Well built economic sporty car

I recently purchased my winning blue 2005 Mazda3 hatchback, and have about 1000 miles on it now.

The options I chose were the color, the manual transmission, and the Antilock brakes/Side Air Curtains.

To get that combination from dealer stock in my 5 state region, I had to also get some options that I didn't mind, but didn't want to pay for. These options were:
-Moonroof and indash 6cd changer
-leather interior
-Auto dimming mirror with compass and external thermometer
-Wheel locks

The "S" trim level (all the hatchbacks except the SP23 line are "S" models) includes a lot of items as standard features. You can check those out on the Mazda website.

The car drives and handles well. It's no Miata or RX8, but it does have more than enough power for normal driving.

The manual transmission is very smooth, and the shifter throw is short.

The glovebox is huge, the cruise control and stereo controls on the steering wheel are intuitive and easy to use.

At 5'10" and 220lbs, with the front seats adjusted for my comfort, I can sit comfortably in the back seats with adequate legroom.

The front stereo controls are a little different than anything else I've seen, but I figured them out pretty quickly. The sound is pretty good for a factory system. It has enough bass to vibrate the mirrors, without distorting. The automatic level control will adjust the volume based on speed, so it automatically will increase to overpower the road noise at highway speeds. It does it smoothly enough that I can tell it's working, but don't notice it happening.

The tilting and telescoping steering wheel is easy to adjust just right, as is the drivers height adjustable seat.

The gauges are easy to read, and look especially nice at night, with a glowing blue background and variable brightness red markings.

The remote entry features work well, as do the air conditioning and heating.

The interior of the hatch is well implemented. Adjustable partitions and panels let you divide it to fit things just right. A shallow tray under the surface works well for storage, and also hides the spare tire. It appears a full size spare will not fit in the special wheel cubby. The 60/40 split rear seats fold forward, to create a good sized space for cargo.

I think they should include the "rear bumper step plate" as a standard option on all the hatchback models. They're just some rubber stick-on pads that cover the bumper, so items being moved in and out of the back don't scratch it.

At idle, I can't even tell the engine is running. It is quiet at all speeds. At highway speeds, road noise is louder than I expected. This seems to be a complaint more common to the hatchback than the sedan version.

My gas mileage is at the low end of the EPA estimate. It said 25 city, 32 hwy. I do mostly highway driving at 60-70mph, and I'm averaging about 25mpg, for my first 1000 miles.

Overall, I am exceptionally pleased with this car.

My few complaints:
-Factory radio has no easy way to add a device like an ipod, without using a tape adapter, fm modulator, or fm transmitter. There is a factory mp3 player option, but it only takes cd's. I specifically want to use an ipod and not have reduced audio quality. The custom radio and dashboard leave few options for aftermarket stereos without having a lot of custom work done.

-No variable intermittent wipers. There are 3 speeds, intermittent, slow, and fast (for the windshield wipers). Many cheaper cars let you control the intermittent speed with more granularity. Here in WA state, it rains a lot, so this can be annoying. The rear wiper has intermittent or "ON" settings, but that doesn't bother me as much.

-Road noise louder than I expected. It doesn't drown out conversation or anything, it's just louder than I would like.

-Gas mileage on low end of estimate. This could be due to the fun I occasionally have with the quick acceleration, or maybe it will improve a little after the break-in period is further in the past.

-With the front seats adjusted for my comfort, folding the rear seats forward to expand the rear cargo area causes the rear seat headrests to catch on the back of the front seats. The front seats need to be moved forward or tilted upward to allow the rear seats to fully fold down. I would expect this if I had the front seats all the way back, or reclined a lot, but I sit pretty upright with the seats not too far back. I don't expect to fold those seats down a lot, but it's been a bit of a hassle the few times I've done it.

So, those items may bear further consideration for some people. Even with those small negatives, I would recommend this car to anyone.