Mazda2 3DR Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Mazda2 three-door range
Prices: £8,899-£12,817 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 3-5
Emissions: 114-140g/km
Performance: [1.3 86PS] 0-60mph 12.9s / Max Speed 107mph
Fuel Consumption: [1.3 86PS] (urban) 40.9mpg / (extra urban) 61.4mpg / (combined) 52.3mpg
Safety: Twin front & side airbags
Dimensions: length/width/height 3885/1958/1475mm

2 CUTE

Our Rating: 7.1 / 10

The Mazda2 is quite a sharp piece of styling in five-door guise but the three-door model is prettier still. Andy Enright reports

Take any good looking five-door hatchback and it’ll be guaranteed you can make a better looking car by doing away with the rear doors. So it proves in the case of the Mazda2. The three-door variant is about as cheeky as superminis get and drives pretty well too. Not many small hatches have this much instant ‘want one’ factor.

You’ll be excused if you haven’t heard of the Mazda2 before. Compared to more well known Mazda fare such as the MX-5 and the RX-8, this supermini hasn’t really made much of a dent on the national car-buying consciousness. It was first introduced in 2003, being effectively a rebodied Ford Fusion with a slightly better interior. This in itself would seem to make it worth buying, but people went with what they knew and sales were modest. Fast forward to 2007 and the launch of the all-new five-door Mazda2 and here was a car that had road testers raving. Lighter, prettier and more capable than its predecessor, this generation Mazda2 was made of the right stuff.

When the wraps came off the three-door version of the car at the 2008 Geneva Show, Mazda must have been confident of a sales winner. It might take some determined promotion to do the trick, but the hardware is certainly in place now.

With this generation of Madza2, history has, to a certain extent, repeated itself. It shares its underpinnings with the next generation Fiesta. What is novel is that this time round, Mazda got a good run at the market before the Ford is launched – it’s similar in many respects to Volkswagen letting the Skoda Fabia off the leash with the all-new Polo chassis first. The chassis itself is simple but very rigid, Mazda using MacPherson strut front suspension and a torsion beam at the back to keep costs down. It’s the same set-up the five-door car uses and is none the worse for it.

In this price bracket, most buyers will opt for petrol power where there’s a choice of 75 or 86ps 1.3-litre engines or a vaguely sporty 102ps 1.5. Dealers will also sell you 1.4-litre 68ps and 1.6 90ps diesel versions. There’s clever electronic power steering assistance, so nipping in and out of small spaces around schools and supermarkets is a doddle. The suspension too is nicely balanced, managing to combine comfort and suppleness, yet it doesn’t allow the drive to wallow overly around the bends. The power s

With its steeply rising waist line, elegantly sculpted flanks and subtly bulging wheel arches, the Mazda2 three-door is a case study in how to build a perfectly proportioned supermini. Even at rest, it looks as if it’s charged up and ready to roll, and with even bigger wheels than the stock rims it could look absolutely potent. With a drag coefficient of just 0.31, it’s not just a pretty shape either. At the front, there’s the traditional V-shaped Mazda grille and the headlights are very deftly smeared into the front bumper assembly. Likewise the tail lights are neatly integrated into the tailgate which, from a practical perspective, doesn’t have the widest aperture as a result. Still, when budget small cars like the Proton Satria Neo now look as good as they do, the expectation for a company such as Mazda is cranked ever higher.

The three-door features a mechanism that tips the front seatback and slides the seat forward for one of the segment’s widest access widths. A relatively long 2490mm wheelbase ensures that spec in the rear isn’t too claustrophobic although the rising waistline means that smaller kids may have a job seeing out. The interior features a number of welcome design touches such as a glove box with integrated magazine rack. There’s also a floor console between the front seats with a large rear tray affixed. In total there’s 250 litres of storage space which isn’t half bad for a supermini.

Although hot hatch fans will be disappointed to hear that there’s no tyre-shredding MPS model to go toe to toe with the likes of the Vauxhall Corsa VXR and Renaultsport Clio 200, for those looking for a more sedate pedal there’s a lot to offer. Even the entry-level 75ps 1.3 gets get a decent kit quotient. This runs to ABS with Brake Assist and EBD, driver and front passenger airbags, remote central locking with deadlocks, electric front windows, driver seat height adjust, CD radio with AUX jack and two speakers, multi-function glovebox with magazine rack, Thatcha