Top marks for Mazda's 2

Mazda's revamp continues. Under the watchful eyes of its major partner, Ford, the Japanese firm is re-inventing its entire model range. On foot of the highly successful 6 launch comes its new supermini entrant, the Mazda 2, superior replacement to the previous Demio.

A fresh alternative in an increasingly competitive segment, the 2 comports itself in ways more associated with much larger cars, while offering internal space on a par with mini people carriers such as Ford's Fusion and Honda's Jazz. Indeed, while the 2 uses both the drivetrain and platform of the Fiesta, it's arguably more Fusion than Focus. While its overall styling cannot be described as either curvaceous or unique, it manages to copy some of the lines from the front of the 6 range. In particular, it carries the "broad grinning" grille first introduced in the 6 range, and likely to identify all the new cars in the range. However, it's most attractive features are both internally and on the road.

A first impression behind the nicely laid out dash is of a well-built spacious car. All passengers have generous headroom and even rear headroom and legroom are among the class leaders. In terms of overall height, the 2 sees off competition from the Fiesta, Yaris and even the Honda Jazz.

As for boot space, while it's slightly smaller than the Fiesta and Polo, when the rear seats are folded down it offers more space than both, increasing from 267 to 1,044 litres. And this change of seating can be completed in seconds.

Like many European launches, the Mazda test route took us on a variety of conditions, from motorway to dirt road. Both cars and drivers were put to the test on the steep inclines of the Catalan mountain ranges. While it meant the 1.4-litre diesel-powered test car we drove kept us busy, it's unlikely many Mazda 2 owners will be experiencing such terrain, unless they live on the slopes of Carrauntoohil. So, to give it a more realistic everyday test route, we spent hours with both the 1.4-litre diesel and 1.6-litre petrol option in the thick of Barcelona's city traffic. Not only did we try it out on the busy thoroughfares and grand plazas, we wanted to see how it handled in the midst of rush hour in the city's industrial heartland. In other words, we got lost.

Yet, wondering around aimlessly amid the far-from-picturesque factories and warehouses that straddle Barcelona's version of spaghetti junction, while we lost our composure on numerous occasions, our ever-forgiving 2 held its own. Easy to turn and even to park, the nicely located gear lever, close-to-hand, offered us a nice range of low gears and we found you can spend most of your time in city traffic in second gear, driving the 2 like an automatic. Overall, the engine choices are on a par with competitors, beginning with a 1.25-litre petrol unit and moving up to 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre options. The 1.4-litre common-rail diesel unit is taken from the current Ford Fiesta TDCi, and offers a claimed combined fuel consumption of 62.8 mpg.

The 2 is not just the second model in the revamping of the marque, but also represents a significant step in corporate development. Built in Valencia, Spain, it begins to bring to an end years of financial instability due to currency fluctuations. Previously Mazda manufactured almost all its cars for the European market in Japan and, as a result, was affected by changes in the yen and euro. Mazda's Irish distributors hope to sell around 1,100 annually and, while prices have yet to be confirmed, we expect them to begin at about €15,000 for the 1.25-litre petrol model.

It would seem that Mazda is firmly on the road to rebuilding its market presence, which had slipped in the mid-1990s. Thanks to aarduous restructuring programme, the Japanese firm is now set to make a significant impact and, if it can retain the quality of its latest two models throughout the entire range, then the future looks increasingly bright.