New 2012 Mazda2 Touring

JNR

Member
:
Mazda 2, Touring
Aquatic Blue Mica Touring AT. The car will be used for commuting and as transportation for my son to college. Just signed the deal tonight and will pick the car up Monday evening. This is car #59 for me and my last Mazda was a 2006 RX8 Shinka 6MT. I currently also own a 2011 Subaru WRX, 1991 GMC Syclone, 2002 Toyota Sequoia, and a 1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible. I have owned lots of performance cars over the years (S4 Audi's, M3, MCoupe, EVO, various GTI's, a VW R32...well you get the idea). As a result I am pretty jaded as a car guy but when I test drove the 2 this evening I immediately felt comfortable with the car. Sure its not fast (especially with the AT), but it has a nice interior and does handle pretty well in stock form. The test drive put a smile on my face and the blow-out pricing on the 2012's prompted me to buy it over a number of other cars I was considering. Looks like there are a few mods for the car to improve handling and braking, and a few low cost NA engine bolt-on's as well. Should be interesting and will be spending time searching the forum for various information about the car in the near future.

JNR
 
Welcome to Mazdas247/Mazda 2 Forum! Got any pics to share of any of your previous cars?
 
Welcome! Ask away about any mods, and most of all... enjoy the 2!
 
I can definitely tell you're a car guy, so you'll definitely love the 2.

P.s.- I'd love to see/hear more about the Cyclone :D
 
Welcome! I'm surprised you mentioned brakes, as I like them better tham most other cars I've had (stock for stock). Lots of goodies available now for this platform, certainly a fun car to own. Have to ask though, why the AT?
 
Thanks for the replies folks. I haven't spent any time in the car other than a short test drive on Saturday. The stock brakes felt fine to me and my comments about the mods just summarized my quick online glance at what was available for the car from a mod standpoint. You have to remember that I don't even have the car yet (pick it up tomorrow evening) so I have very little seat time. As to the choice of the automatic tranny it was puposefully purchased specifically for my son (who has never driven a manual tranny) to drive back and forth to college a couple of days a week. The balance of use will be me parking my WRX (and its high price premium fuel and mediocre gas mileage) and driving the 2 as a commuter for a 70mile roundtrip interstate drive which can consist of a lot of stop and go traffic so the auto will be fine for our uses. As you can imagine the WRX really sucks in those condtions but my left leg does get quite a work-out! So anyway, no, I would never buy an auto for myself. DSG or SMG yes but not a standard auto.

Here are some pics of a few of my old cars. The RX8 was stock with the exception of an RP supercat, Axial Flow SS, and a K&N Typhoon intake. The Typhoon was incredibly loud so that did not last long, but that was a great handling car even if it was a little low on torque.

RX8, Forester XT, Syclone, EVO and R32

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Sorry for the confusion on the double user name in this thread folks. I found the website the other night and forgot that I had frequented the site previously when I was looking at MS3's. Anyway when I signed-up yesterday I used a different username (JNR) and my new email address. Anyway thats why this thread was started by me as JNR but I replied to the thread under my original username N10S. Confusing eh? So now you know, and I will continue to use the N10S user name as thats what I normally use on most performance car forums...

Perhaps the mods can kill the JNR username and leave the N10S username in place?

Thanks,
 
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Nice forester! What suspension mods did you have on it? I recently had two that had been worked quite a bit... an '03x and '00s with complete wrx drivetrain. Also had an '03 wrx just prior to those. I miss those subarus, but 35 mpg and regular fuel sure are nice.
 
Welcome to the forum..

My wife has a 2 and she wanted lowering springs to make the car feel like her mazda 3 felt stock. It was a bit like driving a marshmellow and she felt it was dangerous.

I installed Ebach springs on it and now the car feels even better, It is something that should have happened at the factory. The car is too soft.

Get some springs and you will be happy.
 
The Forester was a pretty cool car. A lot of Forester folks prefer the Forester Sti springs which are firmer, and lower the car a little, but not without sacrificing the forester off-path utility clearance. I was running a set of inverted Sti pink struts off of a 2004 usdm Sti, the springs were the full on jdm pinks off of the WRX sti so the car was pretty low and firm. Handled great actually. I had issues with the struts clunking and had to grease them periodically, but for me it was well worth the price. The front sway of the Forester XT is the same as the Sti and I also upgraded the RSB to an STi unit. The BBS wheels and tires were off of a 2004 Sti. Engine mods included Sti TMIC, Sti VF39 turbo, catless uppipe, Cobb DP mated to a ProDrive exhaust, and running a special Cobb stage 2 tune for those specific FXTi mods. Pretty good balance of performance and utility and it usually had a roof rack with mountain bikes sitting on it.

Btw- Picked the 2 up tonight. Its a neat little car and very comfortable.Good solid feeling suspension that sort of reminded me of a miniature version of the MKV GTi I used to have. Handles chatter bumps pretty well without getting unsettled. I think the worst thing I discovered in my initial drive was that the auto tranny runs at a pretty high RPM at 70 but otherwise ran and handled pretty well. Also rear vsion is not the greatest in the world, but also not the worst as my Gti did have a terrible blind-spot as well.Overall we are happy with the car and it should be a fun car to own and based on my look at the various mods cheap to modify.
 
Congrats JNR.... umm I mean N10S.

Coming from a 2008 VW R32 myself it's interesting that a lot of us that used to own some sort of more powerful sporty car now own and appreciate a Mazda 2. That says something I think. Fun to drive.

If you ever need any aftermarket parts just let me know! Welcome. :)
 
Sounds like a well-sorted foz.

My '03x had 17x7 superleggeras with falken 912's, JDM Forester STI takeoffs (full assembly from japan), rear USDM STI swaybar and mounts, kartboy endlinks front and rear. STi motor mounts, pitch mount, and tranny mount. Kartboy short shifter, shift bushings, and tranny crossmember bushings. Equal length header-back exhaust, custom, catless exhaust, DIY/home depot intake, agency crank pulley, stainless brake lines, porterfeld rear shoes and hawk front pads.

'00 XS Had an '03 WRX EJ20T and '07 WRX tranny, ACT HD clutch and street light flywheel. USDM WRX front subframe and control arms, USDM STi rear subframe. STi motor mounts and pitch mount, DIY hardened tranny mount, STi short shift linkage, Kartboy shift bushings and tranny crossmember bushing. STi/FHI 4-pot front brakes, Legacy H6 rear brake rotor upgrade, stoptech pads, stainless lines. Rebuilt and re-valved JDM Forester STi takeoff suspension with zerk fittings, Whiteline 24mm adj front swaybar with kartboy endlinks, Perrin 24mm rear swaybar and spherical bearing endlinks. 17x7.5 RPF1's with 225/50 sport comps. Catless up-pipe, stromung catless downpipe, JDM zero-sports cat-back. Tuned at Top Speed with a cobb accessport V2 ~245 whp and ~260 wtq.

I thought I was going to take those JDM FSTi suspension assemblies to my grave. Lots of ground clearance, nice firm spring rates, even more overbuilt than the WRX STi dampers were. FEAL rebuilt them for me with a tweak to the valving since I wanted to get the "pink" springs for them, but I never got around to it, mainly because price for a new part like that from japan would have been over $500 with shipping. I think when I got rid of that forester there were 2 sets of those in the US.
I had lots of airtime in the forester just before pulling those off the n/a, and they just never flinched. They did clunk though which is why I had the zerk fittings added.
 
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Congrats JNR.... umm I mean N10S.

Coming from a 2008 VW R32 myself it's interesting that a lot of us that used to own some sort of more powerful sporty car now own and appreciate a Mazda 2. That says something I think. Fun to drive.

If you ever need any aftermarket parts just let me know! Welcome. :)

Yeah, that username was a weird bit eh? I signed-up and tried to use my typical username but it said it was already used, so I went with my second choice. Then by force of habit I logged on with my other log-in. Guess that "I" was the other guy that had my username tied-up.

Always seems like there are interesting parallels with car owner purchasing habits. The MKV R32 is definitely a nice car with one of the sweetest exhaust tones on the planet. Over the years I have had 15 VW's (all water cooled) and of those 6 were GTi's and one the R32. I have always loved the VW GTI since buying my first brand new Rabbit GTI back in 1984. My current 2011 WRX is a pretty basic daily driver, but compared to my first 2002 WRX its a heck of a lot more car even in stock trim. I had an M2 Performance stage 3 kit with a VF23 turbo on that bugeye. It was really well-sorted but my current WRX with a simple ots stage 1 map is every bit as fast. Pretty ugly gas mileage though at around 23-24mpg. Thats why I will be driving the Mazda2 to work on the days my son is not using it. This will help me justify the costs associated with buying another car.

Bottom line for me is that I have always enjoyed driving performance cars. I learned a long time ago though that a fun-to-drive car does not have to be "fast", and in particular I love driving little cars that handle well and provide a connected-to-the-road feel. We have an old 1989 E30 325is as an "extra" car. Not fast, but I tell you what that car handles really well even on its oe suspsension set-up. I have dreams of dropping an M3 engine into that one day. :) Bottom line is that after looking at and driving a number of small subcompact type cars, the Mazda2 was the only one that made me think "yep, this is the one". Lightweight and agile, it provides a solid baseline for a fun to drive car. Now I will have to see how long I can put off modifying the car!
 
Sounds like a well-sorted foz.

My '03x had 17x7 superleggeras with falken 912's, JDM Forester STI takeoffs (full assembly from japan), rear USDM STI swaybar and mounts, kartboy endlinks front and rear. STi motor mounts, pitch mount, and tranny mount. Kartboy short shifter, shift bushings, and tranny crossmember bushings. Equal length header-back exhaust, custom, catless exhaust, DIY/home depot intake, agency crank pulley, stainless brake lines, porterfeld rear shoes and hawk front pads.

'00 XS Had an '03 WRX EJ20T and '07 WRX tranny, ACT HD clutch and street light flywheel. USDM WRX front subframe and control arms, USDM STi rear subframe. STi motor mounts and pitch mount, DIY hardened tranny mount, STi short shift linkage, Kartboy shift bushings and tranny crossmember bushing. STi/FHI 4-pot front brakes, Legacy H6 rear brake rotor upgrade, stoptech pads, stainless lines. Rebuilt and re-valved JDM Forester STi takeoff suspension with zerk fittings, Whiteline 24mm adj front swaybar with kartboy endlinks, Perrin 24mm rear swaybar and spherical bearing endlinks. 17x7.5 RPF1's with 225/50 sport comps. Catless up-pipe, stromung catless downpipe, JDM zero-sports cat-back. Tuned at Top Speed with a cobb accessport V2 ~245 whp and ~260 wtq.

I thought I was going to take those JDM FSTi suspension assemblies to my grave. Lots of ground clearance, nice firm spring rates, even more overbuilt than the WRX STi dampers were. FEAL rebuilt them for me with a tweak to the valving since I wanted to get the "pink" springs for them, but I never got around to it, mainly because price for a new part like that from japan would have been over $500 with shipping. I think when I got rid of that forester there were 2 sets of those in the US.
I had lots of airtime in the forester just before pulling those off the n/a, and they just never flinched. They did clunk though which is why I had the zerk fittings added.

Zerk fittings eh..., sounds like an interesting solution! Other than the clunking those inverted Sti struts were pretty awesome. Sounds like you had some nice mods on that 03' X. I was trying to find some Sti brakes when I ended-up trading my FXt for the RX8. I do like Subaru's a lot though, and am always amazed at how easy they are to work on. Gotta be careful with the new 2.5 turbo though as they are finnicky and not tolerant of detonation.
 
One quick new Mazda2 owner question. How many keyless entry keys are you supposed to get? My car came with one regular key and one switchblade keyless entry key. I did a search on the forum but didn't see anything pop-up. I plan on asking the dealer, but I figured it would be nice to know whether I should even bother with bugging them about it or not. Most cars I have purchased come with two keyless and one or more standard keys, so I feel somewhat cheated. :)
 
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Zerk fittings eh..., sounds like an interesting solution! Other than the clunking those inverted Sti struts were pretty awesome. Sounds like you had some nice mods on that 03' X. I was trying to find some Sti brakes when I ended-up trading my FXt for the RX8. I do like Subaru's a lot though, and am always amazed at how easy they are to work on. Gotta be careful with the new 2.5 turbo though as they are finnicky and not tolerant of detonation.

The brembos are nice but I didn't have any brake fade issues since the foresters weren't really fast enough to overheat the brakes. I did have some issues on the wrx though and had to be really careful not to "warp" the rotors and they would get super hot...also cooked the front wheel bearings on that one as well. That was with the fhi 4pot setup, rbf600, and ferrodo 2500 pads.
 
1 switchblade and 1 regular come with the car. I had the same question when I bought my car too. You can get another switchblade key on ebay for around $40 if you are interested. Get it copied at the dealership or a trusted hardware store and follow these directions to program it-
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...azda2-(Demio-2007)-Duplicating-Remote-Car-Key

Thanks for the confirmation on the provided keys. Looks like I can breathe easy knowing the dealership isn't squirreling away my extra remote key in some drawer full of extras.... I appreciate the key source info and link to the DIY for programming the key.
 
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