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What’s it like?
Mazda’s 2 is an intriguing alternative to the mainstream, as it – unlike pretty much all its rivals – eschews turbocharging and small capacity engines, in favour of a fuel-efficient, normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol unit. It has been on sale for a decade now and in that time has gained mild-hybrid technology and a couple of facelifts, but in essence there have been no major upheavals in the Mazda2’s line-up.
A rival for European heavyweights such as the Ford Fiesta, Opel Corsa, Volkswagen Polo, Renault Clio, Peugeot 208, SEAT Ibiza and Skoda Fabia, among more, as well as alternatives from its Japanese homeland such as the Honda Jazz, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Micra, the Mazda2 drives sweetly and has some useful onboard tech, although it’s not the biggest supermini in the world – certainly in terms of rear-seat space and boot capacity – and some might find its lack of torque (brought about by Mazda’s refusal to turbocharge the car) makes it more tiring to drive in traffic. Nevertheless, it’s reliable and it’s good to look at, so it’s worth checking out on the used market.
Which model to go for?
This is quite simple, because by far the most common engine you’ll find in second-hand Mazda2s here is the 1.5-litre petrol unit, badged as ‘Skyactiv-G’. This was sold in 75-, 90- and 115hp formats, and we’d advocate going for at least the 90hp variant for acceptable daily performance. In 2020, this engine was given mild-hybrid assistance (badged as ‘M-Hybrid’), and gearboxes are either a five-speed manual on lower-powered versions, or a six-speed unit on the 115hp and any M-Hybrid-equipped model.
You may find a handful of the 1.3-litre automatic versions here, but they will typically be imports and are easily identified as they will be sold as the Mazda Demio, which was the name for the Mazda2 in its homeland of Japan. There was also, for a brief period, a 1.5-litre turbodiesel with 105hp called the Skyactiv-D, but this was discontinued in 2019 and the petrol versions are so efficient that the diesel didn’t sell that well when new – so they’re much harder to find used.
Does anything go wrong?
Very rarely – the engines and drivetrains are mechanically simple. About the most common fault with this generation of Mazda2 relates to the air conditioning, so check on any car with it fitted that the system blows out ice-cold air from the vents in the passenger compartment. Beyond that, as something which will have undoubtedly spent much of its time in cities and tight urban motoring, you’re checking for the usual battle scars on the bodywork and badly kerbed alloy wheels.
Mazda issued just three recalls for the third-generation 2, which were for a deformed impeller in the low-pressure fuel pump; excessive wear on the high-pressure fuel pipe; and a defective ECU for the direct-current converter.