77tsi thoughts

[TSI_Dan]

Oh geez don't remind me about Mazda 2 comparisons, my mother has a 2006 one. Feels a massive step back and well, it is considering how cheap they are going these days! Fidgety ride, wobbely steering at highway speeds. But it certainly is more fun punting it around traffic sichanes than any Yaris. Plus the fuel economy isn't close at all to my 77TSI... and the dash creaks and bangs over bumps are horrid! However, 120k plus so far with the only issue being a snapped engine mount. Also, the piston slap and/or valve rattle when cold is hilarious!! Did yours have that Jon? I'm told that perhaps 1 in 10 get it and its "normal", sigh it is an old engine.

[JonP01]

Oh geez don't remind me about Mazda 2 comparisons, my mother has a 2006 one. Feels a massive step back and well, it is considering how cheap they are going these days! Fidgety ride, wobbely steering at highway speeds. But it certainly is more fun punting it around traffic sichanes than any Yaris. Plus the fuel economy isn't close at all to my 77TSI... and the dash creaks and bangs over bumps are horrid! However, 120k plus so far with the only issue being a snapped engine mount. Also, the piston slap and/or valve rattle when cold is hilarious!! Did yours have that Jon? I'm told that perhaps 1 in 10 get it and its "normal", sigh it is an old engine.

Well, to be honest I hated my Mazda 2. I did everything I could to avoid having to drive it - pretty much everything you mention was the case with mine too, especially the creaks, rattles, groans, horrible ride, etc, etc. The only thing that was different with mine was the steering - it was very good and precise all the time, however not up to Polo standards (but better than a 2006 Yaris whilst being as good as the 2012 Yaris which went electric assisted). But I also agree that the Mazda 2 did handle better than my mother's Yaris and was actually quite good only in the circumstance where you could find an ultra smooth, absolutely perfect condition, high speed road with lot's of twists and turns (I think I found such roads only a couple of times in the whole 6 years I owned it).

The engine in mine certainly was even more unpleasant when cold than warm and it did definitely did get worse over time - but then again the exact same thing happened with the engine in my previous 1996 Laser over time. Also, the clutch feel got worse over time in the Mazda - it got grabby, vibrated and was inconsistent, especially when cold.

It was such a world away in quality compared to the Polo that in hindsight I think I would have been better off keeping the Laser for 16 years and then going from it to the Polo. But back in 2006 there was nothing like the selection of decent light cars around that there are today. Of the ones truly worh considering, there wasn't a whole lot more than a Mazda 2 and Yaris. Most of the other ones did not have sufficient dealer / distributer / service support (i.e Fiat Punto - the dealer was out of business by 2007, Peugeot - no dealer anywhere remotely close to me, Renault Clio - same problem, dealer went out of business soon after, etc).

Anyway, knowing how both the 1996 Laser and 2006 Mazda 2 deteriorated over time, it will be interesting to see how the Polo feels after about 60,000 kms, which is when the Mazda in particular really did begin to feel truly second-hand in the worst sense.