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Mazda 2 DJ, probably the best supermini at the moment. And it looks good too. Now you just have to work up the courage to buy a new one, as you won't find many of them used.

Initially, I was skeptical about this car because the previous generation Mazda 2 is / was overrated on the used market and I never really understood why. It was built on the Fiesta V platform, but it cost the same as the Fiesta VI, and it wasn't even a good enough of a car as to convince me to pay 50% more than I would have paid for a Fiesta from the same year or 30% more than a Polo from the same year.

But what about the Mazda 2 DJ? We are returning to our origins and the future sounds good. Mazda got rid of Ford's tyranny and it's back to the roots. In fact, it's not really 100% Mazda because the car is built in collaboration with the Toyota Yaris. Sure, it uses a shortened CX-5 platform , but many things are in shared with the Toyota Yaris, so we basically sacrifice the sportiness of the Fiesta and bring the reliability of the Toyota. Now if I sit and think, I realize why the new Yaris looks so sporty and aggressive, because they drank sake together with the people from Mazda.

So we have the smallest Mazda for sale at the moment and it's an excellent car. It would have been even more excellent if we had also caught the saloon version, but you can't have everything in life and also the Mazda 3 wouldn't have sold so well. The rest is typical Mazda fun. We have the same petrol engines as before, only they received the SkyActive treatment and we have a diesel that you don't want because it's a Mazda 2 anyway and it should be a city car.

We no longer drive standing up, we have a decent standard equipment list, we have decent quality, we have almost everything you could want from a city car and the major advantage is the price. As a starting price, the Mazda 2 DJ is cheaper than the Polo, Fiesta, Hyundai i20, Skoda Scala, Suzuki Swift and is beaten only by the Kia Rio, Renault Clio and the elephant in the room, the Dacia Sandero. And now I had to talk about the fact that Mazda are the only ones that still offer aspirated petrols for larger cars like the 3 or 6 or CX-5, but I forgot that in the supermini class, many still offer naturally aspirated engines. And then what else does the Mazda 2 DJ offer apart from the good looks and the Henry Cavill chin? Well, if you have enough money, you can go for the sports versions, but you will most likely buy a basic or middle version or 2 Sanderos for the same money.

Mazda 2 DJ Engines

Petrol

• 1.3 SkyActive-G P3-VPS of 93 horsepower – The basic engine for the Mazda 2 and honestly you don't even need more power to go around town and occasionally on a B road. But honestly the life of this engine will be in the city, from traffic light to traffic light, and for this job this engine is exactly what you need.


• 1.5 SkyActive-G P5-VPS of 75, 90, 110 and 115 horsepower – Here we have the same engine but in different power configurations that depend how much money you have really. Honestly, if you are not going to buy the Takumi package and all it's 115 horsepower, there is no point in complicating yourself with something else because the 1.3 is identical to this but costs less to run and does the same job.

Diesel

1.5 SkyActive-D S5-DPTS of 105 horsepower – No. Sure, it may be smaller than the 2.2 diesel as the Mazda 3 or 6 do, but that doesn't mean that it's any better. The DPF still fails it's regeneration and throws diesel into the oil stream, but the main concern here is that it is a very complicated and very rare engine, so you will pay some astronomical prices for the inevitable repairs.

Hybrid

• 1.5 Petrol hybrid P5 of 90 and 115 horsepower - Like any modern manufacturer, they had to bring a Mild Hybrid version for small, city engines. The big difference compared to the simple petrol engine is not that there is not much to tell and recommend.


• 2.0 Petrol Hybrid SkyActive-G P5-VPS of 140 horsepower - This engine just got launched in 2024 so there's not much to talk about it's reliability. But there wasn't much to talk about it's reliability in the past also, so don't worry about it. Sure, it will demand the occasional spark plug and quart of oil, but only late in life and the Mazda 2 generally doesn't get to that kind of mileage. However I'm not convinced of a big engine in a small car, and with a hybrid powertrain and battery chewing away in a car where space is already at a premium.

Mazda 2 DJ Reliability Issues

• Some petrol engines may suffer from oil pump failures, but at the moment there are not astronomical mileages like in larger cars to be certain of it happening.


• More failures on the air conditioning side where the compressor and the heater core can fail and this may mean that you have to dismantle half the car because it's a dashboard out type of job.


• It looks good on the outside and it looks good on the inside, but that comes with a downside. On the outside, the paint is stuck to the bodywork via toilet paper and at the first rain it softens and you are left without paint. The second problem is that the interior CREAKES LIKE THE BED OF THE NEIGHBOUR ABOVE AND WHY CAN HE GET TO CRUSH SO MUCH POON AND IM STUCK WITH A PODCAST ABOUT HOW TO BE A MAN AND PICK UP WOMEN BUT THE ONLY THING I PICK UP IS THE GARBAGE WHICH IS MYSELF.

Mazda 2 DJ Verdict

If you are looking for a supermini, then the Mazda 2 DJ is one of the serious candidates for your money. Of course, it is somewhere in the middle of the center and you have alternatives that are cheaper but also more expensive, so the question arises, why buy one and not the other? Because for 13,000 GBP you get a Mazda 2 DJ in base trim that looks the same as the most expensive one and, most importantly, you get that 1.3 petrol, which is all the engine you need. You are not forced to buy a more expensive version of the Mazda 2 just because the entry level model has a 0.8 litre unusable engine. And it looks good too.

Which engines do I recommend? Honestly the 1.3, 93 horsepower petrol is all the engine you'll ever need in a Mazda 2. But if you insist for a diesel you only have one choice anyway.