So now that I have two kids, I have two car seats. But, for some reason, I am finding myself transporting more adults around now than ever before. Not long trips mind you, but it's as if the installed car seats are acting like pheromones... making people come to my car. So one thing is very clear: we need more room. Now I don't have the duckets for one of those new, fancy minivans, but I sure wish I did because it would surely make life a lot easier. But where I live in Brooklyn, parking is tighter than tight. Heck, all of Brooklyn is that way. Heck, all of NYC is that way. Anyway, what I'm getting at is, even if I did have the moolah for a new minivan, parking it wouldn't be the easiest thing to do. What to do? Hey, look at Mazda with its new Mazda5! Seating for six, nearly two feet shorter than the honda Odyssey (which is my favorite one now that I've learned how to spell it), and quite affordable. To call the third row a third row is clearly optimistic, but for the purposes I'd be using it for, it'd do just fine. I'm still trying to find fun reviews like Phil and Jason write, but Edmunds sums it up quite nicely:

Mazda may be taking a risk bringing its compact Mazda 5 minivan to the U.S., but if buyers can get honest about their needs for space and power, the 5 has enough of the right stuff to succeed.