Mazda 2 Hybrid Review & Prices

If you’re looking at the Mazda 2 Hybrid and thinking that it all seems a bit familiar, you’re not wrong. This isn’t really a Mazda at all, but a Toyota Yaris Hybrid wearing Mazda badges and sold through Mazda dealers. It’s like buying a birthday cake from the supermarket, sticking your own candles in the top and calling it your own.

Okay, so Mazda has done a bit more than change the badges. The 2 Hybrid gets a Mazda-specific grille, different alloy wheels to the Yaris and a body coloured strip across the tailgate. This isn’t quite enough to set it apart though, it still looks pretty much identical to the Toyota.

So how has this happened? There are boring details about a tech-sharing agreement between Toyota and Mazda, but the short version is that Mazda now has a small hybrid car to offer an alternative to the likes of the Renault Clio and MG3.

As with the exterior, the cabin is lifted straight from the Yaris meaning it’s a tale of two halves. On one hand it’s all very well screwed together, but it’s also a bit dark and dingy with a lot of scratchy plastics.

Space is a bit of an issue. The rear seats are definitely on the tight side and you’ll find considerably more rear room in the likes of the SEAT Ibiza or the cavernous Honda Jazz. The boot is quite small too. At just 286 litres, it’s only slightly bigger than what you’d find in the back of a Hyundai i10, and dwarfed by the boot of the Skoda Fabia. Mind you, that’s actually slightly more room than you’d find in Mazda’s own, petrol-only, Mazda 2 — which confusingly is on sale alongside the 2 Hybrid.

It may not be the most spacious car in its class, but it certainly is light on fuel. Mazda claims that the 2 Hybrid can average better than 70mpg, and it’s certainly possible on a long run. You’ll see around 55-60mpg day-to-day.

Around town, you can run about on electric power quite a bit of the time. At low speed or in stop-start traffic the engine rarely cuts in, and even when the batteries need a top up the 1.5-litre petrol unit doesn’t make too much noise.

It’s a nice, zippy engine, aided by a little bit of instant electric motor torque, so slotting into gaps in town traffic is a doddle. The Mazda 2 Hybrid is also a very compact car — it’s just 3.9 metres long, quite a bit shorter than alternatives such as the Skoda Fabia and Honda Jazz — so the urban jungle is its natural habitat.

Twisty roads are no bother for the 2 Hybrid either. The Toyota Yaris is decent for chucking into corners, and the Mazda 2 Hybrid is no different. It’s not as much fun as a SEAT Ibiza, but the steering is direct and there’s not much body roll.

Venturing out onto the motorway is a pretty easy affair. The engine does get a bit noisy as you wring its neck on the slip road, but once you’ve settled down into a cruise it’s quiet and refined enough.

This hybrid hatchback is more expensive than the Toyota Yaris on which it’s based, so you’ll want to head over to our Mazda 2 Hybrid deals page to see how much you can save when you buy through Carwow. You can also check out deals on used examples through our network of trusted dealers, or get a great price on other used Mazdas. If you need to sell your car before buying another, you can also do that through Carwow.

The Mazda 2 Hybrid has a higher starting price than other hatchbacks like the Skoda Fabia and Peugeot 208, but it comes very well-equipped as standard. Spec one of those cars to the same level as the Mazda and it’s more comparable in terms of price.

As standard you get features such as adaptive cruise control, a 9.5-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and 15-inch alloy wheels.

The biggest fly in the 2 Hybrid’s ointment is its stablemate, the Toyota Yaris. That car is identical to the Mazda in terms of design, driving, interior and engines, but it’s around £1,000 cheaper. That makes the Mazda 2 Hybrid a hard sell.

The Mazda 2 Hybrid is frugal and easy to drive in town, but it gets a bit noisy at higher speeds

In town

The Mazda 2 Hybrid is most at home when you’re bumbling about in town. There’s just one engine on offer - the same 1.5-litre hybrid as the Toyota Yaris with 116hp, and it feels peppy enough. It’s just a shame that you can’t get Toyota’s new 130hp hybrid system as well.

The only gearbox option is a CVT automatic, which makes for smooth power delivery and makes it feel almost like an electric car when you’re pulling out at junctions. In certain situations, such as slow-moving traffic, it can actually drive on purely electric power to save a bit of fuel. You can force the car into EV mode at the touch of a button, but it’s generally best to just leave it in its automatic setting and let the car decide when to switch the engine off.

The Mazda 2 Hybrid’s suspension does a good job of soaking up bumps. Larger potholes will send a thud through the cabin though, and it can feel a bit firm on the range-topping 17-inch alloy wheels, but it’s still perfectly comfortable on rough city streets.

For slotting through gaps in traffic you have light steering and decent all-round visibility, although there is a bit of a blind spot over your shoulder. To mitigate this while parking you get a reversing camera as standard.

On the motorway

As you venture out onto the motorway you’ll notice the 1.5-litre engine revving pretty loudly to get you up to speed, but this is short-lived as it settles down once you’re at a cruise. It’s still not as quiet as a Volkswagen Polo, but it’s still perfectly pleasant.

Unusually for a car in this segment you get adaptive cruise control as standard, a feature which is an optional extra on some much more high-end models. It’ll automatically keep you a safe distance from the car in front, as well as steer to keep you in lane, which takes some of the stress out of long motorway slogs.

On a twisty road

The Mazda 2 Hybrid’s engine isn’t set up for spirited back-road blasts. The CVT automatic gearbox means the engine revs don’t correspond to the road speed, which feels off-putting, but the power delivery is smooth enough.

What does impress on a twisty road is the handling, because the steering is actually quite responsive and it feels agile as you throw it into a bend. It’s not as fun as a SEAT Ibiza, but the little Mazda is competent on country lanes.

The Mazda 2 Hybrid has a pretty usable boot despite its small capacity, but the rear seats are a bit cramped

Getting comfy up front in the Mazda 2 Hybrid is a doddle. There’s plenty of adjustment in the seats and the steering wheel, so even the tallest of drivers will feel at-home from the helm. The seats themselves are also pretty supportive, although you have to go for one of the higher two trim levels if you want adjustable lumbar support.

Interior storage is pretty decent as well. The door bins are large enough to hold a big bottle of water, the glovebox is massive and you have a couple of handy cupholders. You do have to be careful if you have a tall coffee in there though, because the armrest slides forward and can knock the top off.

A handy tray in front of the gear level keeps your phone out of harm's way, and you can get wireless charging on mid-spec cars and up. No worries if you don’t have this option though, because there are a couple of USB charging points and a 12-volt socket.

Space in the back seats

If you only need to carry kids in the back, the Mazda 2 Hybrid offers plenty of space. An issue does arise though when it comes to getting adults in the back, because knee room is pretty tight and headroom isn’t the best either. The middle seat is reserved for people you don’t like very much, because anyone sitting here will be cramped and uncomfortable.

It’s also quite dark in the back, and there are no charging points, vents or door bins so it does feel a bit like you’re sitting in the cheap seats. A Skoda Fabia is a much better small car for carrying people in the rear on a regular basis.

Fitting a rear-facing child seat is pretty easy though, as long as you move the front seat forward to accommodate it. The rear doors open wide and you have easy-access ISOFIX points, although you’re almost certain to lose the removable plastic covers.

Boot space

The Mazda 2 Hybrid has one of the smallest boots in the small car class at just 268 litres. That’s 36 litres down on the Honda Jazz, 50 litres less than the Renault Clio hybrid and it’s dwarfed by the Skoda Fabia’s 380-litre capacity.

However, despite its diminutive size the boot is actually really usable. It’s well-packaged with a nice square shape, and you can actually get quite a lot in there. The load lip is pretty low as well, so hauling heavy suitcases into the boot won’t be too hard on your back.

There aren’t many clever features here though, with no 12-volt socket and only a couple of hooks to keep your things in place. Still, at least the rear seats lay flat when folded down so making the most of the 935 litres of overall space is easy.

It has loads of tech on board as standard, but the Mazda 2 Hybrid’s cabin is pretty bland to behold

The overall design of the Mazda 2 Hybrid’s interior isn’t going to win any awards. There are a lot of hard scratchy plastics around the place, and everything just looks a bit dark. A Peugeot 208 has a much more stylish cabin.

That said, everything does feel solid and you get the impression that it’ll last for years. It’s also functional, with logically laid-out controls and - praise be - physical climate control knobs.

All models get a 9.0-inch touchscreen as standard, apart from the range-topping car which has a 10.5-inch unit. That bigger screen is the only one with in-built sat nav as well, but this isn’t really a problem because you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto across the range. The system itself is pretty easy to use, with intuitive menus and a bright display. It’s not quite as user-friendly as the screen you get in the Volkswagen Polo, but it’s not far off.

Entry-level cars get old-school analogue gauges in front of the driver with a small screen in the middle. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s clear and easy to read, but the 12.3-inch fully digital driver’s display you get in the range-topping model looks much more impressive. It’s pretty easy to customise, although the system you get in the VW Polo is more versatile.

There’s just one engine option on offer in the Mazda 2 Hybrid, and it’s the 1.5-litre petrol hybrid unit from the Toyota Yaris with 116hp. The Toyota also offers a 130hp option, but that’s not available here.

This doesn’t matter too much though because this 116hp hatchback feels nippy enough and it returns impressive fuel economy. According to Mazda it’ll do up to 74mpg, and when you’re making the most of EV mode around town you very rarely see under 50mpg.

The CO2 emissions are low as well at just 98 g/km, meaning company car drivers can enjoy low Benefit in Kind rates without buying a plug-in hybrid. All models fall between the 23% and 24% tax bracket, and you also get very reasonable first-year Vehicle Excise Duty rates.

Euro NCAP hasn’t tested the Mazda 2 Hybrid, but it did give the Toyota Yaris five out of five stars. The two cars are identical under the skin, so the Mazda will do a good job protecting you and your family should the worst happen.

Just like the Yaris, the 2 Hybrid is also fitted with a boatload of safety tech to prevent you having an accident in the first place. All cars get adaptive cruise control, driver attention alert, autonomous emergency braking and lane-keeping assist. All but the entry-level car get blind-spot monitoring as well.

This car is a Toyota hybrid under the skin, so it’ll be as long-lasting as Edinburgh castle. The hybrid system may be complex, but it has a long-standing track record for bulletproof reliability.

However there is a small problem, and that problem is the Toyota Yaris itself. You see, the Mazda 2 Hybrid comes with a pretty mediocre three-year or 60,000-mile warranty, while the Toyota Yaris can get up to 10 years of warranty coverage if you keep it serviced on time at approved dealers.

This isn't an issue if you only plan on keeping the car for a three-year lease agreement, but if you like to keep your cars for the long haul then it’s definitely worth keeping in mind - especially seeing as the Yaris is a bit cheaper as well.