The Mazda 2 was the 2008 World Car of the Year. It also just missed out in winning the Wheels 2008 Car of the Year and Won Australia’s Best Cars (Best Small car) in the same year. Achieving all of these accolades (and possibly more), would indicate that this wouldn’t be a bad car. These weren’t the reasons I bought it in Sept 2008, during the Mazda “M-Day” promotion. I decided on this car for a number of different reasons; my contact at Mazda promised to give me an unbeatable price; my wife liked the car (this was going to be my wife’s car); style/great to look at for this price point (especially in the pearl white colour); relatively cheap to run and maintain; best resale value in the class; 5 star NCAP safety rating; reliable.

Owning the car for nearly 3.5 years since, it has not missed a beat. My wife predominantly drove the car for the first 2 years and since then, I’ve been the main driver. This is just the perfect car for city commutes. I love how easy it is to drive and manoeuvre and to park in tight car parks. I love how cheap it is to fill with petrol every week. I love how the 6 monthly Mazda service sets me back around $250 per service (I think this is on the cheaper side). This car dominated the small car class for approximately 2 years, until the Ford Fiesta was released. A few motoring journalists at that time still considered the Mazda 2 as the car to beat. But most thought that the Ford edged out the Mazda 2 to be the new class leader. Even though I have not driven the Ford, I can safely say that the Ford neither has the quality or the great resale figures of the Mazda.

Is there anything bad to say about this car? Not really. But if you want to be really picky then the following can be considered as minor weaknesses:

• Engine a little harsh and noisy when revved
• Interior plastics are a little cheap
• Boot is too small even for this class