Close to 2 years ago now, when my neighbor and I were both looking for new cars, we test drove a few Mazdas, including the 5. My neighbor (whose van was totaled) wanted something that would still let her haul gardening stuff -- many bags of mulch, flats of flowers, etc. She did like the 5 when she took it for a test drive herself. Once someone was in the passenger seat, it felt too tight, both in elbow room and head room. We both like a little more "air" over our heads. I don't see too many on the road, either: I think the 5 is just a mini-minivan -- and that people looking for that extra space just go with a traditional minivan. She ended up buying the CX9. She doesn't like it so much anymore -- the handling, the road noise. Road noise seems to be a problem throughout the Mazda line, I learned when I was researching for my new car (test drove the Mazda 3, 6, CX7; bought a Hyundai wagon instead). Concerning your height, there are so many vehicles now that have the seat height adjustment (either standard or as part of an optional pkg), and that will give you a better view of the road and a better handle for parking spaces. (And I agree with the concern that the dealership is so far from you.)

Gonzoe, I am so glad you liked the chowder! It is a great recipe . I had 2nds too ! As to the salad, I never have much luck with pasta salad until this one. I made a dressing that was really good...mine usually don't come out well but this one did so I will tell you what I did. I put about 1/2c red wine vinegar and a heaping Tbs Dijon mustard in the blender. I added a good pinch of salt and sugar and mixed that. I then added about 3/4c EVOO and buzzed again. I put a few splashes of Balsamic vinegar and also lemon juice to taste. For herbs I use Mrs dash Garlic mix sprinkled in. It was so good that I am not going to buy dressing anymore in the store. I just made it after reading several internet recipes. What about your salad was not good ? I bet we can fix it :) c

I spent months contemplating and researching new machines. My 10 year old Frigidaire FL was dying. I narrowed it down to the LG WM3885 or the Miele W4842. I went with the Miele (plus matching dryer T9822) and am REALLY happy with them. Trust that I read everything (and every review) out there. While I can't speak to the LG (although my parents have a brand new LG pair) I can say that the Miele is something you need to own to appreciate. It is very solid and runs very well. It definitely uses higher temps. Everything seems to come out so clean and soft. While the dryer is touchy - when you figure it out is works beautifully. These are the temps for each machine: LG (WM3885) Extra hot 70 C (158) Hot 50 C (122) Warm 40 C (104) Cold 25 C (77 F) Miele W4842 Sanitize 70 C (158) Hot 60 C (140) Very warm 50 C (122) Warm 40 C (104) Cold 30 C (86) Only the Miele will use it's on board heater in all programs (except Normal) to guarantee these temps. LG will only engage the heater in Sanitary (Extra Hot). If temperature is something you are big on - you should consider this. I also decided on Miele as I received a free upgrade for a 10 year warranty (Canadian promotion) and I am confident that service from them will be excellent. Already my experience with delivery and set-up was top notch. Good luck with your decision - I appreciate how hard it can be.

Timely topic! We live in a wooded area with lots of oaks and maples and stone walls and gardens. Consequently there are many chipmunks. They have nested in my car's cabin air filter and have even hung out in the cabin. Their scat resembles that of other small rodents, but the acorns in the nest is sort of a giveaway. I have cleaned the vehicle and replaced the air filter on more than one occasion. I recently did that, and the chipmunk/s is back again. I had saved a dead, dried out, cool, large benign insect (to photograph) in a small cup that I set in the center cup holder bin. It was very DEAD. A few days later when using my car, GONE! Mr. Chippy took it. So, once again I must go through the cleaning, sanitizing and replacement of the cabin air filter. Grrr. It goes without saying that rodent poop, like the scat of most wild animals, is nothing to mess around with. Rodents can harbor parasites and diseases. I spent a while perusing online for solutions to this common problem. I read about a lot of purported solutions, most of which are ineffective or problematic (dryer tissues, scents, gizmos and gadgets, and, heaven forbid, poisons -- NO!). There is no way to "exterminate" every chipmunk, even if I wanted to. Our home is in a conservation area, for one, and there are hundred of nut and seed producing trees. One year a small weasel showed up and had a talk with a lot of the chipmunks. Weasel was t seen this year. I am going to have to clean out the garage from inherited furniture, replace the rodent chewed garage door gasket, and keep the car or cars in the concrete bunker garage. Meanwhile, I will try to remember not to have any snacks, even food, taco wrappers in the car. No eating and no crumbs. No ketchup packets in the glove compartment. I will look into installing some wire mesh physical barrier around the air intake and the cabin air filter. Not as easy as it might sound. Here, below, is the only promising approach I can across online. It is from a viewer's comment on a YouTube video and I will include it here for the purpose of discussion. Seems like a lot of effort. (Note: anyone trying to install a mesh barrier wants to be sure that they don't end up choking off outside air supplie to their engine of something important.) ~~~~ The only way you can stop the mice from getting into the Cabin air filter in a Toyota Corolla is to place 1/4" square wire mesh (buy from Home Depot), in a small roll, ( its called "1/4 x 1/4 Welded Hardware Mesh" ) over the openings where the air goes into the car's cabin. I own a 2008 Corolla and I raised up the front hood, then removed the passenger side plastic cover that is at the base of the window, and that gave me access to the air intake holes. Guess what: Toyota made it all but impossible to actually get your hands into that space where the air intake is. They put another beam in front of the intake, about 1.5" in front of it. I cut 2 strips of mesh, each one 2.5" wide, (one set 5" long, another one 6.5" long), and I used 1/2' dia SUPER-MAGNETS to hold the wire mesh strips into place while I used 'Goop' glue (from Walmart) to glue those mesh strips securely into place. The magnets 'PUSH' the mesh onto the metal of the car itself, so the mesh has to be placed between the car and the magnets. I just left the magnets behind on the 2.5" wide mesh strips. For the 2 mesh strips on the left hole; I had to glue the magnets onto the strips first, then let the glue dry, and then push the strips in with the magnets securely fastened to the strips, because the magnet at the far end is so far into the body work of the car that its impossible to actually get your finger into that space to place the magnets once the screens are pushed into the proper place. As if this was not hard enough, Toyota placed a bar in the middle of the air intake hole, so you have to cut the screen covers into 2 halves, one half for the left hole (using 2 6.5" long strips) and one half for the right hole (using 2 5" long strips). Because the holes in the beam covering the air intake are only 2.5" high, that means the strips of mesh you insert cannot be more than 2.5" high. But what you REALLY need is a screen 4.5" high, the only problem is you cannot actually get a screen that wide into that space because the holes in the beam in front of the intake are smaller in size, that's why you have to insert 2 strips of screen, each 2.5" high. Yes, Toyota has really fu*ked up big time with this design ! First you place one 2.5" mesh strip over the hole, so it covers the lower half of the air intake hole. Then you take the second 2.5" mesh strip and place it over the hole, raising it upwards so it covers the upper half of the air intake hole. When you push it up it is pushed up and almost out of sight, so you have to do everything by feel, and using a small mirror to see what's happening. Doing all of this is an all-day job. But once you are finished there is no way in Hell any mouse is going to get through that wire mesh. The problem is that there are so many OTHER places around the car for those mice to build nests in, so just covering up the access to the ventilation system will just push them to build a nest somewhere else instead. But at least the insides of your car won't smell bad anymore. ---- Was a comment on the video below. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O9JruyHm89g