#mazda5

The re-designed Mazda 5, the smallest minivan available for sale in North America, will go on sale with a base price of $19,990 starting in January of 2011.

Summer vacation may be coming to a close, but that means it’s time for a whole new season of bringing your kids to school, piano lessons and football tryouts. Consumer Reports has put together a list of new cars that are great for transporting the family around, all ranging in price from just under $20,000 to just under $40,000. They all gained good scores in road tests, and have good seating and cargo arrangements.

They’re listed after the jump, listed in order by price, along with a brief description on why they ranked well:

Mazda is expected to recall 200,000 Mazda3 and Mazda5 compacts over a faulty steering system, with power steering pumps and lines being the target of the recall in particular.

Mazda appears to be on the cusp of banishing their former “Nagare” design language to the junk heap. Nagare was responsible for the controversial front fascias on the upcoming 2011 Mazda5, the current MX-5 and the Mazda3. However, Mazda executives were apparently unhappy with the execution of the styling and demanded a change.

Mazda‘s swoopy, sometimes controversial “Nagare” styling has been jettisoned after a few short years as the pre-eminent design language for the Hiroshima, Japan-based car company.

The Chevrolet Orlando crossover will not be sold in the United States after all. In an interview with Bloomberg, Margaret Brooks, GM’s product marketing director for small cars and crossovers said that “The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we’ve already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and, soon to come, the Cruze.”

Mazda unveiled the second generation Mazda5 at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show.

Mazda pretty much owns the MPV market on this side of the Atlantic, but it faces stiffer competition in Europe and is about to get more rivals in North America from models like the Ford C-Max and Chevy Orlando. So to stay ahead of the competition, the Japanese automaker will debut an all-new second generation Mazda5 model (called the Premacy in some markets) at the Geneva Auto Show in March.