New Mazda2 wins Car of the Year
15 Nov, 2007
17 Comments 
Mazda have taken out top honours at this years Automotive Researchers’ and Journalists’ Conference of Japan (RJC), with the stylish Mazda2 named Car of the Year.
Known as the Mazda Demio in Japan, the new Mazda2 beat a field that included the Honda Jazz not due in Australia until next year, and the just-launched Subaru Impreza.
So dominant was the Mazda2’s win, it received an astonishing 403 points - 127 points more than the second placed Jazz.
Mazda’s Representative Director, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Hisakazu Imaki, said, “We are delighted to receive these prestigious awards from the RJC. Under our product-led growth strategy, we launched the Mazda6 as the first of our next-generation models in 2002 and it won the RJC Car of the Year award.
The new Mazda2 becomes the fifth Mazda to achieve this prestigious award, preceded by the likes of the RX-8 in 2003 and the Mazda6 one year earlier.
Continuing Mazda’s winning streak, the new Mazda CX-7 also won the award for Best SUV.
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November 15th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Well done Mazda, the new model looks great..
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November 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
They certainly are on a roll. I have to say i have seen many new 2s on the road already.
Apprently they sold twice as many last month as the old boxy 2.
Nice.
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November 15th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Yeah I agree Woz, I thought it was a 207 the first time I saw one (granted it was from a considerable distance).
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November 15th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
The Mazda2 is a damn impressive car! Very nice to drive, plenty of balls for a 1.5 (even in the auto) and very solid feeling. Unlike a Yaris, very unresponsive in 1.5 litre form, feels tinny and very twitchy through bumps on corners. Bring on the Mazda2 MPS, please Mazda!
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November 16th, 2007 at 2:25 am
I have ordered a green Genki manual with DSC and I can’t wait till Jan 08. I test drove one two weeks ago and loved it straight away….
Congrats to Mazda on another award winning car…
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November 16th, 2007 at 2:44 am
i test drove one. genki. and then test drove civic vtiL. no contest. civic wins. spec’ed up i beleive it was worth the extra 3k.
Genki model just feels too cheap for its price. storage compartments were a joke. the magazine rack put me off. absence of a centre arm rest console type storage thing just broke the deal.
not to mention mazdas sales service was horrid.
apart from that it still drove well. genki model should have had DSC as standard. and they need to get rid of the magazine rack.
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November 16th, 2007 at 9:57 am
you cant deny that mazda do make a great car
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November 16th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Haven’t driven this yet but sounds like an improvement on the old 2 which I thought was pretty good.
I have seen a few on the road already and they do look cute and stand out with nice colours amongst the endless hordes of silver Yaris’.
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November 16th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Yeap, good but,FIAT won THE-BIG-ONE!!
The new 500 has been voted COTY in the worlds most important and difficult to win COTY comp.
More here:
http://jalopnik.com/cars/break.....323203.php
I think public-relations and C/A should have been right on to this.
PS The Mazda2 came 2nd!!!
Cheers
F-0
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November 16th, 2007 at 11:14 am
The ugly Yaris has nothing on the 2 only that it is offered in a 3 door and it gets heaps of Gov sales…take those away and the 2 will trump it. Bring on late 2008 for the 3 door and fingers crossed that the MPS 2 is not just a myth.
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November 16th, 2007 at 11:22 am
When Toyota feels as desirable as Mazda does at the moment, thats when Toyota will be the best auto company in the world.
Mazda deserves far more volume around the world than what it does get.
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November 16th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Mazda have certainly got one of the best overall line ups of any brand in the world lately. All their cars are great, its one of the few cars you couldnt pick a bad car from mazda2, 3, 6 are all fantastic. RX8, Mx5 are both well regarded. It would be good if they can get a more spiritual successor to the rx7 (turbo rotary) as its a bit unfortunate that their sports car is slower than an mps but other than that i cant fault mazda! One of the big reasons two is that they dont sell rebadged lower quality cars to bring their brand name down.. My partner and I will buying a mazda 2 as her car.
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November 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Fiat 500 may have won the big one but all credit to Mazda achieving 2nd place. The coherency of their design language
is a lesson to the industry.
Also when the 500 hits our shores it will be aimed at the Mini segment and have premium pricing.
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November 16th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
MAZ 2 IS A GOOD SMALL!CAR IF A LITTLE UNDERPOWERED
LOOKS GOOD,PRACTICAL,RELIABLE ALL THOSE SORT OF THINGS..
BUT CAR OF THE YEAR PLEASE!!!
WHAT I WANT TO SEE IS A MAZDA MX-5 MPS WITH 3 MPS 190KW
ENGINE IN IT NOW THAT WOULD BE AN EXCITING SMALL SPORTS CAR…
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November 17th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
MX5 MPS would be awesome! mx5 sp was apparently a great fun steer. If the 2.3 from the current mps line up wasnt too much heavier than the current 2litre that would be unreal, bloody quick too. Maybe even a turbo of the current 2.0 litre would be good. Say 160kw and 300nm, in the weight of the mx5 it would be very quick. Only thing wrong with sp is its an aftermarket install and although done well its not quite as integrated as if it had been done by mazda. The good thing is too that mazda is in a position where it could easily afford to make the mx5 mps available…
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November 17th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Well done Mazda. If only Ford was able to follow your lead they might be able to get themselves out of their financial woes.
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December 7th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I have owned a VW Polo before the new Mazda 2. In three weeks of city and country driving the Mazda is returning a shade over 6.2 litres per 100km. A little early to determoine it’s economy but I can say that I suspect that the Polo was probably more fuel miserly at the bowser. But hey, the Mazda is in a newer and gruntier league of it’s own. It leaves my old Polo for dead in terms of comfort, pick up (when accellerating) and just feels more substantial and refined on the Aussie roads. In the country it just wants to accellerate and run, and in town it just likes to gently cruise. A great car, and a big thumbs up from a happy new Australian Mazda owner.
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