Where do you look when you are in the market place for a shopping car or a general runabout writes Bob Hickman.

The car manufacturing world is awash with small hatch type vehicles or small vehicles claiming to have Tardis interior with a miniscule exterior.

One manufacturer that is constantly overlooked is Mazda and with the Mazda 2 I think they have come up with a little gem.

Most people think of Mazda as the big Mazda 6, or the brilliant MX5 sports car but the little Mazda 2 is quite a nice piece of kit.

It is in the same market place as perhaps a Polo, or Yaris, or of course the one vehicle that you have to compare it to because it shares a fair amount of parts and that is the Ford Fiesta.

With 11 three-door or five-door options and prices staring at £9,820 on the road, and with fuel economies up to just under 70 mpg the Mazda 2 range is worth more than a second look.

Quirky

The whole range has generous equipment and they really are fun to drive, fun to own car.

Just looking at it with its quirky front and almost smiley face and its excellent rear low sill for loading equipment and you can see this vehicle is a very attractive option.

As a six-footer I sometimes have trouble getting comfortable in the smaller vehicle but the Mazda 2 accommodated me with ease.

It also accommodated two adults in the back without too many complaints or grumbles concerning the lack of headroom, shoulder or knee room which is the biggest gripe that I have.

The interior space therefore is OK; the boot regrettably isn’t over generous. In fact on a recent break of a few days away with golf clubs and other luggage, it was essential to lower the seats and throw an old blanket over things to avoid the miscreants’ eyes.

The trim has a plastic look but was actually solid and built to last; the instrumentation was clear and easy to understand and well laid out – congratulations Mazda.

I did like the number of storage facilities within the vehicle, including the central armrest area to store keys or other bits and pieces.

Engine

It is almost academic which engine you choose for your vehicle because the car is a light weight construction, has pretty good aerodynamics and this means you do not need a huge engine to get decent performance.

The choice is a 1.3-litre petrol producing either 75 or 85 bhp and a 1.5-litre petrol which generates 103 bhp. If diesel is what ticks the box for you there are 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre, producing 68 and 90 bhp respectively.

A top speed of between 101 mph and 117 mph and fuel economy from 49.6 up to 68.9 mpg is a bonus.

My particular test vehicle was the Mazda 1.5-litre Sport which was equipped with the wonderful, free revving 1,498 cc engine.

It was allied to a five-speed gearbox which had a lovely, notchy feel. That having been said I did on a few occasions select first instead of reverse and that could be embarrassing, but if this were your vehicle you would soon get used to this little quirk.

The performance from the 1.5-litre was adequate, 0 – 60 is a not-to-be-shouted-at 10.4 seconds but this is not a hot hatch, this is a shopping, town car and I found that to be perfectly reasonable.

Top speed is claimed at being 117 mph but for me that is totally academic.

The warranty is three-years or 60,000 miles and Mazda surprisingly want the vehicle back every 12 months or 12,500 miles for servicing.

The price of the vehicle on the road was £12,980.