Mazda 2 1.5 Sport (2007) CAR review

This looks a bit more interesting than the outgoing Mazda 2

You’re not wrong. When it arrives here in September, Mazda’s new 2 supermini will sit on spanking new chassis architecture – the same basic platform structure that will underpin Ford’s new Fiesta – and will trade the boxy profile of its predecessor for these sleek and wedgy lines that are inspired by the 2005 Sassou concept car shown at Frankfurt. This is the second generation of Mazda’s Zoom Zoom designed models, and the idea is to maintain the company’s sporting intentions but tempered with more maturity and sophistication. It works – there’s a lot going on in the Mazda’s creased and curved lines and it looks even better on the go.

Bigger and heavier, as usual?

In a Mazda first, the new 2 will be lighter and smaller than the model it replaces. By switching to an all-alloy engine, increasing the use of ultra high-strength steels, introducing a new electric power steering set-up and following the same gramme-by-gramme approach to the chassis and suspension applied to the MX-5, Mazda’s engineers have trimmed an impressive 100kg off the 2’s mass, for a svelte 960kg kerb weight. It’s also 40mm shorter and 55mm lower. Caterhams and Lotii aside, when was the last time you heard of any car weighing less than the tonne? And Mazda claims the diet hasn't compromised the 2’s safety record – it’s expecting a full five-star Euro NCAP result.