If you've read some of my other reviews, you might know I'm going to be facing a transportation crisis in about six months. #3 child is due any day now. A booster seat, toddler seat, and infant carrier can only fit in the back seat of my current car, but it's tight. Very tight. And when #3 needs a car seat next summer--I'm not sure I'll be able to make that work.

Some people say I'm going to need a minivan. Problem is, I love driving my current car, and wouldn't want to give it up for a less enjoyable vehicle.

Which brings me to the Mazda MPV. Right inside the front cover of the brochure for a second year is Mazda's bold claim: "Body of a minivan, soul of a sports car." That's what I'm going to need. But does the MPV truly deliver on this claim?

A few months ago I drove the 2002 and was not terribly impressed. (To read my review of the 2002 click here. The blue hyperlinks lead to some of my other reviews.) Then I drove a 2003 Honda Odyssey and upgraded my view of the Mazda’s handling. Still, I felt I needed a second, more thorough test drive to decide if my rating revision was warranted. So I recently drove a 2003. I drove a regular wheelbase 2003 Pontiac Montana to serve as a reference point. I chose the Montana because among minivans it comes closest to the MPV in size (exterior dimensions and weight are very similar) and sporting mission.

Mazda MPV Reliability

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Styling

Well, the MPV delivers on the first half of the "Body of a minivan, soul of a sports car" claim. No one looking at this vehicle is going to think anything other than "minivan." The previous MPV became a pseudo-SUV late in its life, but the current model makes no pretensions style-wise to anything else.

Even among minivans some are easier on the eyes. Sadly, the MPV is not among your more stylish minivans, even with the 17" alloys on the ES I drove. The look is 7/8 Honda Odyssey, which wouldn't be all bad if the proportions weren't thrown off by the reduction. But they are. The rear end in particular looks too long and boxy. It fails to continue the somewhat sporty look of the front end. I suspect this is because the well for the fold-into-the-floor third seat requires a longish rear overhang (the seat must stow behind the wheels).

Since I drove the 2002 MPV, Mazda made a change to correct my major aesthetic issue with that van’s interior. A generous amount of obviously fake wood has been replaced by an equally generous amount of faux carbon fiber trim. Though the new trim’s grayish color doesn’t look quite right with the tan interior (it should look better with the gray interior), it is much more in keeping with the sporty positioning of the MPV. I still don’t care for the pentagonal shape of the center stack, but that’s a very minor issue compared to the fake wood.

In general the materials of the MPV appear to be of at least adequate quality. My main concern involved the general feel of the vehicle. Compared to the Pontiac, the Honda, and other minivans I’ve driven, the MPV has a lighter, tinnier feel. This is most apparent when opening and shutting the front doors, but also applies to what the MPV feels like to drive. More like an economy car than you’d expect in a nearly two-ton vehicle. Some people might find this appealing, but to me it makes the MPV feel a bit insubstantial.

Accommodations

The MPV is smaller than most other minivans. It's length of 188 inches is roughly the same as the regular wheelbase Chrysler and GM vans, but over a foot shorter than the long versions, Ford Windstar, and Honda Odyssey. The MPV's width at 72 inches matches the GM vans, but is four to six inches narrower than the segment leaders. These compact dimensions might help support the sporty image they're going for, but it's not so good for people and cargo space.

The front row fares well. Here the narrow width might even help. Plenty of room, but not so much you feel you're piloting a boat. I had six inches of air over my head without the sunroof, so even tall people should have plenty of room. Visibility is excellent, especially forward. While visibility forward is good in all minivans, in the MPV you sit far above the dash. In the Pontiac the dash is higher, but still affords plenty of visibility.

Rear seat passengers don't fare so well. Legroom is tight in the second row, very tight in the third. As in many minivans, both rows are mounted too low to provide thigh support to adults. The seats themselves also feel on the small side. The Pontiac does better, especially in the third row. The seats in that van are a little higher off the floor, and legroom is more generous. An adult would be much happier riding in the third row of the Pontiac.

Mazda managed to steal a couple of features from Honda that really help seating versatility., The second row is split into two halves, and the right half slides to form either two captains chairs or a single bench. The former can be helpful in keeping a pair of children separated (no "he's on my side again"), while the latter makes getting to and from the third row a bit easier.

Unique among minivans, the second row has roll down windows. Intuitively I like this feature, but must wonder how often it would really be used. In Chrysler's, Ford's, and Honda's minivans these windows don't even pop open, yet people keep buying them.

As for the third row, it can be rotated 90 degrees to serve as a seat for tailgating (something I don't think even the Honda offers) or, as in the Honda, it can be folded completely into the floor. In minivans without this feature, the seat has to be removed to free up cargo space, so this can be very useful for those unexpected large purchases.

Cargo space also suffers from the short length. With the third seat up, the cargo space is deep, because the well for the third seat extends much lower than the rest of the floor, but there's not a lot of space lengthways. Fold the seat into the floor, though, and there's a decent amount of cargo space. For more room, the second row seats can be removed. Note, however, that they do not fold forward, unlike many other minivans. So if you need that space, you must remove them.

Pontiac offers a third row seat that folds flat to the floor in its extended length minivan, but not in the shorter model. On the plus side, both rows in the Pontiac may be folded forward or removed. The Mazda is more versatile in terms of the third row, but the Pontiac is at least even when both rows are considered.

The top-of-the-line ES is loaded with features. The van I drove had dual power sliding doors, rear seat A/C, and storage bins everywhere (glove compartment, a drawer under the front passenger seat, two small compartments in the headliner, another in the center of the dash...). As in the Honda, a collapsible tray can be erected between the front seats.

On the Road

So far we have a van with a tight but feature-filled interior. The size compromise would all be worthwhile if the "soul of a sports car" bit is for real.

A new engine for 2002 helped. Previously the MPV had a 170 horsepower 2.5 liter six from Ford. Not enough engine for a nearly two ton vehicle, especially not with many people in it. Ford also makes a 3.0 liter version of the same engine, already sold in the Taurus, Escape, and many other Ford products, so a fix was at hand. For 2002 the MPV received the larger six. The extra thirty horses are quite welcome. With them, the MPV is no rocket (after all, the much lighter Taurus with the same engine is hardly known for driving thrills), but at least it's no longer a slug. A five speed automatic transmission (one more gear than last year, permitting lower gearing in the lower gears) helps get the most out of the new engine. The Pontiac, with a less powerful but torquier engine, provides roughly equivalent performance. A Honda Odyssey is quicker, but still nothing that will get your adrenaline flowing.

Now for the part that really matters: Handling. Sports car? Well, no. But there are some hints in that direction. Feedback through the wheel is decent--better than other minivans I've driven. Also, the performance tires on the ES stick as well as they'll ever have to with such a vehicle. However, steering effort is far too light, such that despite the decent feedback I never felt connected to what the front tires were doing. I prefer the firmer feel of the Pontiac’s steering. The MPV despite the hype still does not encourage aggressive driving. (Can any minivan, ethically?) I did not find myself dreaming of switchbacks during the test drive. There is enough lean in turns that you'll never forget you're driving a minivan.

Having just driven the Pontiac, I was less satisfied with the MPV’s ride this time around. The MPV had a noticeably busier ride than the Pontiac, not to mention the even smoother riding Honda and Chrysler minivans. Minor clomping could be felt and heard over minor road imperfections. Nothing uncomfortable, but perhaps slightly annoying. I would blame the performance tires, but they’re 60-series so not all that low in profile. Also, the Pontiac also had performance tires.

Noise levels are fairly low, about average for a minivan. At highway speeds wind noise is moderate. When accelerating the engine can be a bit loud, and the noises it makes aren’t the most refined, but when cruising this is not an issue.

Pricing

For quick, up-to-date pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.

Last Words

The MPV's interior is full of useful innovative features, but it trades off too much interior space for its slight advantage in handling. Bottom line: I'm still not getting into a minivan without a whole lot of kicking and screaming along the way. And if this does come to pass, there's not enough zoom zoom here to win me over. Among short wheelbase minivans I prefer the Pontiac, and overall I prefer the Honda. If Mazda revised the steering for a sportier feel, I’d be more enthusiastic about this van, but I don’t see that happening.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Amount Paid (US$): 27,985
Model and Options: ES four seasons, power doors