Call me a nerd. It's November 2004, and I'm on a media tour with Mazda in Japan. I've already flogged the Mazdaspeed 6 sport sedan around the Okayama International Circuit, and I've just joined 125 other journalists for our first look at the new MX-5 Miata. There is excitement in Hiroshima. And now a small group of us are ushered into a styling studio deep within Mazda's sprawling factory complex to hear all about . . . the Mazda 5?
I had missed the 5's debut at the Paris show two months earlier, but now I'm instantly smitten and quickly forget about the other two Mazdas. Grabbing Mazda North America PR man Jeremy Barnes by the sleeve, I whisper, "I really think we'd like to do a Four Seasons test of one of these."
Confusion creases his brow. "You mean the Miata, right?"
"No, this, the 5. I'm sure the new Miata will be brilliant, but this is different."
Barnes quickly regains his composure, launches into full spin on the 5's merits, and promises that he will see what he can do.
And that is how a cardinal red Mazda 5 landed in our Four Seasons fleet in July 2005. As soon as everyone learned that this miniature minivan was my idea, there was a stampede to my office door.
"Why do we have a pink, four-cylinder minivan for an entire year?"
"Who is going to drive this ... Read full article