2007 Mazda 2

What is it?

The all-new Mazda 2 supermini, which hits the UK in September. Its body and underpinnings will also be used on the new Ford Fiesta – due in 2008.

The 2 reverses a 15-year trend towards bigger, heavier superminis. It is about 10cm shorter than the current, recently-launched crop of hatchbacks such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 207, Renault Clio and Fiat Punto, without seeming to pay any significant penalty in reduced interior packaging, beyond conceding some boot space and a couple of centimetres of rear headroom.

Most important, with a kerb weight around 960 kilograms it is around 60kg lighter than the model it replaces, and up to 190 kilograms lighter than the porkiest of its contemporaries.

We drove the 102bhp 1.5-litre Sport five-door, which can do around 118mph flat out and accelerates from 0-60mph in around 10 seconds.

Two 1.3-litre versions, with either 74 or 85bhp, are also available.
What's it like?

From the first few yards, the Mazda 2 comes across as a sweet, easy-to-drive car with foolproof controls and steering that seems unusually accurate and reluctant to load up in hard corners (especially considering its all-electric power assistance).

The gearbox is quick-shifting and, to judge by the few decent bumps we could find, ride control is impressive.

Best of all, it feels sporty. The engine sounds purposeful but still refined at 6000rpm-plus, there is negligible body roll despite the reasonably relaxed suspension rates, and the car tucks in neatly if you throttle off in mid-corner near the limit.

Faults? The brake pedal seems rather spongy (though retardation is fine), the cabin materials quality isn’t in the Corsa class and we’ll reserve judgement on the car’s ride when fully laden, because lighter cars sometimes get unruly.
Should I buy one?

We'll have to wait until final UK details are confirmed to be sure. Prices look steep: they start around £8500 and ascend to £12,000, and we suspect you’ll pay £9500 minimum for a mid-spec TS2 model with the higher-power 1.3 litre, air conditioning, alloy wheels and a decent suite of airbags.

autocar

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Something really very special is going on with the new Mazda2. I don't mean the styling, though it is worlds away from its cereal-box predecessor.

Nor the drive, though that's certainly perky enough. No, it's the weight. Mazda has managed to cut 100kg, or around 10 percent, out of the car compared with the old one. This means it goes faster and use a lot less fuel.

Pretty well every generation-change of pretty well every other car locked into a cycle of porkiness. To have cracked it is an achievement. To have done it by as much as 10 percent is really making waves.

Especially in a supermini, where pennywise buyers won't pay for expensive stuff like aluminium. And where meeting crash standards is hard enough anyway, and harder still when you try to cut weight and size.

Yet here's the Mazda2, living proof it can be done. They tell us it's all set up for a five-star Euro-NCAP rating.

How? Well it's an all-new body structure, using a lot of newly developed steel that's four times as strong as the usual stuff and double the best you could get even five years ago.

I have to say I can't usually get myself too exited about the tensile properties of different steels (nor should you), but when the result is as useful as this I'll make an exception.

You don't just feel the result in performance though under 10secs to 60mph from a 1.5 is more than respectable. It's the whole way the car feels.

It's agile, quick to answer your bidding, lively into the turns and on the brakes, sharp to the throttle, a machine that dances where a fatboy Clio plods. Admittedly on this early short test run (it doesn't go on sale until September), it was hard to be definitive about all this, and there was a sense of slight imprecision to the motions.

It also seems Mazda has managed to go some way to addressing its old bogies, road noise and running refinement. The strong little body damps out noise well, and because the steering and gearbox have an agreeable heft to them, you get a car that feels light and small without being tinny.

It's a looker. Even as a five-door; a three-door follows next year. Mazda's characteristic emphasis on front wheelarches - the 2's designer did the RX-8 - goes a long way to disguising the long and high nose.

There's clever detailing: see the way that wheel-arch carries forward through the sidelight's arc. The stance, up to now a severe weakness in Japanese superminis, is down-the-road solid. Inside, it's simple, fresh and airy, though you could get picky about the low-grade plastics around the centre console.

The designers have been pretty strict about following their reduction mantra. Though the front and rear seats are no more cramped than they were in the old car, some things have had to give.

To make the back end stronger, the tailgate opening is smaller. To save weight, the seat-fold mechanism is simpler. Would you get too exercised about that loss? Thought not.

Not just an admirably focussed little car then, but one that's focussed on the likes of us.

And if it doesn't quite float your boat, remember the lightened engineering gets a second chance next year, because this platform will also sit under the next Fiesta. Here's hoping the Ford too stays off the pies.

tg

http://www.topgear.c...ves/068-mazda2/

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De la 9999 DDP pt 1.3 75cp, din octombrie. not bad. sa vedem si cu ce dotari vine la pretu ala 1 are 100kg mai putin, a slabit nu gluma.

Si sa nu uitam ca Mazda2=noul Fiesta, asa ca se pare ca si Fiesta va fi super agil si va beneficia de un sasiu fiert in vrej pt clasa mica. Abia astept sa-l vad.

In the tradition of the Hollywood weight loss diet, Mazda has now revealed how it managed to chop 100kg from its new Mazda2 supermini. Considering the fact that cars have been getting heavier due to increased safety features and higher feature specs, only a few car companies have managed to reverse the trend in their own cars. According to Mazda, 60% of the savings were made due to engineering, 20% by adjusting the features and another 20% by shrinking its dimensions.

Some of the adjustments made include the use of high and ultra-high tensile steels for lighter (and stronger) body and joint reinforcements, eliminating the underfloor catalyst, and changing the door-mounted speaker magnets to neodymium types.

We just hope other car manufacturers take notice of these changes and implement them in new models. It’s getting a little bit ridiculous for “sports” coupes to be nudging 1500+ kilos.

Click ahead for the full list of Mazda’s weight saving techniques.

Mazda2 engineers reduced weight by:
• use of high and ultra-high tensile steels for lighter (and stronger) body and joint reinforcements
• shortening the trailing arm of the rear suspension and giving the front lower arms an open-section design
• making the bonnet striker assembly smaller, the hinges thinner
• eliminating the underfloor catalyst (1.3-litre model)
• moving the fresh-air inlet to the top of the radiator shroud (doing away with the need for a resonator and baffle)
• making the wiring harness shorter
• changing the door-mounted speaker magnets to neodymium types and making the plastic moulding single-piece
• decreasing the length of the vehicle by 40 mm and height by 55 mm

Le tarif plancher sera de 11500 euros, cela pour la version 1.3 l 75 ch Harmonie 5 portes.

caradisiac

Alo... in Romania va costa 9900 ddp. E pret oficial.

http://www.daciaclub...p;id=1627414349 , rugina se pare la sudura de la teava de esapament.

sambata am facut un drive test cu noua Mazda 2,motor 1.4 benzina 86 cai
Exteriorul este excelent foarte reusit dinamic,echilibrat este alceva decat fosta mazda 2
Interiorul pozitia la volan corecta, spatiul bine utilizat,materialele de bunicica calitate dar f bine ansamblate,putine locuri unde sa-ti golesti buzunarele,portbagaj asa si asa,sacaune bine profilate.
Motorul este MINUNAT trage linear de la turati mici(pare un diesel)intre 2000 si 4500 de ture este superb dupa 5500 e mort.
Este buna masina de oras si nu numai.... este agila,f reactiva la schimbari de directie,mie mi-a dat o deosebita placere de a o conduce( au zburat cele 2 ore de condus).

Edited by danieldu, 24 October 2007 - 20:19.

romaximus, sper sa  te dezamagesc   !
Nu cred ca e rugina acolo, asa arata inoxul in zonele in care a fost sudat! Din ce se vede mi se pare ca sudura e facuta pe interior! Nu ai o fotografie cu rezolutie mai mare? Nu sunt nic eu suta la suta convins, totusi nu cred ca e rugina!

e rugina. Asa zicea insul de pe daciaclub care e din cate mi-am dat eu seama inginer auto sau ceva de genul asta. si il cred

romaximusro, on Oct 24 2007, 21:53, said:

HAHAHA!

Daca e rugina, atunci si noul BMW M3 este ruginit:

nu e rugina, asta clar! nu e Dacia lu tataie

chiar daca ar fi probleme de genul asta, macar la masinile expuse ar "masca" problema.

pai certati-va cu omu care a vazut pe viu faza ,nu cu mine da nu vad de ce ar fi mintit

Pune si un link la textul postului, nu numai la poza... Nu mai sunt si alte poze?

Edited by kodiak, 24 October 2007 - 21:22.

ce sa zic, e putin probabil, in opinia mea, ca la Mazda sa gasesti rugina. e parerea mea sincera

masinile nemtesti - e clar- nu au rugina (asta in spirit de gluma si pentru cei ce citesc printre randuri = astept reactii).

poate o fi fost vreun cutzu pe acolo si a facut pipi pe mazda... hmmm.

http://www.daciaclub...i...93&hl=mazda , omu zice ca pare ruginita deci poate sa fie , sau poate sa nu fie. Insa nu cred ca zicea daca nu era destul de sigur de asta

romaximusro, on Oct 24 2007, 22:29, said:

da mey si mertanu sl e ruginit.

acu nu mai exagerati si voi cu loganu ca va faceti naibii de ras  

adica ce pare asa de sf sa aiba rugina? doar ca scrie Mazda pe ea?