Mazda2 1.5 Sport Five-Door review
by David Finlay (26 November 2007)
I find myself becoming quite fond of the new Mazda2. I was never a fan of the previous model, but a few weeks ago I drove several models in the range at the UK press launch (see separate review) and thought, "hey, things are looking up." After a week in the company of the 1.5 Sport I'm more impressed still.
The 1.5 Sport sits at the top of the Mazda2 range. It's the only one fitted with the 102bhp 1498cc engine, and it also has the widest range of standard equipment, including 16" alloy wheels, low-profile tyres, front foglights, electric rear windows, climate control air-conditioning, automatic headlights and wipers, a trip computer, cruise control, six audio speakers, traction control and dynamic stability control, for all of which you pay just under £12,000 (or just over, if you choose the optional mica/metallic paint).
Now, in this day and age, 102bhp isn't an enormous amount of power, and it certainly isn't enough to qualify the Sport as a hot hatch. On the other hand, it does put it into the same league as various . . . what would you call them . . . "junior warm hatches", maybe. The Mazda is by no means the most exciting of these, but it's one of the ones you could live with for a long time rather than get tired of within a couple of days.
The performance isn't bad - certainly the most impressive in the 2 range - and it's matched by fine handling; there's lots of grip, the traction control is rarely needed, and there's a good balance between the front and back ends.
On top of all that, the Sport's ride quality is particularly high. The only disappointing aspect is a slight front-end bounce over a series of bumps, caused by the lack of overall length, and even then you'd have to be going pretty hard to notice it.
The shortness of the 2 is one result of Mazda's downsizing campaign. Contrary to the normal trend of small cars becoming larger every time they are updated, this 2 is considerably smaller than the previous model, with the welcome result that it's also nearly 100kg lighter.
Despite this, there's quite a lot of room inside. I'm well over six feet tall, but you could fit four of me inside the 2 without any problem, and none of us would complain about a lack of space.
The 2 isn't quite so impressive when it has to carry luggage. Open the tailgate and you find you have to negotiate heavy objects over a high sill and through a fairly narrow gap. The boot floor is also quite high (though you can raise it to reveal extra storage space) and when you fold down the 60/40 split rear seat you reveal an extended load area which is still a long way above the floor of the car.
This height issue limits the 2's carrying capacity to 250 litres when the rear seat is up and 787 litres (to roof level) when it's down. These figures are not disastrous, but they're not brilliant either, and in conjunction with the narrow tailgate opening they mean that the 2 is by no means the most practical car in its class.
It's also a devil for visibility. An excess of styling over practicality means that the glass area in the rear half of the car is quite inadequate, and the thick windscreen pillars require you to take extra care at junctions - the chances of you failing to see a cyclist or pedestrian at first glance are just too high.
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