Mazda5

The story

The Mazda5 squeezed 3 rows and 6 seats into a body about 180 inches long, roughly the size the very first American minivans had been before the breed ballooned. Its seats ran 2+2+2, so nobody rode in a cramped middle spot, and the doors on both sides slid back to open wide in parking spaces where a hinged door would scrape the neighbor. Underneath lay Mazda3 hardware, multilink rear suspension included, so it turned in like a tall hatchback, and Car and Driver hustled a 2012 6-speed manual to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds.

Power was the weak spot. Its 157 hp works hard in a 1,570 kg (3,457 lb) van with 6 people aboard, and highway passing takes planning. Timing was the bigger problem: it reached American showrooms just as buyers fell for crossovers, Mazda barely advertised it, and the CX-5 soon outsold it in the same dealerships. Mazda dropped it in the US after 2015, while the Premacy lived on in Japan, where it had also been offered with four-wheel drive and even a hydrogen-burning rotary. Used ones now cost little, which makes them superb small campers and family haulers.