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| Road Test Mazda2 1.5 Sport |
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Smaller And Better
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.
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