Tag: Mazda 2

Posted on

1 Month and 1000 Miles

Recently I took a several hundred mile road trip in the 2. With a full load of people I was able to test out the car under a maximum capacity scenario. The car had 4 passengers and several bags in the trunk. Initially I wasn’t sure how well everything would fit into such a small car. After loading up the hatch, everything ended up fitting in just fine. If it were an overnight trip it would have been a bit cramped with the extra baggage we would have had in the hatch.

The trip we took was down the beautiful Columbia gorge to Parkdale Oregon. The trip had plenty of hills, twisty roads, and elevation to really put the Mazda 2 to the test. The twisty roads and the hills were great fun even with the loaded up car. The 2 handled great even through the large sweepers with the extra weight. The car has plenty of power still to overtake cars in the passing lanes with a down shift to 4th gear. The only time I had any moments were I wished for more power was climbing the hill outside of Hood River to Parkdale. When the altitude starts really climbing the fully loaded car could use about 10-20 more horsepower.

The 2 averaged 33 miles per gallon on the drive. This was mostly at highway speeds of 55-60 mph with the hill climbs. I consider this really good mileage considering the driving conditions. The drive from Hood River to Parkdale was in 4th gear climbing the elevation for about 20-25 minutes. I also had plenty of spots where I was gunning it coming out of corners too. I had thought the drive would have made a bigger dent in the fuel economy.

The 6 speaker stereo in the 2 sounds great and is easy to use. The Aux input jack for the factory stereo made it handy to hook up an MP3 player and keep the driving tunes going without having to load CDs. I found myself adjusting the volume knob on the stereo and not the steering wheel though. I think it is just from habit from my old car and once I get used to using it more it will be natural.

After we returned I asked the other passengers their thoughts about our 3 hour adventure in the Mazda 2. There were no complaints and there were plenty of praises for how comfortable the seats are. One other complement for the 2 was about the drink holders. Counting the spaces in the front doors you have spots for 5 bottles of water. As the driver I did not have any problems finding a comfortable driving position.

Having driven the new Mazda 2 for a month and putting 1000 miles on it I can say that the fun driving factor has not worn off. I look forward to driving the car each chance I get. I give the Mazda 2 an A+ for a road trip vehicle.

– Derrick

Posted on

The Mazda 2 Arrives!

Its Here!

On Wednesday around noon I picked up my liquid silver Mazda 2 at the port in Tacoma, Washington. 10 miles is what the Mazda 2 had on it from the trip out of the factory, on to a ship, off the same ship, and around a really big parking lot. After an inspection of the 2 and peeling off a bunch of white protective stickers I was on my way to the gas station. Mazda doesn’t put much fuel in the cars at the factory.

The first things that jumped out at me: I love the clutch and the shifter. The clutch engagement is precise and you know when it is engaging. The shifter really reminds me of a Miata. It is precise in motion and the feedback from gear engagement is very clear.

After filling up with fuel I headed to I-5 and spent the next two hours driving south to CorkSport. With the light curb weight of the Mazda 2 the 100hp engine makes getting on the freeway was really effortless. I shifted at 4000 rpm going through the gears to get to 5th gear @ 60 MPH. The 1.5 liter engine has some pretty decent torque making freeway driving a breeze. I did not have to downshift at any point on the 136 mile drive back.

The Mazda 2 is really quiet in the cab on the freeway. Road noise is minimal and I have a feeling that most of the noise was from the tires. We will test out the noise down the road later when we upgrade the Mazda 2 with different wheels and tires.

The Mazda 2 really feels like a small Mazda 3. All of the interior, switch gear, gauges, everything feels really solid. The radio sounds good and is easy to use. The preset buttons are a little weird being on the right side of the face but it is easy enough to work around once your presets are in.

My verdict on the Mazda 2 is that this car is well worth the wait. When I arrived at CorkSport after the two hour drive I had a big smile on my face. This is a great car which has tons of potential.

Check out the Mazda 2 Project on our CorkSport webpage for updates on the car. We already have started development on parts and we will be updating the progress of the Mazda 2 as often as we can.

– Derrick

Posted on

The Elusive Mazda 2

In early April I placed an order for a green, Touring package, 5 speed Mazda 2 the first day you could order one. I made it clear that I wanted to get one of the first shipment vehicles with the dealership. Several weeks later I received a call that I could not get a green Mazda 2 touring model with a 5 speed transmission before the end of July at best. The reason being is the first several productions of the Mazda 2 there were no green touring 5 speed models built. There were green models built just none that matched my criteria. They did have the crystal pearl white model in the 5 speed touring available in the vehicles coming to the US. So I chose the white Mazda 2 and after thinking about it for a while and seeing pictures of it grew on me.

Early this week I received a telephone call. The dealership was confirming the model I wanted and the sales staff there found a problem. The white car on order for me was a white sport model with an automatic transmission. I am happy they realized the car was not what I wanted except for the color. The bad news is my choice of colors was down at two now. I could get a black or silver Mazda 2 if I want one in July. If I want any of the other colors like white or green I would be looking at August at the best. I gave it some thought and I have chosen to get a silver car. Not my first or second choice but it should do the trick. It will make my Mt Dew style graphics job a bit more difficult but I think we can manage to make a show stopper.

– Derrick

Posted on

Portland Auto Show AKA Derrick checks out the Mazda 2

I went to the Portland Auto Show a few weekends ago to see the new cars for the upcoming year, I know we’ve talked about it already but I really wanted to talk about it. Ok, ok you got me, I really just want another opportunity to talk about / drool over the Mazda 2. Mazda brought a standard model green version to the show. They had it on a fancy display pedestal surrounded with one of those black rope separators you use to keep people in line at the bank.

My first thought after seeing the car in person is “small”. Seeing it in pictures and looking at one in person gives you a better scale of a vehicle size. If you haven’t seen a Mazda 2 in person it is bigger than a 88-92 Ford Festiva but smaller than a 90-94 323 hatchback.

On the outside the cars lines look better than pictures have shown. I walked around the car checking it out from all angles and I couldn’t find a spot that look off or I would want to change right off the bat. The wheels they used on the Mazda 2 are a good looking 8 spoke wheel.

One thing I did not see was the cool looking tail lights that can bee seen on the Japanese models. You can see the LED pattern in the tail light housing below. If they are not an option for North America we will be importing the lights.

I wasn’t allowed to hop in the car but I was able to get a good look at the inside. It is roomy for a small car. The inside of the car says Mazda 3. The trim, and design of the interior will make any Mazda 3 owners feel right at home. I had a chance to ride in a 2008 model tuned by AutoExe in Tokyo several years ago. The interior looks really close to the earlier models not sold in North America. Mazda says the interiors for the North America models will be upgraded and have a better feel. I am thinking this will be quality of materials more than styling.

Last but not least Mazda was giving away cool cans of Mazda 2 energy drink! They told me it tastes like Red Bull but I and going to save this souvenir.


Can -O-Zoom

While I was at the show I checked out the Ford Fiesta to see how close it was to the 2 since they share the same platform. The fit and finish of the Ford left something to be desired. From the exterior to the interior styling you can see where Mazda had put in little touches to make the car look or perform better. Even the exhaust on the Mazda 2 looked better constructed than the Fiesta.

After my trip to the auto show I can say I still want a Mazda 2 and I can’t wait to get one.

– Derrick

Posted on

What is Mazda Up to?

I looked up the vehicle market share to see how Mazda did in the US over the last year. I was surprised to find that Mazda only accounts for 2% of the market. I have known Mazda is a smaller player in the market but I didn’t realize it was that small. If you look at what Mazda brings to the table you realize they do very well with what they sell. Looking at the product lines, Mazda has a vehicle in most of the segments like compact, mid size, sports car, etc. which is an accomplishment for a smaller manufacturer.

Mazda has great enthusiast support for their vehicles as well. Mazda advertises that more of their models are out racing on any weekend than any other manufacturer, and Mazda is only a 2% percent market share. They also brought us the Miata, the best selling sports car of all time, with over 890,000 sold to date! It does make you wonder what those other manufacturers are doing with their time. This also means we at CorkSport, like you, chose Mazda over some other brand based on the cars being fun to drive.

A strong component of the fun to drive crowd is the demographic of a Mazda owner. The mean age of Mazda owners is 42 years old. Only Scion has a younger average owner age, and they are a brand marketed directly to younger buyers.

There has been some news circulating about Mazda not being able to build new platforms since Ford and Mazda are not longer going to share resources. I don’t think this will be a problem for Mazda. There has been some shared chassis between Mazda and Ford in the past but Mazda has often developed their own platforms to build cars on. They have the engineering capabilities to do so in the future as well.

Mazda has just recently raised a huge amount of capital to fund its engine research for their new SKY engine series, and other projects which are not going to be shared with Ford. Mazda announced they want to increase the fuel economy by 30% in the upcoming years. Expect to see more direct injected motors in the future from Mazda to meet that goal. I am really hoping we get the direct injected diesel engines in the upcoming Mazda 2. The engine gets incredible fuel economy and meets ULEV (Ultra Low) emissions requirements for Europe.


Mazda SKY Engine

Mazda is not the biggest manufacturer of cars and probably never will be, but we can count on them to keep producing great vehicles for us to drive. With the visible plans Mazda has set out I expect to see some great products in the future.

– Derrick