Well, now it's a Mazda 2
Discussion
In our search for a 2nd car...
Was initially a Megane CC or 307 CC, but I managed to persuade the wife it wasn't a good idea.
Then we moved onto a Nissan Micra Sport, but the garage we went to messed us around and there isn't another one for sale in the north east that was within our budget.
We popped into a local Hyundai dealership last night as they had a couple of cars in, and after looking around we've decided to increase our budget from £4000 to £7000, on the basis we'll get something with much lower miles and newer.
The Hyundai dealership had a 2009 Mazda 2 on-site, 23,000 mile on the clock, 1.3 Tamura. It stood out for us because it's small, small engine, but looks fairly sporty.
We've looked at insurance quotes, and it's by far the cheapest to insure that we've come across. £518 for the year, which is my wife as the main driver (29) with no no-claims bonus, and me as a named driver. With 1 years NCB it drops to under £300 a year!!!
Tax is just over £100 a year, and it should be ok on fuel.
From what I've read the Mazda 2 is reliable too.
Does anyone have any thoughts on these?
Was initially a Megane CC or 307 CC, but I managed to persuade the wife it wasn't a good idea.
Then we moved onto a Nissan Micra Sport, but the garage we went to messed us around and there isn't another one for sale in the north east that was within our budget.
We popped into a local Hyundai dealership last night as they had a couple of cars in, and after looking around we've decided to increase our budget from £4000 to £7000, on the basis we'll get something with much lower miles and newer.
The Hyundai dealership had a 2009 Mazda 2 on-site, 23,000 mile on the clock, 1.3 Tamura. It stood out for us because it's small, small engine, but looks fairly sporty.
We've looked at insurance quotes, and it's by far the cheapest to insure that we've come across. £518 for the year, which is my wife as the main driver (29) with no no-claims bonus, and me as a named driver. With 1 years NCB it drops to under £300 a year!!!
Tax is just over £100 a year, and it should be ok on fuel.
From what I've read the Mazda 2 is reliable too.
Does anyone have any thoughts on these?
mnkiboy said:
09 seems quite old for £7k. I can see 60 and 11 plate cars for the same money.
It should be reliable and easy to drive, and it's something different from the Corsa and Fiesta. If you're happy with it, then that's all that matters.
I've done a search on Auto trader for between 6-7k and to be honest most cars that come up are between 2008-2010.It should be reliable and easy to drive, and it's something different from the Corsa and Fiesta. If you're happy with it, then that's all that matters.
Do you have links for anything newer?
sato said:
Was all set to buy one a few months ago until I drove the thing.
I hated it. Gutless engine, lifeless steering, seating position far too high. May just be me though as none of the reviews mentioned any of this.
Try finding a modern city car that doesn't have those characteristics.I hated it. Gutless engine, lifeless steering, seating position far too high. May just be me though as none of the reviews mentioned any of this.
.blue said:
Don't know if applies to 2's as well but Mazdas rust like crazy so if you're planning on keeping it for more than 3 years, rust should be a consideration.
The older ones did. I run a facelifted Mazda3. During the facelift they are supposed to have solved the rusty rear wheel arch problem.funkyrobot said:
OP, check the Mazda used car website. I can see 2010 models with less mileage for your price. 
We're after tamura spec, don't know if that affects the results?EDIT: Checked the Mazda website, the only new one that comes up that matches what we want is a 2011, but it colour is dark purple (radiant ebony), which the wife says is a bit of a girls colour. It seems this colour are always cheaper for some reason. The next is 2010, but most are miles away from us.
Edited by littlened on Thursday 23 May 10:43
littlened said:
funkyrobot said:
OP, check the Mazda used car website. I can see 2010 models with less mileage for your price.
We're after tamura spec, don't know if that affects the results?We've been looking at Mazda3s for the past month, so if the Mazda2 trim levels have been constructed in a similar way, then the Tamura is just a "special edition" of the base spec Mazda2. Even the special edition Takura Mazda3 is just a slightly better TS spec but still missing lots of standard equipment from the TS2.
You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
funkyrobot said:
There are Tamura's on there for £7k. There are also Sport's for just over £7k (they have a 1.5 litre engine).
2011 - There's this one, but it's purple.http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/55...
2010 - A sport, but it's got 45k mile on it and is almost 300 mile away
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/60...
2010 - Another sport, but again, 45k mile on it.
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/53...
2010 - Tamura, 18k on the clock, 200 mile away though
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/48...
So the newer ones are either higher mileage, purple or just too far away from us.
eltawater said:
We've been looking at Mazda3s for the past month, so if the Mazda2 trim levels have been constructed in a similar way, then the Tamura is just a "special edition" of the base spec Mazda2. Even the special edition Takura Mazda3 is just a slightly better TS spec but still missing lots of standard equipment from the TS2.
You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
Looking sporty is more important to us than the spec, it's only going to cover 3,000 mile a year (ish), so all the extras are not that important.You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
littlened said:
funkyrobot said:
There are Tamura's on there for £7k. There are also Sport's for just over £7k (they have a 1.5 litre engine).
2011 - There's this one, but it's purple.http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/55...
2010 - A sport, but it's got 45k mile on it and is almost 300 mile away
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/60...
2010 - Another sport, but again, 45k mile on it.
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/53...
2010 - Tamura, 18k on the clock, 200 mile away though
http://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-mazda/48...
So the newer ones are either higher mileage, purple or just too far away from us.
To be honest though, if buying through a proper Mazda dealer, I'd be less bothered about distance. It should have a proper Mazda warranty and you'll be able to get bits fixed (if required) from any Mazda dealer.
Like i said on your previous post...1 year NCD = 30%.....not rocket science.
You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
littlened said:
eltawater said:
We've been looking at Mazda3s for the past month, so if the Mazda2 trim levels have been constructed in a similar way, then the Tamura is just a "special edition" of the base spec Mazda2. Even the special edition Takura Mazda3 is just a slightly better TS spec but still missing lots of standard equipment from the TS2.
You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
Looking sporty is more important to us than the spec, it's only going to cover 3,000 mile a year (ish), so all the extras are not that important.You might find you're better off looking at TS2 spec Mazda2s instead as there will be more of them around and the equipment level is likely to be improved over the Tamura and Takura.
big_boz said:
Like i said on your previous post...1 year NCD = 30%.....not rocket science.
You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
The issue we had is that the wife wants as new as possible, with as low miles as possible for as cheap as possible, while still looking sporty with alloy wheels and such. She realised that within her budget she wasn't really happy with anything we were looking at.You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
littlened said:
big_boz said:
Like i said on your previous post...1 year NCD = 30%.....not rocket science.
You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
The issue we had is that the wife wants as new as possible, with as low miles as possible for as cheap as possible, while still looking sporty with alloy wheels and such. She realised that within her budget she wasn't really happy with anything we were looking at.You change your mind a lot OP, one minute you don't want to spend too much money, the next you up your budget £3k.....bonkers.....whats next i wonder on your cockamamie car shopping list......
In one years time your missus will want something else if you buy a Mazza2 and low and behold the insurance will have dropped and so this will be justifiable but you will be hit with a chunk of depreciation or be tied into finance (?).....just buy something cheap, do the year, get the discount, buy something better would be my thinking....
My 3 is a Sport. I chose it because of the 2.0 litre engine. It comes with alloys, low profile tyres, a bigger exhaust and a factory spec bodykit. It was the engine more than anything for me though.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff