Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £9,295 to £13,845
Spaciousness, practicality, good engines, low running costs.
Patchy interior finish, not as dynamic a drive as Mazda would like you to believe.
Practical car and worthwhile all-rounder, but brings nothing new to the supermini party; and certainly not the essence of zoom.
The Mazda 2 represents the second mainstream car in Mazda's re-emergence as a manufacturer of competitive, credible cars. It replaces the odd-looking Demio in the UK (and is called Demio in Japan, although the UK and Japanese versions differ heavily), and is thus the first normal-ish supermini that Mazda has marketed since the re-badged-Fiesta that was the 121 - which very few bought.
The 2, however, is a Mazda model in its own right. Well, almost. Under the skin, it's a Ford Fusion, more or less (it's more Fusion than Demio, anyway), which is one reason why it has a similarly high roof, and probably accounts for its slightly awkward profile around the rear three-quarter view, which is not as 'zoom-zoom' as the front. The 2 is the first proper European-built Mazda (the 121 was built at Dagenham, but it was really just a re-badged Fiesta), being assembled at Ford's Valencia plant where the Fiesta and Fusion are manufactured.
