2009 Mazda MAZDA3 s Grand Touring 4-Door

Pros

Looks, fun factor, fuel economy, transmission, engine, ipod input, plays mp3s, tilt/telspg wheel

Cons

manual tranny in reverse has a whine to it, sounds out of place when otherwise car is not econo feel

We've had the new Mazda3 2008 for about 2 months now and have just over 2200 miles on it. So far it still feels like the engine and related components are still getting better with every drive. We commute about 44 miles round trip daily and probably 80% is highway miles. When we try to get the best mpg's we keep our foot out of it and drive about 62 on the highway, our best over a tank of gas is 30.5 miles per gallon. Doing the same trips while zoom zooming and driving 69 mph we haven't dropped below like 26 mpg during a tank. Now I'm sure all city driving will get you quite a bit less mpg as would any car.

We had narrowed our car search down to the Mazda3 and the Honda Civic, and both were pretty much neck and neck in our book. With the Mazda though we got for the same money: dynamic stability control, rain sensing wipers, xenon headlights, euro style led tailights etc. Another deciding factor was not wanting a 2door civic as we did not really like the looks of the civic sedan. So with all of that we chose the 4 door Mazda3 and so far we really love it!

Soon after we bought, I went through a little buyers remorse as lots of people do. I found myself reviewing again our choices of other makes and models online, but in the end re-validated our choice of the Mazda3 and feel very pleased with our decision. Now we look forward to a long relationship between car (great car) and driver!

I strongly suggest anyone in the market to test drive a Mazda3 before making a decision.