Yeah, if you like Mazdas, I’d think the 3 sedan would be at the top of your list. Is it?
Our Odyssey is rated at 28 mpg on the highway.
I’ll go look at it for fold-down rear seats. A few times per yer we need capacity on a road trip.
I live in a city with a lot of A/C use, highway driving only a couple times each year.
Customer’s Grand Caravans that I worked on usually showed 16 to 18 mpg on the display.
Don’t forget the words of David Freiburger “it’s better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slowly .”
If you haven’t driven a Grand Caravan with 14" wheels through the very curvy dangerous roads in the Great Smoky Mountains hard, you haven’t had fun… As the old saying goes, with turns so tight you can check your own brake lights, you can have fun in about anything… 
Agree wiith that 
That is the kind of roads I learned to drive on.
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There’s a difference between a slow car and a car that feels like it’s going to tip over in a turn.
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Funny thing is, with at least my 99 GC 3.3L, that a vehicle built to haul 7 people with luggage, with only the driver and no other weight in the vehicle it never had much body roll… Never felt like it was about to tip over…
Yeah, I thought that the '99 I rented and the '00 that I owned drove more like cars. They truly were more like “maxi-wagons” rather than “mini-vans.”
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My minivan gets 35 mpg. Toyota Sienna hybrid.
If I went to a car dealer with $50,000 budgeted for a hybrid minivan, I might be tempted to buy a monster truck. When people spend that much money on a vehicle, they tend to buy what pleases them.
Just my opinion, not all SUVs are boring. Have seen a few Expeditions and Suburbans that are quite decent, though I prefer a pickup.
BTW, my coupe has fold down rear seats, trunk accommodates a lot with the seat backs up. I have no need for four doors, two doors are adequate.
Having test driven many cars recently, couple of comments. Mazdas are SUVs, but not boring. The new Priuses are very small, probably not what you’re looking for. Most sedans have fold down rear seats but usually the opening between trunk and passenger cabin is small. Maybe take a look at the Subaru Impreza RS trim. It’s a hatch, larger than most in its segment, and has decent if not stellar acceleration.