Just returned from two weeks in Israel on one of our regular trips en-famille. There are five of us, and this year we have rented small seven seaters and was given a Kia Carens (twice) an original Mazda 5 and the facelift Mazda 5.
Both Mazdas were streets ahead of the Kia in terms of space, performance, refinement and economy. The facelift Mazda has minor revisions to the dashboard and bumpers. The main difference is the additional of a five speed autobox instead of a four speed. (In the UK, the old model had no automatic and I think held up sales).
The car we had over the Christmas break was superb. We did about 1,000 miles including a long drive from the north through the Negev desert to the Red Sea resort of Eilat. The drive of about 370km is a mix of fast dual carriageways, single-carriageway roads similar to the A roads of 30/40 years ago and winding moutain passes. The car was full, with a bike hanging of the back on a rack and I had pumped the tyres up to 41psi as recommended. It drove fantastically well. Cruised quietly, rode smoothly overtook easily and was more than fast when needed and overall we got 33mpg from what I would call 'beating the Israelis at driving agressively'. We hit 100mph for several miles on a long straight stretch of desert plateau road, giving a taxi driver who had cut me up unnecessarily, a piece of my mind.....ooops
Everyone in the family from my four year old daughter upwards thought the car was pretty perfect and I found it easy to obtain the perfect driving position with a reach and rake adjustable wheel and a height adjustable seat. In fact my only complaint is that the car is a little narrow, so the middle seat is really small and not worth using for long trips and the boot is narrower than our A-class so that the buggy won't fit easily across, which is does easily in the small Merc. I missed cruise control, but that is not a complaint, just a point.
These cars are very popular in Israel where families are slightly larger than in Europe, with many non-religious families having three children and the more religious having many more, so the Mazda5 is an ideal car without being too big.
Strangely, friends who have just written off an original model won't look at the new model as the old one 'drove like a tank'. Well the one we had didn't, and I came home pretty impressed.
(Useful user test. HJ test at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=309)
Edited by Honestjohn on 05/01/2009 at 10:04
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Glad you had a good trip Espada. What was the weather doing at this time of year?
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Hi HP
I am pleased to say that the weather was not great. They are short of water, need rain and in the 13 days we were there, the central part of the country got soaked on at least five days for the majority of each day.
However from a tourist perspective, Eilat was magnificent for a couple of days and OK for another couple. I took my bike down and road about 20 or 30km each day. The wind from the north was strong on one day so that I was cycling south up hills at 25kph and north down hill at 16kph!
First time I have used a bike rack and was surprised how easy it was to fit. And more surprised my bike stayed on at 160kph!
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Sounds good ! Got the Scooby fixed yet by the way ?
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Ah! No...
My in house accountant had a row with them on Friday, but I have the 17 year old Honda back in my drive and do not know when the Outback returns.
As it happens I came back with a snorter of a cold, so will avoid the office tomorrow and work from bed (and chase the repairers). Any trips out East planned for you?
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Looming but not fixed yet. Probably not until April but outside possibility of an earlier visit. Get well. Chicken soup is recommended I believe!
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Chicken soup is highly recommended, swiftly followed on Friday nights with a decent single malt! I know its Sunday, but I may make an exception........
If you are going in April, remember it's Passover between 8th and 16th April and flights/hotels will be expensive and possibly unavailable for the period 5th - 19th inc. (my next trip is those dates). It's their busiest tourist season, (although the Yanks get frightened of little skirmishes and may not come in the numbers they usually do - wimps!)
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