Browse over 9,000 car reviews

Mazda2 2015 review: snapshot

EXPERT RATING
7
Australia’s favourite city car gets an all-new look inside and out.

Australia’s favourite city car gets an all-new look inside and out.

Small no longer has to mean boring. Mazda has brought its sweeping “zoom-zoom” design and a fancy iPad-style cabin control panel to the city-car class.

The Japanese company has taken the covers off its new pint-sized Mazda2 this week ahead of its arrival in Australian showrooms later this year.

The Mazda2 was the top-selling car in its class last year despite nearing the end of its eight-year model life.

It was supposed to be replaced two years ago, at the six-year mark, but Mazda decided to switch the order and introduced the new Mazda3 first because it’s a bigger selling and more profitable model.

Suffice to say, there is a lot riding on the new Mazda2 and it can’t come soon enough.

So far this year the mini-Mazda is the second-best seller in its class behind the Hyundai i20 and ahead of the Toyota Yaris.

But the Mazda2 is still by far the favourite among private buyers across Australia, as its peers have a bigger slice of the fleet and rental-car markets.

It means when it comes to buyers putting their own hands in their own pockets to pay for a new car, the baby Mazda2 is king.

Unlike some new models that are a refresh of the previous version -- in other words, last night’s dinner reheated -- the new Mazda2 truly is all new, from the ground up, inside and out, and under the bonnet, where there will be a choice of two 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engines (no diesel and no hybrid options).

The new model is longer and taller than before (although the same width) and roomier inside because there is now a greater distance between the front and the rear wheels, creating more floorspace and a bigger gap between the front and rear seats.

Translated: this means the new Mazda2 will have more kneeroom for front and rear passengers.

The larger footprint (the distance between all four tyres) also means it should be more stable and sure-footed in corners and on bumpy roads.

The longer body means there is more boot space, although we don’t yet know for sure exactly how much extra cargo capacity there is because Mazda is yet to release details.

But the sweeping design with the sloping rear roofline is understood to have come the expense of some practicality. Box-shaped cars are the most space-efficient but Mazda has shied away from this look since the original 2 bowed out in 2007. 

As is increasingly the norm with new-car launches, Mazda has chosen to drip-feed information about the next generation Mazda2, in part to not grind sales of the current model to a complete stop, and also to drum-up interest in the new version.

The Mazda2 has been selling from $15,990 drive-away for close to two years (about $3000 off its full RRP) so the industry is watching closely to see if it can maintain this low price point.

Customarily, prices rise with the arrival of an all-new model, but the Australian market is too competitive for Mazda to raise prices suddenly.

Mazda may have one more ace up its sleeve. There is a strong chance the new Mazda2 may come to Australia from Thailand rather than Japan, which would give Mazda instant access to a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand that would eliminate the 5 per cent import tariff.

Production costs in Thailand are also at least one-third less than those in Japan. But Mazda Australia has so far refused to confirm where the Mazda2 will be sourced from for the local market.

Despite all this, car makers say that currency fluctuations have a bigger impact on new-car prices than do Free Trade deals.

Carsguide got a brief test drive of the new Mazda2 in Japan last month.

The car was a disguised prototype. All the parts fit together but they weren’t finished to production-ready standards.

We drove two laps on a perfectly smooth race track, so any assessment of what it’s like over bumps or in stop-start traffic will have to wait until another day.

The engine in the car we tested was a low-powered European version, where low emissions matter more than performance. So it felt a little sluggish. Good thing we’re not getting that engine, then.

So what can we tell you? There will be a lot more technology available in the new Mazda2, much of it borrowed from its bigger brother the Mazda3, such as app-like cabin control functions, but we don’t yet know how far down the model line-up they will appear.

There will likely be three models in the new range and, if the larger Mazda3 line-up is a guide, the cool-looking iPad panel won’t make it into the cheapest Mazda2 models.

In the limited time behind the wheel, it’s clear Mazda hasn’t sacrificed the fun-to-drive feeling in its new, more upmarket-looking car. In fact, it’s a safe bet the Mazda2 will be one of the better cars in its class to drive.

Only two questions remain: the purchase price, and the running costs. Mazda recenty adopted capped price servicing, but it’s among the dearest in the business.

After all this effort creating an all-new car, it’s likely the biggest room for improvement in the new Mazda2 will be bringing down the cost of its routine servicing.

At the moment, the current model is dearer to service than a Volkswagen Golf (more than $1650 over three years). C’mon guys, you can do better than that.

Pricing guides

$15,985
Based on 130 cars listed for sale in the last 6 months
Lowest Price
$8,950
Highest Price
$21,990

Range and Specs

VehicleSpecsPrice*
Maxx 1.5L, ULP, 6 SP AUTO $9,130 – 12,870 2015 Mazda 2 2015 Maxx Pricing and Specs
Neo 1.5L, ULP, 6 SP MAN $8,250 – 11,550 2015 Mazda 2 2015 Neo Pricing and Specs
Neo 1.5L, ULP, 6 SP AUTO $9,240 – 13,090 2015 Mazda 2 2015 Neo Pricing and Specs
Maxx 1.5L, ULP, 6 SP MAN $8,470 – 11,990 2015 Mazda 2 2015 Maxx Pricing and Specs
EXPERT RATING
7
Joshua Dowling
National Motoring Editor

Share

Disclaimer: The pricing information shown in the editorial content (Review Prices) is to be used as a guide only and is based on information provided to Carsguide Autotrader Media Solutions Pty Ltd (Carsguide) both by third party sources and the car manufacturer at the time of publication. The Review Prices were correct at the time of publication.  Carsguide does not warrant or represent that the information is accurate, reliable, complete, current or suitable for any particular purpose. You should not use or rely upon this information without conducting an independent assessment and valuation of the vehicle.