Originally Posted By: The Critic
I'm just curious. Why do you have such a fascination with low quality, entry level, poor value econoboxes?
Where do you get this 'low quality' and 'poor value' nonsense from? We're not talking about a chincy Yaris here. I don't think any of cars you own utilize high tensile steel frames which may cost more, but are lighter and offer better rigidity than your standard stamped steel rails. The 2 has been very well engineered and cleverly dieted. It's won many international awards including "International Car of the Year" since it went on sale in 2007. I really doubt that was because of it's alleged low quality or poor value.
Originally Posted By: LS2JSTS
100 HP and it still gets such poor mileage for the class. Why do Mazdas always get such poor mileage compared to other cars in the same size? This car is lighter than the Fiesta and has a smaller engine yet returns 6 mpg less....whats up with that? The six speed in the Fiesta must have one heckuva tall OD 6th gear....seems to be the only real difference that would explain such a huge difference in mileage.
Actually, Mazda's in general are now consistently exceeding EPA ratings. When the Mazda3 came out, some people complained about poor mileage within the first 20K on 06 models. Sites like fuelly and clean MPG are full of people exceeding EPA ratings, mostly on the 2.0L which are seeing up to mid-40s!.
Also, FWIW I took the time to find out the differences in the Fiesta and Mazda2 engines. While both use the same chassis' and drivetrains, Ford opted to use the Mazda Z6 1.6L engine. The Z6 is identical to the ZY 1.5L used in the Mazda2, except with a longer stroke (78x78.4 bore stroke VS 78x83.6), bumping up the displacement. Ford also chose the exact same pistons as the ZY, which combined with the longer stroke, brings the compression ratio up to 11:1 vs 10:1 on the ZY. Mazda used an economy aimed version of the ZY 1.5L, for obvious reasons, because they could have easily used the ZL 1.5L with S-VT that makes 130hp. The 130hp ZL has been around for over 6 years or so. I suspect the 2 will exceed EPA estimates considerably, and be happier with regular fuel.