Mazda Premacy 1.8

.../>
* The Mazda Premacy is a very spacious car. We can squeeze 3 car seats into the back and the boot is incredibly roomy - plenty big enough to hold a pram as well as all the other paraphernalia needed when you go away for a week with 3 children!

* The Mazda Premacy has traction control, which came in handy during the icy weather. The salesman who sold us the car recommended that we keep the traction control on at all times, ...
.../>
* The Mazda is in a low insurance group. We paid around £200 this year.

===Negative aspects===

* Fuel consumption is not particularly good, about 30 mpg. Although it improves slightly on longer journeys. Other petrol cars, such as the Renault Scenic or Citroen Picasso have smaller engines and hence better fuel consumption. However, these are not as fast and are not as good a ride as the Mazda.

more

When my husband and I discovered that we were expecting our third child, we realised that we would need a much bigger car! We found it very difficult to find a car big enough to have three car seats in the back unless we wanted a 7-seater MPV. Given the price of a 7-seater and the fact that 2 seats would be wasted (not to mention the arguments from the children about who would sit on their own), we decided to look for a large estate car. We found a second-hand Premacy for sale nearby that was good value for money - less than 5 years old, under 30000 miles and under £5000.

Positive aspects

* We have owned the car for less than a year, but have had no problems with it yet, so it seems to be very reliable, which is understandable given that it is a Mazda.

* The Mazda Premacy is a very spacious car. We can squeeze 3 car seats into the back and the boot is incredibly roomy - plenty big enough to hold a pram as well as all the other paraphernalia needed when you go away for a week with 3 children!

* The Mazda Premacy has traction control, which came in handy during the icy weather. The salesman who sold us the car recommended that we keep the traction control on at all times, which we have done and when the car skidded on some ice, the only reason I knew that there was a problem was because a light appeared on the dashboard saying that the traction control had taken over, which was very reassuring.

* The windscreen is very large so you have good visibility all round and the turning circle is excellent. In fact, the car is surprisingly nimble given it's size.

* The Mazda is in a low insurance group. We paid around £200 this year.

Negative aspects

* Fuel consumption is not particularly good, about 30 mpg. Although it improves slightly on longer journeys. Other petrol cars, such as the Renault Scenic or Citroen Picasso have smaller engines and hence better fuel consumption. However, these are not as fast and are not as good a ride as the Mazda.

* The Mazda Premacy is not a particularly green car. It's CO2 emissions are a little high, even for a people carrier, which means that we pay quite a lot in tax each year.

* The interior of the car is not particularly lavish. We bought a very basic model and we do miss some of the things we took for granted in our previous car, such as a cd player and electric rear windows.

* I suppose the only other negative aspect is that nobody has ever heard of a Mazda Premacy. But this could be viewed as an advantage, since that means there are not many on the road, whereas the Citroen Picasso, for example, is everywhere!

Conclusion

Overall, we have been very happy with the Mazda, because our main criteria were that it be a good family car, i.e. spacious and reliable 

...less