Exterior & Styling

The sliding doors say "minivan," but many see the Mazda5 as a wagon. Minivans tend not to set hearts aflutter, but there's one thing I appreciate about the 2010 Mazda5, and that's its styling. It's nothing special, but it's also not the redesigned 2011 Mazda5 that's due at dealerships early in 2011; Mazda has already released photos (click on the thumbnails to the right). The 2011 has a less restrained design, including the smiling grille most new Mazda models get, plus a new characteristic: wavelike accent lines in the bodyside sheet metal. On the upside, the 2011 lowers the taillights and eliminates the clear-lens-over-chrome style, which is outdated at best.

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    Exterior
    The 2010 Mazda3's exterior styling builds on its predecessor's athletic proportions by emphasizing design features. One of them is the front grille, but Mazda may have gone a bit too far with it, ...

    Substantially reduced road and wind noise
    Many improvements were made to structural rigidity and powertrain NVH performance to provide a quieter, more pleasant ride, including the reduction of high frequency booming noise sometimes heard ...

    Operation Using Advanced Key Functions
    qKeyless Entry System This system uses the more traditional keyless entry buttons to remotely lock and unlock the doors and opens the trunk lid, and opens the power windows. It can also help you ...