Mazda 2 / Demio thoughts?

[hybridtheory]

Hi guys,

Looking to pick up a 2 or a demio as a daily for work in the next 2 weeks.

Never owned a mazda but have read good stuff on these pocket 'rockets'. Not going to mod it - Maybe just lower it and put some tints in. How reliable are they? What are the weakest points? What should I look for when going for a testdrive? Rust easily? What are the things you would replace before something breaks? eg heater hoses, bushes, etc?

Looking for one around the 2007-2009 model in manual.

Cheers.

 

[eyeballs]

Welcome! These cars are pretty reliable. Here, in the US we've only had the 2 from '11-'14. Most common issue I've heard of is a clunk from the steering rack. I've had mine replaced for it, and it came back pretty quick. It's mild enough that I problably wouldn't have thought about it if others weren't complaining. These cars certainly aren't rockets but they handle great and are a blast to drive.

Your country is beautiful. My wife and I honeymooned there and spent 11 days driving all around both islands experiencing as much outdoor adventure as we could pack in.

 

[hybridtheory]

Welcome! These cars are pretty reliable. Here, in the US we've only had the 2 from '11-'14. Most common issue I've heard of is a clunk from the steering rack. I've had mine replaced for it, and it came back pretty quick. It's mild enough that I problably wouldn't have thought about it if others weren't complaining. These cars certainly aren't rockets but they handle great and are a blast to drive.

Your country is beautiful. My wife and I honeymooned there and spent 11 days driving all around both islands experiencing as much outdoor adventure as we could pack in.

Thank you buddy. I've read up on the clunk and how to get around it - To regrease it seems to be a work around. It's just something that will get me around for work and be reliable and cheap to fill up. My current is a maxima which only does around 480-500ks from around 60L which isnt great.

Thanks - this is a nice place, but the cost of living is pretty high. The best part is South Island.. The scenery there is just amazing. I've been to the states a few times now and I loved it there! Things are just sooooo much cheaper then here in Auckland its scary! Making another trip May then hop over to Vancouver to do a alaska cruise.

 

[Rdrcr]

The Mazda 2 is a great little car and extremely fun and entertaining to drive. I definitely recommend it.
I haven't had any issues with mine.

Mike

 

[DrWebster]

We like our Mazda 2 so much we bought a second one.

 

[flatlander937]

I've been driving 100mi per day(160km) to work and back since July with no real problems. I'm just short of 70k miles now, have owned it since about 30k.

I DID have a misfire intermittently at idle around 50k miles... The stock plugs looked fine with nothing wrong(gap OK, etc), but replacing them took care of the misfire.

I'm also a tech and I work on all makes and models, I've seen VERY few with problems for what it's worth. One had a window switch and leaking oil pan seal.


Edit: for 11-14. As said above we don't have any 2010-earlier cars in the US.

 

[hybridtheory]

Thank you all for your kind replies.

What sort of mileage are you seeing from a tank? Whats the size of the tank? Google shows around 40L?

 

[flatlander937]

I average 37-39mpg usually and don't push it much past 300mi(482km) on a tank. That is basically ideal highway driving no accidents or backups. Worst I've encountered on this commute is about 34mpg. That is sitting in traffic like this... Backup up about 5+mi, 10+ on ridiculously bad days. It took me 4.5 hours to get home one night last summer. It normally takes right at 1hr with no traffic.

When I lived in Ohio and it was mostly all city driving and short trips, I regularly got 29 to 32mpg mostly.

Tank capacity is 11.3 gallons(42.77 liters), but I've honestly never been able to put more than about 9 gallons(34L) in it at the pump. Normally more like 8.5 gallons.

 

[Traum]

For gas mileage, you might want to look into what people have been getting on Fuelly.com:

http://www.fuelly.com/car/mazda/2

One peculiar thing I've noticed with the 2's gas mileage is, it absolutely sucks during idle. Whenever I run into situations where I need to idle a lot, I can pretty much guarantee that the gas mileage is going to tank. Now, all cars get worse mileage when it idles more, but what I'm saying with, compared to pretty much all other cars I've had in the past, idling makes the gas consumption a lot worse in the 2 than it does in my other / previous cars.