Mazda2 owners should feel special
FROM F1
handling traits at the test track last year came flooding back. On West Somerset lanes and even the A-roads where door mirrors constantly brush the hedgerows, as what tarmacadam there is takes you too and fro all day with barely a straight in between, the nimble accuracy of the car’s chassis was a delight.
It’s easy to gauge the road space it takes up and after a nervous start on these thoroughfares and realising you can trust people to use their space and not yours, the wee 2 is so much fun, especially when the timbre of the matronlike voice in the dash is making sure you’re not going to get lost.
If I’m honest, there were times on UK motorways, especially on long uphill stretches when a little more oomph is needed than what the Mazda2 has on tap. I have an idea for this and it involves the uprated version of its 1.5-litre engine used in the new MX-5, which puts out 98kW, instead of 81kW. How about it, Mazda? It would make it a great wee Q-car. But, after more than 3000km at an average of 5.9L/100km, it’d be churlish to call it wanting in the power department. Where the car could be described as a little wanting is in rear legroom. I did drive the car four-up for parts of my journey, and to be fair the complaints were only about getting in and out, as once settled in the rear chairs, my 1.85 metre plus passengers were more than happy, with no worries about headroom. You wouldn’t want to put three in the back though.
The standard sat-nav made a few false starts in Britain, something I haven’t found with the exact same device used on the Mazda2 in New Zealand. The satnav, radio and phone functions can be accessed by touching the dash-top 7-inch or by using the rotary knob down behind the gear lever. The rotary air-conditioning controls are easy to use, and the general fit and finish of materials is impressive.
But it was the sheer willingness of the car that most impressed. Mazda’s weight-loss programme – something it puts every new model through – has resulted in a car of an engaging nature and one with totally trustworthy and accurate steering and handling.
Cruising beyond New Zealand open road limits, the car is quiet, relaxed and always feels like there’s plenty in reserve – a rarity in the C-segment – while the attention to detail in terms of materials and build quality repeats that Mazda adage that you can feel special in a small car. So I needn’t have worried. I had all the space I needed, enjoyed fuel fills far less often than I expected, and nothing was snatched during the fortnight I had the car in my possession.
I learned some lessons: Always check your empty luggage against a car you’re going to hire or use before leaving New Zealand. A smaller car that does the job is always going to be less expensive to buy, hire or fuel, so why get one larger than you need?
And when that car is the Mazda2, it will really paint a smile on your face. As my village friends said to me when clambering out of the car: ‘‘What are you grinning at?’’
‘‘Oh nothing,’’ I replied. The truth was that swinging through West Country lanes in a decent car playing great music (Days Like This – Van Morrison) does that to you.