Hmm, a lot of the reviews on the 2 seem to be polarized, depending on if you looking at the car from a value/practicality point of view or from a drivers perspective. I think you'll find that a lot of diehard Mazda fans are passionate about the latter. Which negatives were you concerned about? I think from a value/praticality point of view, most may find the car lacking in size and anmenities, and maybe the average person just doesn't want to be too engaged in the actual driving part. (At least that's what I think.) From a strictly driving perspective, the car is a hoot, it begs you to drive it faster around corners, it may not have a lot of grunt but I think what it has is quite adequate for its size and weight. The weight plays a big role here.
This video might be a little on the propaganda side but I personally think the Mazda engineers had the right idea when they built the current generation 2. The whole Mazda Stories series really shows you how much thought actually goes into designing a vehicle.
In the end, it ultimately depends on what you value in a vehicle. Sure, the Mazda2 isn't going to win many 'cool looking car pageants', doesn't have all the cool tech gadgets car companies think we need, and you definitely can't fit your whole life into it. IMO, i think we American's drive around with much more car than then we actually need in a day to day basis. Both price wise and size/weight wise. On the reliability side, it's solid. Sooner than later you will get interior rattles here and there. Steering issues seem to only plague the 2011's. Maintenance wise, its light and doesn't make a lot of power, mechanical parts will be living with a lot less stress. Economic wise, it's a very decent car, might be a bit edged out by it's other sub-compact competitors in terms of MPG, but 30-35mpg is not too shabby though! To some, the car is basically a early 1990's compact car wrapped in a modern body. It really is just an honest little get from point A to B car in that aspect. But it sure does make that point A to point B fun, which is something that comes with all Mazdas, but it does seem the smaller, the funner.
Growing up driving and wrenching on sporty RWD coupes, I never saw myself enjoying a little economy box like the 2. Boy was I wrong! Even after 2 years, I'm still loving this little thing. I wring every little bit out of the 1.5 liter at autocross events, and she never complains, handles exceptionally well too. Puts many of the more powerful and performance minded cars to shame. Hey, you can have fun in a slow car! If you want to race them, modification wise they don't require much at all, good factory and aftermarket support too, as with all Mazdas. Cargo wise, i never really carry much with me or have many passengers either, I was a bit worried if i could haul a surfboard around without a roof rack, but they fit alright with the passenger seat laid back. I can still fit a buddy sitting behind me on the drivers side, and still have the trunk for a cooler and our other junk. Gadget wise, I just plug my phone into the aux jack and listen to my Pandora stations and I have a fancy CD tray mount so I can use Waze (my GPS app) keeping my phone in a nice visible spot. Gets way better gas mileage than the cars I used to drive, $30ish dollars a tank isnt bad at all! The tank isn't too big which isn't a problem, range wise is about 275 to 300 miles. Parking is a breeze. And she doesn't ask for much in terms of upkeep, replacement parts are cheap as well.
The 2 checked off all the right boxes for me. Economic, Lightweight, Simple, Fun to drive, Just enough practicality for an everyday commute.
Plus, i think its awesome how a few of the reviewers compare the 2 to a playful puppy. Who doesn't like puppies?
EDIT: Holy crap, that ended up being alot longer than I intended... Well, there's my review... LOL.
