GREEN | 8 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
29 mpg city, 35 highway with manual, 27/34 with automatic
U.S. EPA
fuel economy is good if not worldbeating
Car and Driver
The four-speed is a rare, modern automatic that can't match manual gearbox efficiency
Motor Trend
the ratings of 27 city and 33 highway mpg aren't too impressive for a car that weighs just 2,359 pounds
Edmunds
Gas-mileage numbers for the 2013 Mazda2 are nothing special if you go by the official EPA fuel economy numbers. Yet our real-world experience with the Mazda2 indicates that you may end up doing a bit better than those numbers suggest in actual commuting.
According to the EPA, the Mazda2 gets 27 mpg city, 34 mpg highway when it's fitted with the four-speed automatic. Opt for the five-speed manual--which is probably more "zoom-zoom," to be honest--and those numbers go up to 29 city, 35 highway. For the latter, that's a combined 32-mpg rating. But our road tests indicated that the number may be closer to 35 mpg, even if you drive it energetically and flog it around.
Thank the Mazda2's lightness for the excellent numbers; it tips the scales art around 2,300 pounds--lighter than the MX-5 Miata roadster--due to a so-called 'gram strategy' for shaving weight wherever and whenever possible from each component.
We should note that due to the aerodynamics of small hatchbacks, they don't typically do very well for mileage in high-speed Interstate-style driving, so you may want to go a size up to the Mazda3 and its economical new Skyactiv powertrain if that's the majority of your driving.
Conclusion
Gas-mileage ratings for the 2013 Mazda2 aren't so impressive--although we've seen good numbers in real-world city driving.
