 Personally, I love the Mazda over other cars in its range. The 2.3 is well made, with a spirited engine and solid performance throughout the RPM range. Redline performance is amazing, the engine sounds like a V6 and outperforms many would-be "speedsters" on the road hands down. The thing I love the most is the steering. It tends to become more precise and effortless at higher-speeds, which makes fast-paced driving easy. And the safety features are important as well. My biggest complaint are the crappy Goodyear tires - they get loud after a while, and Goodyear's quality is horrid to say the least.