| Motoring Discussion > Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid | |
| Thread Author: Manatee | Replies: 13 |
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Mon 13 Oct 25 00:07
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - Manatee
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The boss has chosen herself one of these. I think Mazda might have discontinued all the Hiroshima versions now. This is a rebadged Toyota Yaris, built in France on the same production line. Having more or less decided to replace the Popemobile (Roomster) now rather than wait an indefinite period for it to give up, in a flash of sanity it came to me that the most rational solution for a replacement runabout that might see us out would be a Toyota, which was the departure point for this journey. A scan of Autotrader revealed quite a few pre-reg Yari, nearly all of them one monochrome shade or another. White, silver, grey and black having been eliminated by the client at the start of the project, that left about half a dozen possibilities! Including Mazda 2's added a couple more and I reserved one in Oxford. Registered last month end and a straight 20% off. Metallic red was a luxury but best she has what she wants. Not a sporty drive, but quick and light steering and quite pleasing when driven 'normally'. A bit odd under hard acceleration when it seems to maintain a steady engine speed but so quiet the rest of the time you can't really tell what it's doing anyway. Very plasticky inside but solid feeling and comfortable. I think it will be a decent long distance car as well as a wieldy urban one. It has a 1.5 litre 3 cylinder Atkinson cycle engine which I gather makes not many bhp's. Between that and the electric motor it musters about 116PS. Performance, as Rolls Royce used to say, is adequate. We pick it up this week. I'm going to look into a bit of rustproofing. I'm hoping it won't take much effort to put some clear wax on all the black painted pressed metal on show underneath like sub frames, suspension parts and the rear torsion beam set up. It seems to be then easiest car to drive, but any advice on how to use this power train to best effect will be welcome. |
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Mon 13 Oct 25 07:16
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - Dog
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Wow! www.carwow.co.uk/mazda/2-hybrid |
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Mon 13 Oct 25 23:32
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - BigJohn
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Good deal indeed. I suppose it's similar-ish to my Swace albeit with the 1.5 3 cylinder engine as opposed to the 1.8 4 cylinder - I think both have gen5 Toyota gubbins. I also got a similar deal. If you just floor it - yes the engine will rev up. However you soon get used to driving it so it doesn't and it'll reward you with a very refined drive indeed and simply stunning fuel economy. If you are a boy racer type driver then you'll hate it, more civilised driver then you'll love it. You have three modes to select ECO, Normal and Sport. I've tried them all and seem to prefer ECO where throttle response is slightly muted but you still get full power if you "kick down". Kind of reminds me of a previous old breed torque converter box. However on the open roads (A roads/ motorways) it accelerates/cruises at lower revs. IF the engine is running (it's frequently not!) I find it can be doing 1000rpm-1500rpm (depending on hill status!) at 70mph. Very refined indeed - unless flooring it the only way you know the engine is running is looking at the rev counter. My favorite bit is how it pulls out of a corner on country lanes - the petrol/electric combo gives a real kick - quite addictive. Re economy - economy is worse in winter (cold batteries??) but even then it's about 60mpg. In summer it seems to average mid-late 60's mpg, it even did 67 mpg driving up and down the M62/M18/M1 with numerous trip fully laden helping my son move house. I'd expect the Mazda 2 hybrid to improve on this somewhat as it's smaller (in size and engine) and has direct injection. Overall I love it but it is a Marmite drive train - some will love it, some won't. My only complaint with mine is it has 1 bit more road noise compared to my old Superb but that might be solved when I first change tyres. Enjoy the Mazda - it'll be interesting to see how you get on with it. Last edited by: smokie on Tue 14 Oct 25 at 09:59
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Tue 14 Oct 25 11:39
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - Manatee
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Thanks for the advice John, that's pretty much the conclusion I'd come to. I believe the Mazda's have Gen 4 of the hybrid system. The Mazda's are all 116PS that have Gen 4, the higher grade Toyota versions with 130PS are Gen 5. The sales guy was fairly clued up and I believe correctly said the main effect of ECO is to dull the accelerator response. It also tweaks the climate control as well IIRC. Sounds fine to me and ECO was what we used for the test drive. There seems to be some confusion about 'B' on the drive selector. It increases 'engine braking' and some people online seem to think it increases energy recovery and I can understand why. Maybe it did on earlier versions, but not now. Toyota say the only time energy is recovered is when the brakes are in use and they recommend braking early and gently which extends the time when the battery is charging. How it achieves 'engine braking' I'm not sure, maybe it does just use a lower 'gear'? The advice we were given was to use it for steep/long descents, pretty much as you would use a low gear coming down a pass, otherwise to forget it. This makes total sense to me - automatics have to figure it all out 99% of the time when people haven't read the manual and that seems to be what it does, very well. I'll train myself on the brakes. I'm very light on brakes as a rule and can avoid it for miles sometimes, but it seems I'll have to at least use the pedal to get some recharging! I think it's worth being a bit nerdy. When we got the Roomster I found a bit in the manual in bold type that said "DO NOT hold the car using the accelerator"which is exactly what people long accustomed to driving often automatics do. But of course you are thereby slipping the dry plate clutch, wearing it out and heating up the gearbox, so it really isn't a good idea and we've never done it. Have you any idea what the ''clutch' is on a Toyota hybrid drive? |
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Tue 14 Oct 25 13:59
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - BigJohn
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Hmm, B is just really for use down long steep hills and helps a lot with engine braking although it still shows regeneration on the screen. My advice is just to use on long down hill sections. It's interesting to note what it does itself on adaptive cruise going down hill. Initially it just uses regeneration to control down hill speed(if battery not full!), if that's not enough it introduces engine braking and if that's not enough it applies the real brakes. Rather useful especially if, as I was recently near Buxton, going down a long hill with miles of average speed cameras. The regeneration is not just on applying brakes (which might be regen or real brakes) but also on the over run etc. It's so effective it's wise to properly use the brakes every now and again to "clean" the disks. There is no clutch on the Toyota hybrid gubbins (ignoring a sacrificial one on some that doesn't operate). Hill hold is very effective and doesn't damage anything. If when stationary the engine is running it's because it needs to charge the hybrid battery - normal! Best advice is don't select neutral for any length of time as this stops any charging and 12v battery top up. Last edited by: smokie on Tue 14 Oct 25 at 23:22
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Tue 14 Oct 25 19:40
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - Manatee
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Thanks. The no-regen-without-braking thing sounded illogical to me but came from one of the Toyota videos. I might have misunderstood it and of course I can't find it now. I think perhaps the behaviour they wanted to promote was an extended overrun period, which for many drivers means gentle braking, rather than a short period of heavier braking. Anyway, we pick up tomorrow - so I will be able to observe the power indicator for myself. |
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Thu 16 Oct 25 18:07
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - Manatee
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This is going to take a while. My speed was all over the place coming back from Oxford to Aylesbury, trying to figure out the smart cruise control. And trying to work out what the lane departure stuff was doing or not doing. So I just drove it and it was fine. Over 44 miles it declared I had averaged 73.5mpg, with 37% in EV. Very impressive if it's anywhere near the truth/ I'll wait until the muscle memory is established, before I get into the full suite of driver 'aids'. The brakes are very very light and for the moment tricky to use smoothly. The adaptive cruise works well at following, mostly. I guess the default is about 2-3 seconds back so the separation increases as the speed goes up which is fine up to about 50. However at 60 in lane 1 of the A34 it needed help. At successive junctions, the gap was big enough tempt slower moving joiners to push in, resulting in far too much braking - under my own control I would have eased back a bit sooner when I saw what was happening and allowed the gap temporarily to close up to even out my speed. It will be interest to try it out on the M25 sometime. A bit dull in ECO, better in NORMAL. Almost too responsive in POWER mode. I think I'm going to like it when I can bend it to my will! |
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Thu 16 Oct 25 18:41
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - smokie
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There's usually an adjustment you can make to the gap - on the MG it's a twisty on the end of a stalk and the screen graphic shows you what you've chosen - large medium or small. The small gap is plenty for me at all speeds. You may find some lane departure settings (incl off) somewhere, from memory mine has vibration/no vibration through the the steering wheel and also you can choose to have actual assist (where it tries to keep you in lane, very successfully on motorway gentle bends at speed even when markings are barely visible) on or off. I use cruise all the time, even around town to make sure I stick to limits (while it has a limiter as well I really dislike those). It does very occasionally slam the brakes on somewhat unexpectedly if, for instance, someone is stationary in a right turn filter lane ahead even though straight ahead lane is flowing, or if you are approaching a car parked in the road and it thinks you might not have seen it. That mpg sounds good. SWMBOs hybrid Yaris (accepting it is old tech hybrid) doesn't get mpg much above 50 even on a run, and I only ever see the EV light on when coasting or at an absolute crawl. I think it is assistance rather than powering the car. Initially I assumed it just wasn't working!! Last edited by: smokie on Thu 16 Oct 25 at 18:41
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Thu 16 Oct 25 22:24
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - BigJohn
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If it's like mine then how it reacts to cruise, lane assist etc is very configurable to suite your driving. The gap is even adjustable via the steering wheel button whilst moving - presuming yours is the similar. You can adjust all sorts in how it reacts on corners, how quickly it accelerates. I myself have set these to minimum. RE ECO and Normal - my guess is eventually you'll use both depending on the journey type. Yes ECO dulls throttle response but on a motorway in that mode you can gain speed/ go uphill without the revs flaring. On a country lane Normal can be more appropriate. One thing I forgot to mention the other day is tank capacity. Mine is theoretically a 43l tank (yours is smaller) but in reality I only ever get in about 33l when showing near empty. Saying that it's not a problem when you still get 450-500 miles out of that. Last edited by: BigJohn on Thu 16 Oct 25 at 22:27
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Thu 16 Oct 25 22:32
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - bathtub tom
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>> One thing I forgot to mention the other day is tank capacity. Mine is theoretically >> a 43l tank (yours is smaller) but in reality I only ever get in about >> 33l when showing near empty. Saying that it's not a problem when you still get >> 450-500 miles out of that. Wow! 10L is just over two gallons (I'm still imperial). Are you saying yours will do over 200MPG? |
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Fri 17 Oct 25 06:59
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - BigJohn
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>> Wow! 10L is just over two gallons (I'm still imperial). Are you saying yours will >> do over 200MPG? Er - I wish! No, the 10l will be a very conservative reserve for after your car is reporting zero miles range - bit OTT. I usually put in about 30litres, but never more that 33l when fuel light is on - about 7 gallons in imperial. Typically @460 miles travelled that would be about 65mpg. The best range I got was a journey from Yorkshire to Norwich on a hot day (painfully slow roads) which was about 500 miles - just over 70mpg. It's always less economical when the outside temperature is low, I presume the hybrid batteries don't work as well. |
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Fri 17 Oct 25 10:17
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - smokie
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| Certainly pure EVs suffer dramatic drop in range in the cold. |
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Fri 17 Oct 25 09:55
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - sherlock47
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Over 44 miles it declared I had averaged 73.5mpg, with 37% in EV. Very impressive if it's anywhere near the truth/ If the software is the same as the Yaris Cross you will find that the reported consumption figures from ' App - Trip menu' are somewhat optimistic. The overall cumulative figure shown on the in car display is however much more accurate. Using full to full figures my long term average over 7500 miles is around 66mpg with individual f-F rising to 74 for urban and dropping to 63 for longer trips bit if using solely motorways dropping to low 60s. The sweet spot for economy seems to be for urban use as long as journey is long enough to get ICE warmed up. I find the adaptive cruise control very easy to use once you get the gap set up to your taste, and lane following would allow hands free motoring on motorways if it did not tell you to hands back! 2024 Y Cross Icon.- I must do the 12month review! Last edited by: sherlock47 on Fri 17 Oct 25 at 09:57
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Sat 18 Oct 25 18:15
Mazda Mazda 2 - Mazda 2 Hybrid - BigJohn
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>> I find the adaptive cruise control very easy to use once you get the gap >> set up to your taste, and lane following would allow hands free motoring on motorways >> if it did not tell you to hands back! Yes indeed, once I set it up, the adaptive cruise is amazing on the Swace. Just had a motorway trip M1/M18/M62 with lane control & adaptive cruise speed circa 70mph once out of town - the car just about drove itself on the motorway sections although it does tell you off after a while if you if it thinks you're not holding the steering wheel. Overall 63.7 mpg on the in car display - usually very slightly optimistic, not by much though. One slight niggle, even on the most sensitive setting, the auto headlights don't come on in the rain (unless darker) - whereas with my previous Superb they did. I'm guessing the Yaris Cross might be similar as it uses the same Toyota technology. Last edited by: BigJohn on Sat 18 Oct 25 at 18:17
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