Mazda is actually very good at making small cars. They’ve had decades of experience. My brother has had several and even after they'd been passed down to the teenages, they ran for 250-350,000 miles with little attention!
Small cars have prevailed as the vehicle of choice throughout the rest of the world for a long time. In our country, we are just now getting on that band wagon.
These very small cars are classified as sub-compacts and many are now appearing in our showrooms. Historically, they didn’t get much design attention and weren’t very appealing. Today’s sub-compacts are still small but are much more satisfying vehicles
The Mazda2 showcases Mazda’s ability to make a really good small vehicle. This little car is a great example of fine sub-compact. Not only does it check all the boxes that a sub-compact is expected to check but it does it in a way that delivers a really great feeling and fun to drive vehicle. After you drive the Mazda2 you’ll be convinced that it did indeed get a full ration of design resources from the Mazda home office.
The exterior styling is interesting and shall we say…cute. The Interior is purposeful, efficient, comfortable and contains the necessary equipment. It’s a high quality yet small and efficient car. Don’t expect to find leather seats or a navigation system. The Mazda2 is not about that.
It is powered by a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine with 100 horsepower and either a 5 speed manual or a 4 speed automatic transmission. The best EPA fuel economy numbers are 29 city and 35 highway. I could routinely get an indicated 40 mpg on the highway in my test vehicle.
Most cars in this class get excellent fuel economy, have efficient interior packaging, do pretty well in crashes for their size and aren’t terribly expensive. Most of them however don’t deliver a pleasant driving experience. They are frequently noisy, bumpy, buzzy and are something to be rationalized and endured rather than enjoyed.
The driving experience and the handling is where the Mazda2 really shines. It has surprisingly good power for an engine that is not much bigger than some motorcycles. It is solid, controlled and very composed.
This is the car that you can fall in love with all over again. You’ll bond with it. Its one that you’ll remember for years after it’s gone. You’ll treat it like a pet and you may even give it a name!
By Kelly Foss - MyCarData
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