2012 Mazda Mazdaspeed3

agreed on all counts made by Tim. We have the 2011 model and it really is a great car an enthusiast can enjoy.

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Tim, I can't really agree. I just got a 2010 Speed3 and absolutely love it... including the ride. OK, my last daily driver was a 2004 Miata but we have commented to each other about just how comfortable this car is. After a weekend trip from Cincy to Detroit we were singing the cars praises. Truth be told, I don't even find it to be that bad looking. The only bad thing I have to say is about fuel economy, I think this car SHOULD be capable of 30+MPG combined where I have been getting around 23 without any loss of power (evidenced by the now black tail pipes).

i like the smiley face. i smile right back at it. "you and me are gonna have a fun time, aren't we little car."

would you review a skyactiv one too? i'm interested to hear how much of a compromise getting 28city39hwy requires.

triumph: According to my excel spreadsheets, if you eliminate tanks where we hooned about a bunch, we get 30.6mpg real world combined out of our 2008 in the nicer months and 28.something in the winter.

So far I've not gotten near that. Best so far were the two tanks on the road trip to Detroit at 25 MPG. All of the 30K maintenance is due so we'll see what happens after that. The Accessport website has a lot of good info on how the OEM fuel map works and gives me a couple ideas on where to look after that.

Best front driver in the class. Rivaling the AWD WRX's and Ralliart's is quite an acomplishment.

Now a bit long in the tooth, the 'speed3 has always impressed us with its turbo four-cylinder and hatchback practicality. It recently received a facelift—rather, a facedroop—that somewhat toned down the super-smiley design language that seems to polarize the faithful.

Smile or no, the Mazdaspeed3 comes to us with plenty of tech options installed and 263 horsepower to drive through its front wheels. Always a bit of a nuisance with these cars is torque steer, but that's because there's just gobs of the stuff: 280 lb.-ft., to be exact, at a usable 3000 rpm.