 157 hp and 163 pf of torque enough for a 3400 lb vehicle?

[Kelvrick]

Loading cars with options overprice many vehicles. I normally buy my cars with fewest options available. All I care is that it has the engine I want and long as it has A/C and heat, power windows & lock, and radio, that's all I care about. I know most people want fully optioned car or close to it. I'm the opposite.

I paid around $22k for my V6 Sienna. Little less for my V8 Tundra. If you option out both vehicles, you can hit close to $40k MSRP each.

Without getting into individual deals, using truecar.com and my zip code in Sacramento.

Base model 2011 sienna i4 is $23,140
Base model 2011 sienna v6 is $24,054
Base model 2011 Mazda5 manual is $15,588
Cheapest 2011 M6 auto is $16,671
Grand touring 2011 M6 auto is $19,999.

I'd say the sienna and oddysey are a class above the M5 when the grand touring is still 15% away from the base sienna. The M5 is an oversized wagon with three rows of seating.

Mazda's never did get the best gas mileage, but they handle pretty well.

 

[ponyo]

Without getting into individual deals, using truecar.com and my zip code in Sacramento.

Base model 2011 sienna i4 is $23,140
Base model 2011 sienna v6 is $24,054
Base model 2011 Mazda5 manual is $15,588
Cheapest 2011 M6 auto is $16,671
Grand touring 2011 M6 auto is $19,999.

I'd say the sienna and oddysey are a class above the M5 when the grand touring is still 15% away from the base sienna. The M5 is an oversized wagon with three rows of seating.

Mazda's never did get the best gas mileage, but they handle pretty well.

Wow. That's pretty darn cheap. Learn something new everyday.

 

[exar333]

Wow. That's pretty darn cheap. Learn something new everyday.

Yeah, the Mazda5 is a bargain if you want a no-frills minivan. It doesnt have the space or options that Honda/Toyota have, but it's in a different league...

 

[NAC]

I've had a 116hp Miata, a 90hp Golf Diesel (lots of torque though) and now have a 340 hp S4. With all of them - I've never had any trouble keeping up with any traffic here in north/central NJ. With the S4, anything above 25% throttle is faster than almost everyone from a stop light. With the other cars, I might have used a lot more throttle, but again I could keep up just fine.

Highway on ramps, there may be times in the less powerful cars that folks behind you would rather merge quicker - but so be it. There are also plenty of other folks with more powerful cars who merge at 50mph, seemingly because they are afraid to give the car gas. It is much more annoying to wait for an 200hp Buick to merge at 50 than to wait for a TDI at full throttle merging, eventually, at the end of the on ramp, at 70.

And I stand by my opinion that the less powerful cars are more fun to drive hard.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'd prefer much lighter, my scion tc is 2800lbs 160HP and I like it a lot more than any previous cars I've driven (camrys). And I don't want to give it up for anything slower. It's pretty fast on an empty tank + no passengers, has 140ft-lbs torque, and is geared low. So, no, I wouldn't get it.

 

[Meghan54]

Sounds like it will be slow, and very slow with a load of people or junk.

Well, compared to the slowest vehicle I ever had to endure, a first gen Subaru 360, which put out a whopping 25hp and did 0-50 in 35 sec., I don't think the Mazda would be so bad.

 

[yh125d]

Don't listen to those in this thread who haven't DD'd a car like that.

I've DD'd about 55k miles in a 4cyl fusion with almost the same numbers (160hp/157tq, 3100lbs) and its no problem at all. And I'm not the guy sitting in the right hand lane going the limit either, I'm the guy passing all the other guys, going up a steep hill at 83mph without a sweat. I've done about 1/2 and 1/2 of the miles in the auto and manual fusions, and neither needed to downshift to make it up even very steep hills (I have a hilly commute) and usually not when passing either. It's never had a problem even with 4 big people in the car. Don't listen to the morons saying you need 250+hp in anything over 3k.





Will it burn rubber? No. Is it more than plenty for even a fairly lead-footed DD? yes

 

[LTC8K6]

Don't listen to those in this thread who haven't DD'd a car like that.

I've DD'd about 55k miles in a 4cyl fusion with almost the same numbers (160hp/157tq, 3100lbs) and its no problem at all. And I'm not the guy sitting in the right hand lane going the limit either, I'm the guy passing all the other guys, going up a steep hill at 83mph without a sweat. I've done about 1/2 and 1/2 of the miles in the auto and manual fusions, and neither needed to downshift to make it up even very steep hills (I have a hilly commute) and usually not when passing either. It's never had a problem even with 4 big people in the car. Don't listen to the morons saying you need 250+hp in anything over 3k.


Will it burn rubber? No. Is it more than plenty for even a fairly lead-footed DD? yes

Not saying he needs it, saying he can have it, with similar, or even better fuel economy.

For what it's worth though, the earlier Fusion you mentioned, with the 160hp engine and the 5MT was significantly quicker than the Mazda as well, at 8.1 seconds to 60, according to Car and Driver.

0-to-60-mph in 8.1 seconds, the quarter-mile in 16.4 at 85 mph

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

You'd think with fuel economy as low as the minivan has, it would have more than 157hp. The newest Honda Odyssey is rated 18/27/21 and it has 248hp/250tq.

That's precisely why it has low fuel economy. Small engines with no load use less fuel, BUT when you make a small engine pull a heavy load, it has to use more fuel to do it, it has to work harder to do the action.
A larger engine can use less fuel to produce more HP/TQ at a useable range, because it is more efficient

 

[basslover1]

My Passat has similar specs:

150HP, 160(ish) ft/lbs and weighs somewhere around 33-3400 lbs. Though it's turbo'd so I've got usable torque at like 1.8k RPMS.

It's not fast, but it's definitely quick enough to get out of its own way. Though it does kinda suck when weighed down with 3 passengers and some luggage.

 

[DesiPower]

Why does Mazda still show 2010 mazda 5 (and not 2011) is Mazda planning to do away with 5? or are they planning major overhaul or replacing with another model soon? Like what Nissan did with Quest...

 

[Sid59]

Mazda will not have a Mazda5 2011, they are skipping that MY and going to Mazda5 2012 with the new redesign.

You have to drive a Mazda5 to understand if the the pep is good enough. I've had our Mazda5 since Feb 2010 and we've logged 13K miles. As someone mentioned, it's an ideal small family van that's a different class than the regular minivans.

We've driven this car from the Bay Area to LA (through the grapevine), through LA traffic, into SD, up the coast back to the Bay Area and never had an issue on passing someone or not being able to get up I-5. During this trip, 2 adults, 10 year old, infant, stroller and luggage.

Around town, it's perfect to haul people and crap and our friends love the middle captain's chair, the ones stuck in the 3rd row don't have the legroom but it beats driving a 2nd car. We loaded 6 adults on a trip to Napa and my wife never complained that she couldn't smash the gas pedal to pass someone.

Great car for the money, a traditional minivan would be cool but it was too big and too pricey. If we had to replace it, we'd probably get another but i know other car mfgs are itching to bring a car into this segment, Ford's Grand C-Max, Fiat/Chrysler said they wanted something in this segment.

 

[vi edit]

Ok as a former owner of a Mazda5 I think I'm qualified to speak...

Around town and in stop and go traffic you'll never feel like it's underpowered. The way it's geared it's downright spunky from a stop. Acceleration from 0-40 feels very spirited and you will not be disappointed.

With the auto-manual function highway merges are just fine. Slap it into "3" and run it until you hit a speed you need. No real drama there.

The only place that it feels underpowered is when it comes to passing on a two lane highways. There just isn't enough reserve there to overtake a less than ideal passing move. Once you get past 45MPH it starts to run out of steam in a hurry.

So it really depends on your driving habits. Also regarding the milage...don't believe it. It does *MUCH* better than the EPA estimates. Worst tank I *ever* got was 22MPG in practically 100% in town driving with lots of winter idling. I've pulled as good as 33MPG doing 80MPH on I-90 across South Dakota with a full load of people and vacation baggage.

It's an incredibly awesome little family car that I do miss dearly.

 

[AstroManLuca]

As far as reliability is concerned, Mazda is not bad. I just checked the Consumer Reports reliability ratings for the Mazda5. Problem areas appear to be the suspension (06-09), brakes (06-08), "squeaks and rattles" (06-09), and body hardware (06). The 2010 model looks good although those models maybe haven't been around long enough to exhibit serious problems. And reliability ratings are always hit and miss; you can always get a lemon or a remarkably reliable car regardless of what the ratings say.

If you aren't planning to buy soon I'd wait. A lot of companies are planning on rolling out new vehicles in this category soon so you may as well get something new and fresh.