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There aren't any known major problems with the 2, but there are a few minor things to look out for: --Spark plugs seem to wear out a bit earlier than expected; have they been replaced on the car? If not you'll want to do it (though it's not expensive or difficult). --Front brake rotors tend to...

That all looks normal to me. Car manufacturers put seam sealer on joints between panels, as those panels may only need spot welds to hold them together (the sealer makes the joint watertight).

So our 2013 is due for new tires soon...the factory Yokos made it to 45k, but it would be stupid to try to get through another winter with them. When we had our 2011, I put a set of Michelin Premier A/S's on it, moving to a 195-series tire since they don't make them in 185/55-15. They were great...

Nope, you drained the transmission fluid. While the system holds about 7 quarts, only 2-3 quarts are actually in the pan -- the rest is elsewhere in the system (torque converter, hoses, the little fluid cooler puck thing, etc). Depending on how many miles are on the car, it's very possible that...

Chain.

My gut tells me that you just overfilled it and some leaked out at the bottom of the dipstick tube. The bigger thing is, how many miles are on the car, and has it ever had its transmission fluid flushed? If you're over 30-40k miles, get it changed out (a full flush, which takes about 9 quarts)...

That reminds me of a question. The tensioner is the lowest pulley, closest to the firewall right? IIRC there's a brake line between it and the frame rail that makes it tough to get a wrench on the bolt in the middle of that pulley. Any trick to it, or do I just need to get a thin-profile, long...

We traded in our 2011 Aquatic Blue 2 Touring today for a 2017 Subaru Forester XT. Was certainly sad to see Aoi go, and the decision was made more out of a need for something a bit bigger. We test drove a CX-3 and it certainly felt like it kept some of the 2's lineage, but the Forester was simply...

Yeah, the closest you can get to the current-gen 2 in the US is the Toyota iA, which is a rebadged 2 sedan made in Mazda's new Mexico plant. I've read that Mazda US did go through all the paperwork to certify the 2 hatch for sale in the US, the quote from them that sticks in my mind is "we have...

I'm still here, and still check at least weekly. I don't do Facebook so it's disappointing to see the conversation move over there.

They're from Panasonic IIRC, and last I checked you can't buy them in the US. They're truly JDM batteries, lol.

2013 was when they added a USB port to the factory stereo, the analog aux in was on all models. And AFAIK all of the Mazda2's sold in the US were produced in Japan, I think it was sometime around 2015 when the Mexico plant came online.

Figured I should post an update. I ended up finding a solution that works: http://www.belkin.com/us/F8J071-Belkin/p/P-F8J071/ It's not advertised as such, but it seems to lift the ground between the 12V input and 5V output. Took a long road trip over the weekend and no alternator whine at all.

That's surprising -- I thought our cars came with NGK Iridium plugs from the factory? Those should be good for 80k or so.

Sounds like they cross-threaded it. The tech probably didn't hand-thread it before hammering away with the impact wrench. The joys of flat-rate repair, some (not all) techs just don't care.

So my factory battery is 5 years old and I think it's time to proactively replace it. Years ago when I had a Mazda3 I used an Optima Red Top and liked it, but Ive heard/read that their quality has significantly gone down. I don't need anything for performance, just good reliability (especially...

So we took a short road trip in Aoi a few weekends ago, and I connected my phone to the factory stereo aux input, along with using a USB power adapter in the lighter socket. Ended up with alternator whine. The factory stereo in Shiroi (our 2013) doesn't do this, but when I connect the phone I...

Got Aoi washed and detailed yesterday. Since she's 5 years old I figured it was about time to get out the clay bar, and it was well worth it. Of course it had to go and rain today. Also got the front seat brackets coated with Plasti-Dip. Just the anchor parts where they bolt to the floor, the...

A few companies make specialty brake caliper paint kits. The stuff goes on pretty thick and looks tough, and I'd imagine it would work just as well on drums. Another option is to get the drums powdercoated; a local place told me they do a surprising amount of business that way.

Aside from any appearance changes Mazda made when bringing the car to North America, the 2's mechanically the same from 2008 until 2014. There certainly aren't any problems on our 2011 that haven't also cropped up on our 2013 (mostly noisy suspension when it's really cold outside).