Mazda2 hybrid review: A first rate choice in a limited market

It is said that ‘the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs’ (check the song of the same name by alt. country outfit The Be Good Tanyas) and in a motoring sense that is often very true indeed.

We have often professed our love for little cars in these columns and this week we have another one we’ve been smitten by, although in this case it is a great little car from Mazda that’s not actually a Mazda at all.

Let me explain: the new Mazda2 Hybrid is not a Mazda, it’s a Toyota Yaris in light disguise. The reason for this is that car manufacturers have a legal requirement to meet certain emission levels and in some cases the development of the necessary technology is neither popular nor profitable.

That being the case car makers will sometimes do a deal with rivals to allow them access to technology another company has successfully developed and marketed. Thus, Mazda did a deal with Toyota and, hey presto, it has a hybrid car to market and saved itself a pile of dosh in the process.

Now all this might be a little confusing and especially so as Mazda continues to market its own Mazda2, but effectively it has covered all the necessary bases so it can meet its emission requirements.

That’s all very well, of course, but for Toyota there has to be a bonus other than the fact its production lines are kept busy. That being so, one can safely presume that part of the deal was that the Mazda2 Hybrid cannot be sold cheaper than the Yaris Hybrid; that is definitely the case here in Ireland where the Mazda is some two-and-a-half grand dearer than its Japanese cousin.

To counter this, Mazda has added spice to the Mazda2 package in terms of a much-uprated spec and a moderate visual revamp which gives it a Mazda-esque grille, but to any experienced eye, the car still easily identifies clearly as a Yaris.

Despite all of this, the very fact of having a hybrid supermini is a feather in Mazda cap as this is a segment which has and is contracting in the face of manufacturer apathy. With Ford having abandoned the supermini market by stopping production of the Fiesta – and others expected to follow suit – the offerings here are diminishing.

And, if you look at exactly how many supermini hybrids there are available, then the options narrow considerably because there are actually only two – the Mazda and the Toyota. For the Hiroshima car maker, that means they have entered an increasingly busy market niche with an off-the-shelf product which is already tried and tested, not to mention increasingly popular.

Not that buyers will be interested, but for Mazda Europe and its Irish division the fact this car is built on the same production line as the Yaris in France and this makes for usefully shorter delivery times. For the anal among you, this also means that despite the badging changes, stuff like the brake calipers still have Toyota branding on them.

So, this then is a very thinly disguised twin of the Yaris, but, in truth, that matters little because the Yaris is very much of the best-in-class variety and, by extension, so too is the Mazda.

The basics of the car tell us it is a self-charging hybrid, so there’s no plugging in or looking for charging points – it does it all itself. Mazda maintains it will run on electric power for as much as 80% of your urban driving. As for a mix of driving outside town, it will generally give you a return of over 40% on electric only.

It is powered by a three-cylinder 1.5 litre petrol engine which is allied to a 59-kW electric motor for a total system output of 114 bhp. It comes only as an automatic with a CVT gearbox driving the front wheels. Top speed is 175 km/h and the 0-100 standing start is achieved in 9.7 seconds.

What will interest punters most, I suspect, is its frugality. Even for a heavy-footed dinosaur like me, consumption is excellent and you can reasonably expect a return of the order of 4.4 l/100 km (63.6 mpg), a figure that’s nearly startling even in this day and age.

If you insist on doing the hooligan, you’ll find it hard to make the car return anything less than 5.8 l/100 km (48 mpg), while an emission figure of 97 g/km also means that the annual taxation is only €170, which is not at all bad for any type of internally combusted engine.

Sure you do have to cope with the homogenous ‘hybrid roar’ if you’re driving it in Lando Norris mode, but the civility that has been engineered into this unit is obvious from the off. That being so, a more measured driving style will reward greatly. That characteristic alone will stand it in good stead within the target audience.

There are three driving modes – Eco, Normal and Sport – but in truth there is not an enormous difference between the three and my advice is simply to stick it in ‘Normal’ and forget about it. The ‘Sport’ mode does little to make it actually feel sporty; all it does is make it more shouty and uncouth.

Build quality is something you associate with both Toyota and Mazda brands and therefore it is no surprise that this car ticks most boxes in that regard. You may not like the fact things are a little bit generic on the interior here and the dark grey colour scheme across the dash and door surrounds is pretty bland.

Indeed, the first time I drove it was in the dusk and it was a struggle to find the interior door handles because they blend in so well with the rest of the door.

The ‘Homura’ version we tried has a large touchscreen which gives you access to phone, infotainment and navigation, but the climate controls are operated by relatively chunky buttons and switches, which is a happy outcome.

That there are heated seats and a heads-up display gives you an idea of the upgraded spec mentioned earlier and the digital instrument display is an added element of sophistication, as is the adaptive cruise control, the panoramic roof and wireless phone charging.

Sure, as this is a Supermini, you not going to be carting five large adults around anytime soon; the rear seats are not particularly roomy, so you’ll probably only get four people in at any given time given the head and legroom restrictions. But that’s the way it is in this class, anyway. The front seats are very comfortable, though.

Boot space is tight but the space there is well worked and it has a decent carrying capacity. There’s no spare wheel under the rear floor because of the battery and other hybrid ancillaries, so you are left to cope with one of those all-but-useless tyre repair thingies.

This is a clever little car and especially so for anyone who does not want some EV that is range restricted and it comes with the added benefit – as far as Mazda dealers are concerned – that competition is not exactly thick on the ground.

It is also good to drive and is a very smart looking thing too; that makes it a very appealing thing indeed.