It's now 30% more expensive! 2020 Mazda 2 G15 Pure detailed expert review | 4K - video Dailymotion

CarExpert

The Mazda2 has just copped a 30% price increase! Paul gets behind the wheel of the now dating hatchback to see whether it's worth still spending your money on. There are more features, but is the extra cash an overreach by Mazda? Watch and find out!  Read the full review: https://www.carexpert.com.au/review/2020-mazda-2-g15-pure-review/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=review&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=single-car-review  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior: 00:43 Interior: 02:28 Infotainment: 04:03 Features: 05:13  Practicality: 07:25 On the Road: 10:03 Verdict: 12:52  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you! #mazda #review #mazda2  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  @mazdaaustralia @MazdaOfficial

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. The Mazda 2, it's been out in its current generation since 2014,

00:05 and it's just had a minor facelift. But the problem is that facelift has come

00:09 with a 30% price increase for the base model here behind me. Come and have a

00:13 look at it. So the pricing kicks off from just under $22,000 in the base level

00:18 manual. This one here with the six-speed auto is an additional $2,000, which makes

00:23 it a pretty expensive proposition. Now if you are watching this on YouTube, you can

00:27 scroll down to skip ahead to different sections of this review, or if you're

00:31 watching this on a website, you have time codes up there that you can jump ahead

00:34 to. Please also don't forget to subscribe to our channel and also hit the bell

00:38 icon so you get notified every single time we're driving something new.

00:42 Let's talk styling. So I have a confession to make. I am a previous Mazda 2 owner.

00:47 Well, my wife is. She used to have one ages and ages ago when we were younger.

00:51 It was the previous generation of Mazda 2. Really reliable car. You could do

00:56 anything with it virtually, but it lacked a little bit in terms of tech and it

00:59 felt quite cheap inside. That's where Mazda has stepped ahead with this. So

01:03 this is the base model, but it kind of doesn't look like a base model because

01:06 it's quite trendy looking. Eight colors available and that's going to suit

01:10 the demographic for this car. It's often younger people. They want a bit of style

01:14 and a bit of choice when it comes to personalizing their car. Let's have a

01:17 look at the front here. So Mazda's gone to town with the chrome. This type of

01:21 stuff adds a premium element to it. So if you're charging this kind of money, you've

01:25 got to remember that $22,000, which is for this automatic here, that's the kind

01:29 of pricing you would have for the next segment above only a few years ago. So it

01:34 has become a whole lot more expensive. So they've needed to make it look a whole

01:37 lot more expensive. I love this grille as well. It's like a cheese grater. It's nice

01:40 and sharp and gives this car a bit of an edge in traffic. Over here we have LED

01:45 headlights. LED headlights are things that you previously only found on much

01:49 more expensive cars. So it's good to see that Mazda has fitted those as standard

01:53 across the entire range. If we shuffle back here, 15-inch alloy wheels and I

01:58 love how little and cute these tires are. 185 millimeters wide. So they're like

02:03 little licorice strips. It's pretty funny. But the interesting thing

02:08 with this car is if you need more room, come around to the back. I'm going to show

02:11 you what you can do. So this is obviously the hatch. The sedan has never really

02:15 looked good. The new sedan looks better but I still think it looks a little bit

02:19 quirky and not quirky in a good way. The sedan though gives you more boot space

02:23 and it's the exact same price. So you're getting far more practicality without

02:26 having to spend any more money. So interior styling. Throwing back to my

02:30 previous generation Mazda 2, this is a big step forward. But this was a big

02:35 step forward in 2014. Now I think it's starting to look a little bit dated. This

02:41 car is probably due for a refresh in two or three years. So it is still going to

02:45 be around for a little while and the facelift they've given to the front

02:48 hasn't really changed a great deal inside the cabin. It looks pretty sparse

02:52 in here and there is a lot of hard plastic. Speaking of which, let's get our

02:56 hardness tester out. So this tests how hard our soft touch dashboard is. Again

03:01 it's something that only journalists talk about but we've now got a test for

03:05 it. It goes from 0 to 100 on the hardness scale. 100 being the hardest and that

03:10 dashboard looks like it could break this. So let's give this a shot, see how it

03:13 goes. Okay here we go. Wow okay so that's pretty much as high as it goes. It goes

03:21 up to like a hundred and that is almost maxing it out. So that's not a great sign

03:25 and normally I do like the center console here but there's no center

03:29 console at all. The rest of it still feels really scratchy and just on build

03:33 quality, this is more flexible than I am. Have a look at that. That's like

03:37 completely moving around. I don't know, I just feel like this doesn't feel like a

03:41 car that is worth $22,000 - $23,000 in its base form. It feels really cheap inside

03:47 although it is brought up a little bit by the infotainment system sitting up on

03:51 the dashboard and a kind of neat control cluster beneath it. Let's talk about the

03:55 features that you're getting with the Mazda 2 and keep in mind this is the

03:59 base model so it is fairly well equipped and it kind of has to be with the asking

04:03 price. Up the top here is the infotainment system, 7-inch MZD Connect.

04:07 Now if you want a full infotainment review, we've done one previously with

04:11 the CX-9 which uses the same system but slightly bigger, you can click up there

04:15 to watch the full infotainment review. So I'm going to take you through this just

04:18 super briefly. This is both a touchscreen so I can press buttons up there or I can

04:23 use this controller down here that allows me to navigate through the

04:26 different screens. It has screens for your communication which is phone, nav,

04:30 multimedia and then apps you can add to it. It also comes standard with Apple

04:33 CarPlay and Android Auto and did you know you can actually get Apple CarPlay

04:37 and Android Auto retrofitted to any car, any Mazda car, with an MZD Connect system.

04:43 So it's like a $500 job at Mazda and it doesn't take very long to do it all. So

04:47 keep that in mind if your car doesn't have it but you do have MZD Connect, you

04:51 can get it retrofitted. Now when I say nav, there is a nav menu but when I click

04:54 on that it shows me a compass and it shows me a message that says your Mazda

04:59 is not equipped with a navigation system. However an integrated navigation system

05:03 is available through your Mazda dealer as a genuine accessory. So just blank the

05:07 menu out, don't have it there, it kind of is a pointless thing to have if you don't

05:11 actually have nav. Outside of that we have manual climate control so no

05:16 automatic climate control, it's like this old-school system where you go from cold

05:19 to hot, you set your temperature and fan speed, pretty basic stuff. In terms of

05:23 interactions with your entertainment system, it's a six speaker stereo. The

05:27 infotainment system comes with FM, AM, DAB plus digital radio. Then you have two

05:32 USB ports, one of those being for your smartphone mirroring and then there's

05:36 another one there for auxiliary connections. You have a 12-volt outlet

05:40 and then also an SD port as well. That is presumably for the navigation if you do

05:45 upgrade to that. Getting in and out of the car is pretty straightforward. This

05:48 is the key. This is Mazda's previous generation of key. To see the new

05:52 generation key you can check out our Mazda 3 review, links just up there. This

05:57 key gets you entry using proximity sensing so you just leave it in your

06:00 pocket and that also means it comes with a push-button start system which is kind

06:04 of trendy for a car like this. Ahead of the driver you have an analog speedometer

06:07 but then to either side of it you have digital displays for the trip computer,

06:11 so that includes your fuel gauge, fuel economy, average speed and then on the

06:15 steering wheel you have your cruise controls and over here we have our

06:17 controls for the telephone as well and also audio functions including the voice

06:21 recognition feature. Doesn't really work that great here with the MZD Connect

06:25 system but when your phone is paired with smartphone mirroring it will use

06:29 your phone system which is a far smarter system that can also use the cloud to

06:34 recognize your voice and do all those other things. In terms of other features

06:37 you have a lane keeping assistant. It's one of those frustrating ones that you

06:40 want to switch off because it doesn't really work that well all of the time.

06:44 There's rear cross-traffic alert, rear parking sensors and then AEB. It's only

06:49 low-speed AEB so that's at city speeds but it does detect pedestrians so that's

06:53 going to keep you safe. Why is that stuff important? Well for a car like this it's

06:57 important because you're buying this sort of car for your kids and let me

07:00 know in the comments below if you've bought a car like this for your your son

07:04 or your daughter as their first car. Is safety technology like that important to

07:08 you or are manufacturers wasting your money by fitting this kind of stuff as

07:12 standard? I'll tell you what's disappointing here though, it's missing

07:15 some fairly basic features. There's no automatic headlights, no automatic wipers.

07:18 I mean automatic headlights, that kind of stuff should really be standard on a car

07:22 that's what $22,000. What about practicality and storage? So phone

07:27 storage, plenty of room down the front there even for a big phone. Bottle,

07:32 easily fit bottles in here, there's two cup holders and then like a little

07:35 trinket tray behind it. You've got a decent sized glove box and then also

07:40 storage inside the doors as well. What about comfort? The seats aren't overly

07:46 comfortable. I mean it's fine but I wouldn't want to be spending a great

07:51 deal of time behind the wheel here, it just doesn't feel all that nice. The steering

07:54 wheel itself feels nice, it's got like this leather-esque material around it so

07:58 it sits nicely in the hand. Now one thing we just noticed before is yes you have

08:02 your cloth seats because base model but have a look at this, it's like a chocolate

08:06 coloured seat. Slightly bizarre choice but anyway I guess it gives the car a

08:10 little bit of differentiation and that theme continues on to the doors here

08:14 where you've got that soft material as well. On the second row there is barely

08:17 any knee room, there's not a great deal of toe room, headroom's fairly

08:21 non-existent, you won't find a centre armrest, you won't find any door pockets

08:25 but you will find matte pockets and also ISOFIX anchorage points. Let's talk

08:30 cargo space. As you'd expect just like the second row there isn't a huge amount

08:34 of room here. So you open the boot just by pressing the button there, it's like a

08:38 rubber button, gives it a bit of a premium feel. 250 litres of cargo space available.

08:43 If you do go for the sedan that space increases to 440 litres so it's a far

08:48 more practical space if you do carry more things in your boot. Problem here

08:53 though is this boot lip, it's really high so you if you are putting things in

08:57 you're gonna have to kind of throw them in because you have to overcome the

09:00 height of that. Under the cargo floor you have a SpaceSaver spare tyre. Now the

09:06 funny thing is the tyres on this car alone are 185mm, I think most SpaceSavers

09:10 are that size. This one is a 125mm wide, you could literally use it as a

09:15 bicycle tyre, it's crazy. And then off to the side you have a jack that is

09:20 nestled into there so that's that's where that's going to live. Now how does

09:24 this all work? Let's try getting our luggage in. That fits in there. I'm curious to see if we can get this thing in.

09:31 Not really. Let's see if that closes. Oh that closes, cool. Okay so if that isn't

09:42 enough space though you can get rid of this and drop the seats. I'll show you

09:45 how that works. So the cargo blind comes off pretty easily. Pop that there for the

09:52 moment. Push of that drops this seat and then the same story on this side. There

09:58 you go, that space increases considerably when you do drop the rear seats. So we've

10:04 hit the road in the Mazda 2. What's it like? So first impressions, the ride is

10:09 firm. I don't know why, it should be nice and soft here. It certainly was in our

10:13 old Mazda 2. I don't know if it's just the suspension tuned for Australia but

10:17 generally Mazdas ride really well. Here though I'm feeling everything on the

10:21 road, it's so fidgety and and I guess brittle is the word you'd use. You just

10:25 feel everything that's going on and it doesn't feel soft and supple. Steering

10:29 feel is excellent, it's nice and light through the wheel and that means when it

10:32 comes to parking it's going to be super easy. You can get a 360 degree camera in

10:37 top spec models but this one here only comes with rear parking sensors and also

10:41 a reverse view camera. Given the car is the size of a pinhead, visibility out the

10:46 cabin is really good. So at the front there I can see everything I need to see.

10:49 The wing mirrors are fairly big compared to the size of the car and then

10:53 visibility at the rear is really good as well. If you are driving this car in and

10:57 around the city you want to be able to see its extremities without having to

11:00 rely on parking sensors and cameras and that kind of thing and it feels from

11:03 behind the wheel here that it is straightforward to park and very easy to

11:07 see out of. Under the bonnet of the Mazda 2 is a 1.5-litre naturally

11:12 aspirated petrol engine. It makes 82 kilowatts of power, 144 newton metres of

11:18 torque and then it's made into a six-speed automatic gearbox. Now six

11:22 speeds pretty good for a car this size, normally they're four or five speed so

11:25 six makes it quite efficient and it gives you a combined fuel economy of 5.3

11:30 litres per 100 kilometres. But how does that feel? One and a half litres isn't

11:35 the world's biggest engine and then made it to a six-speed you'll find that it

11:39 sometimes does hunt a bit. Give it a little bit of a punch here.

11:44 Look it is quick enough. When it gets to about 4,000 rpm you can feel it

11:49 kind of feel like it's coming on boost but that's the variable valve timing

11:52 system kicking. It starts giving you a bit more torque and get a bit more of a

11:56 rush and a push in the back but this kind of power is going to be fine to

12:00 drive in and around the city. You wouldn't want to be overtaking a long

12:03 haul of cars on a highway for example. There is a sport mode, let's see what

12:06 that does. Flick that on, okay it drops down a gear, gives you a little bit more

12:10 noise, the throttle is a lot sharper. Here comes a corner.

12:15 Yeah look it's not too bad, it's not going to set the world on fire but it is dynamic

12:19 enough and that kind of fits Mazda's zoom zoom image. Cabin noise isn't too

12:23 bad but the engine can be a little obtrusive once you step on the gas. It

12:27 starts sort of booming inside the cabin and you hear everything that's going on

12:31 but outside of that it is quiet enough. If you are on a country road like this

12:35 with a coarse chip surface it can reverberate a little bit in the cabin

12:39 and Mazda's are known for that for some reason. Cabin isolation in terms of sound

12:43 just never is as good as it could be. It is on the newer cars and I think with

12:47 the next generation Mazda 2 they will definitely look to improve it. So the

12:51 Mazda 2, premium pricing just not a premium car which is a real shame

12:56 because this was a fantastic car at the price that it was. Now that it's gone up

13:00 by 30% it is sitting in a segment where you're getting much bigger cars, much

13:05 better value for money. I think that Mazda thinks this car is a whole lot

13:08 more premium than it actually is which is disappointing because it used to be a

13:12 really good car. It's now just far too expensive for what it is. So if you are

13:15 looking at a car in this segment I'd probably look at stuff like the Kia

13:18 Serato. You're getting a longer warranty, a bigger car, driveway pricing, there are

13:22 just much better options out there. This could be good as a second-hand purchase

13:26 but brand new I just reckon it's too much money. If you found this video

13:29 useful I would love it if you could press the like button, also press

13:32 subscribe and if you press the bell icon it's going to notify you every single

13:37 time we publish a new review. You can read the full review of the Mazda 2 at

13:41 CarExpert.com.au and until next time take it easy.

It's now 30% more expensive! 2020 Mazda 2 G15 Pure detailed expert review | 4K

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