Mazda facelift 2 little 2 late
MAZDA is a very interesting car company. It likes to do things its own way, it zigs while others are zagging. The world downsizes the engines in small cars so that nearly all superminis are powered by 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engines, or are at least available with such an engine.
Mazda, however, sticks with relatively large capacity engines in small cars reckoning that a big engine working not very hard in a light car is economical. It’s not a flawed argument.
And that’s the set up we have in this Mazda2.the car is not all new, just a mild facelift and some changes inside.the only engine available is Mazda’s 1.5-litre Skyactive-g petrol engine with either 74bhp or 89bhp.the former engine is fitted to the entry level SE-L but our SE-L Nav version gets the more powerful version.
For this new, tweaked model Mazda’s engineers have fitted the engine with a belt-driven starter alternator as a mild hybrid system that reduces load on the engine and drops the car’s CO2 emissions under 100g/km.
It also makes the stop/start extremely smooth in operation with virtually no shake or vibration as the engine restarts itself in traffic.
An automatic gearbox is available on the Sport Nav trim only, all other versions get manual gearboxes. Our test car has a £16,795
Petrol – 1.5 89bhp 0 to 62mph in 9.7 seconds, 114mph top speed six-speed unit that like almost all Mazda gearboxes (particularly the ones in the MX-5 sports car) is a joy to use.
Which is just as well because in the Mazda2 you’ll be using it a lot.
Many cars today have a gearchange indicator that will show you what gear you should be in for maximum fuel efficiency.
I have a habit of holding on to gears longer than the car wants me to. I’m still in fourth when it thinks I should have changed up to fifth. In the Mazda2 the reverse seems to be true.this is in part due to the fact that the car has ridiculously long gearing.
Top is virtually useless.the other problem is the engine isn’t turbocharged and therefore lacks bottom-end shove.
It doesn’t condemn the car as an also-ran and you’ll not find it annoying in town – the environment that this car is happiest in.
The engineers have changed the rear dampers and adjusted the power steering’s calibration but have otherwise left the chassis alone.the Mazda2 has always been good fun to drive with sharp handling and a comfortable ride and that’s still the case. It’s at least as good to drive as new rivals from Peugeot and Renault.
Step inside, however, and this car looks really dated compared to the new 208 and Clio.the materials feel a bit cheap by comparison and there’s a lack of the flair you get inside the Peugeot in particular.
All versions with the 89bhp engine get a new infotainment system with a 7.0in touchscreen. Both Apple and Android connectivity are included as is a DAB radio.
At least that’s what it says on the SE-L Nav’s specification sheet.
I couldn’t find the DAB channel anywhere and had to spend the afternoon listening to Radio 2 instead of my favoured Radio 6 Music. Operator error perhaps but I’ve not struggled to find digital stations in other cars.
Our SE-L Nav costs £16,795 which is £1,000 more than the entry-level SE-L.
Top of the range is the GT Sport Nav at £18,295 which is considerably more than
I’d want to pay for a Mazda2. Our test car is the perfect choice because for the extra £1,000 over the base model you get a surprising amount of kit including cruise control and lane-keeping assist, as well as the elusive DAB radio.
Mazda’s tweaks to its smallest car have improved economy and updated the infotainment but the car needs more than that.to compete with the latest crop of superminis Mazda needs to start from scratch with a new generation of car.
There’s no doubt one in the pipeline (it’s at least two years away) but until the new Mazda2 arrives this one is not the interesting alternative it used to be. It’s still fun to drive but it feels outdated.
53.3mpg 94g/km Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208 6/10