Cars celebrate a person’s success in life. The new Mazda3 is a revolutionary statement that lets you enjoy a nimble, powerful dialog with the road without compromising on the need for living. You also don’t have to spend $75K to enjoy the fun, agile, sporty car factor missing from the current crop of enthusiast sports cars. Despite strong competition from the Honda Civic, Volkswagen Golf, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Sentra, and the Mini Cooper – the 2007 Mazda3 is the modern interpretation on the Protégé but with more aggressive lines, aggregating lightweight components, and the choice of two exceptional engines. With MSRP of $13,710 – $19,165 and averaging 26/32 mpg, the new Mazda3 is to the “enthusiast” sports car market, what the Mazda Miata was to the roadster back in 1989.

Once you’ve tasted the fruits of Japanese engineering, there’s no going back. Even the more expensive RX-8 seems a bit superfluous when compared with the simplicity of design, and bullet-proof ergonomics of the Mazda3. Now available in both a hatchback and a coupe, the 2007 Mazda3 is an expressive car that suggest spontaneous, urban cool. The hatchback offers additional 17.1 cubic feet of storage to 11.4 cubic feet with the four door sedan. Unlike the Mini Cooper, VW Golf, or the Honda Civic, the Mazda3 is not retro based. The aggressively contoured sheet metal design suggests: intelligence, sportiveness and a shapeliness missing from other cars in the class.

In our test drive, we sampled the larger 2.3-liter engine that has 160 horsepower from a normally aspirated four cylinder engine. Our verdict: the 2007 Mazda3 is a hot, fun-loving car to drive. The engine is zippy zooming up to 7000 rpm in no time, there’s not a lot of torque below 2000 rpm, but once you reach mid revs, the engine is eager to please. Mazda has also applied variable valve timing and variable-length intake runners to the 2.0-liter engine as well, giving it 150 horsepower at 6500 rpm peak torque. The new variable valve breathing provides plenty of responsiveness, while increasing fuel efficiency. Additionally, the standard five-speed manual shifter is smooth in its delivery, requiring very little driver input. Mazda has worked hard to engineer frictionless synchronizers and cable linkages. They now work swimmingly, with very little abrasion.

As you bring the Mazda3 up to speed on a curvy open road, the car’s fully independent suspension kicks communicating nimble handling. The car features MacPherson® struts in the front, advanced multilink in the rear, and front and rear stabilizer bars. To help provide linear, fade-resistant stopping, every Mazda3 comes equipped with power-assisted 4-wheel disc brakes. An advanced anti-lock braking (ABS) with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution™ (EBD) is standard on the 2.3, but optional on the 2.0 model. For additional safety, we recommend getting the side air curtains to compensate for the Mazda3’s slightly lower side-impact NHTSA test results.

The 2007 Mazda3 successfully breaks the mould of individuality by giving us a more refined, alluring sensibility at an affordable price. By ensuring a hi-crafted interior, a non-retro design, and the choice of two exciting engines, the Mazda3 has proven its engineers are paying attention to the needs of everyday enthusiasts.