1.5 Sport 5dr Hatchback

Fantastic car!

Excellent little car, plus points - great engine, gearbox lovely and smooth, steering is superb, handling and grip excellent in the sport version. controls fall easily to hand, stereo is great especially if you plug your ipod/iphone etc into the aux input, very loud and excellent bass for a small car, seats comfortable, cruise control works very smoothly. Feels generally well built. My car has been 100% reliable. Equipment levels are superb, it has all you need. Engine is quiet at speed and very smooth, almost silent at tickover.
Negative points - slightly more thirsty than I would have liked for a small 1.5 litre, average 39 mpg, and the car suffers from dreadful reflections onto the windscreen from the dashboard and side air vents. The dash layout is small meaning you don't get a lot of information from the onboard computer without cycling through lots of modes. Ride is firm on this sport model and you do feel some of the big potholes! But the tradeoff is excellent body control and lack of wallowing on the corners. Noise at motorway speeds is high, not from the engine but road noise and wind noise into the cabin.
The car is an absolute pleasure to drive, if you want a reliable nippy car with superb grip and handling then look no further! The 1.5 engine is JUST powerful enough to make the drive interesting without going mentally fast! I'd happily buy another.
Mazda dealer (Eastbourne) are a complete joke - I go to a local independent garage now as I've had 2 dreadful experiences with this dealer, the 2nd time I just walked out as I'd waited 20 minutes just to leave my car there for a service...they appeared to be more interested in their coffee than serving customers.....

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