Quinary Zr-based alloy compositions with improved glass forming criteria have been sought and the glass forming ability (GFA), thermal stability and mechanical properties of these alloys have been investigated. Monolithic amorphous structure has been confirmed for all compositions in 5 mm rods prepared by a Cu-mold casting method. They also show large plastic strain maximum of about 12% under uniaxial compression test with yield stress of about 2000 MPa. The compressive plasticity of the cast rods was found to be influenced by the casting temperature to a great extent.