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Mazda 5 vs. Toyota Prius

pbrattpbratt Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Mazda
My friend is moving to Tokyo and is willing to sell me either one of his two cars. The first is a 2004 Toyota Prius with 41K miles. The cars is clean, with a few bumper marks from city driving. The second is a 2006 Mazda 5 with 9K miles on it. The cars are each available at the same price, and I'm wondering which vehicle is a better buy. My wife and I are unversity town folk and don't expect kids for another seven years. We drive about 12K a year, although that number declined since we moved to where we are now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Comments

  • skovatchskovatch Member Posts: 24
    That's a tough call. I just bought a 2007 Mazda5, but also looked really hard at the '07 Prius, given all the deals Toyota is offering right now. According to Consumer Reports, the amount of space for the driver and passenger for the two vehicles is essentially the same, but the Mazda5 has more cargo space.

    I was in the same situation as you before our daughter was born. My wife is a professor and has less than a 2 mile commute each way, and I work at home, so we do about the same amount of driving. But now that our daughter is older and we need to carry stuff on road trips, I went with the Mazda5. I don't drive that much, so the difference in mileage wasn't as important to me. But if we didn't have kids or didn't have the need to transport stuff on occasion, I definitely would have bought the Prius.
  • kw_dakw_da Member Posts: 76
    Hi,
    Some other things to consider - warranty - the Mazda still should have the bumper to bumper warranty effective? Is it transferable? How long do you plan to keep the car? The Prius battery warranty is only for 8 years/100k miles (I believe). Is it easy to get service for the Prius where you are? You can check resale values online to see what the market thinks is a better deal. What do you prefer driving wise?

    Good Luck
  • d_hyperd_hyper Member Posts: 130
    First thing I would do is compare price of both to TMV, KBB.
    Second, if you'd like to enjoy driving go with Mazda (besides it's almost brand new) otherwise - Toyota. Did you drive it?
  • w00000tw00000t Member Posts: 23
    I'm sorry but I think the Toyota Prius is just about the ugliest thing on the planet next to that Scion XB....
  • coolmazda5coolmazda5 Member Posts: 525
    The Mazda5 still has warranty left (it is 4yrs/50K for the 2006 model I believe), plus the miles on that thing are really low. Yeah, I'm assuming there are benefits on the Toyota Prius over the Mazda5 (hybrid at least) but the year/model may not help the cause. If both were brand new, then I would do a more careful comparison.

    If you go for the Mazda5, just ensure that the recalls have been applied already to save trips to the dealer (check with the owner or w/ the VIN against the www.MazdaUSA.com database)
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