2010 Mazda Mazda3 GT

New car buyers like compact sedans because they can carry a family of four comfortably, and are cheap-to-buy and cheap-to-run. But what if you are looking for a bit of driving fun from behind the steering wheel of your practical ride?

As it happens, Kia, Mazda and Toyota all have new fun-to-drive versions of their compact five-passenger, front-drive sedasn for 2010: Forte, Mazda3 and Corolla.

Which one, though, offers the best combination of refinement and driving fun from the driver’s seat?

THIRD PLACE: 2010 Toyota Corolla XRS

You have to go back to the mid-1980s and the SR-5 models to find a Corolla for drivers.

Since then, the Japanese automaker has been pushing out one milquetoast compact sedan after another. As such, the new XRS is virtually a first attempt by the Japanese automaker in this segment.

At least the $22,550 Corolla XRS arrives with a stereotypical sports compact checklist. A firmer suspension, larger and grippier tires, bigger, more powerful engine, sporty interior trim and body kit all help separate the XRS from your great-aunt’s Corolla CE.

Yet, out of a Toyota showroom, the sportiest XRS isn’t so sporty.

Against the Mazda and Kia, the Toyota shows up with the least amount of power and torque (158 hp and 162 lb.-ft.) and one less gear in its manual gearbox (five.)

No surprise then, the XRS’s 2.4 L four moves the Corolla from rest to 100 km/h over a half-second after the 3 GT and Forte SX pass by in only 7.5 seconds.

Once on the road, the Corolla XRS is a drive on the mild side, with little feedback to let the driver know you are in Toyota’s idea of a sports compact sedan.

All the hardware the XRS driver interacts with — steering, suspension, clutch and shifter — are as anodyne in their feel as a base Corolla.

And while there’s nothing inherently “wrong” with its suspension, there’s more body roll than the Mazda3 GT or Forte SX, which doesn’t exactly encourage drivers to flog the Corolla XRS down a twisty road.

WHY BUY: The sportiest model for dedicated Corolla fans.

WHY NOT: Rivals are quicker, roomier and better driving dynamics.

SECOND PLACE: 2010 Kia Forte SX

“Kia” and “fun-to-drive” has been a rare sentence to read in the past. But the Korean automaker’s first genuine crack at a sporty compact sedan should make it anything but a rarity on Canadian roads.

For starters, the $22,295 Forte SX comes with a six-speed manual gearbox hooked up to the most powerful engine of this group: a 2.4-litre inline-four that pumps out a generous 173 hp and 168 lb.-ft.

The Kia is no faster to 100 km/h than the Mazda, but the big motor is backed up with a playful chassis, sharp reflexes and quick steering that allow it to nip and tuck into curves.

And where the Toyota would lean too much, the Kia corners flat through tight corners.

However, some of the Forte SX’s overt athleticism can cause a harsh ride. And its front seats could use more side bolstering.

But compared to the sensory-deprivation-chamber-XRS, the Kia is a much more engaging small sedan to drive when “fun” is called for.

Don’t think we picked the Forte over the Corolla for its high fun factor alone, though.

The Forte SX’s crisp, Audi-like exterior lines make it arguably the most attractive of this trio.

And its cabin’s build quality and use of materials is a step up from the Toyota.

Plus the Kia compact offers the roomiest interior, largest trunk and sports the lowest fuel consumption numbers (9.2 city L/100 km/31 mpg, 6.2/46 hwy. ) of this group.

WHY BUY: Athletic steering and suspension, roomy accommodations and trunk.

WHY NOT: Firm ride, flat seats.

FIRST PLACE: 2010 Mazda3 GT

The first generation Mazda3 always ranked at the top of fun-to-drive small cars. And this heavily updated version of 2010 continues with the original car’s mini-sports sedan reputation.

For 2010, the GT sports a larger, 2.5 L four-cylinder from the mid-size Mazda6, producing a competitive 167 hp and 168 lb.-ft.

As the heaviest car here, its fuel economy suffers though: 10.1 L/100 km/28 mpg city, 6.9/41 hwy.

However, if you’re the type of driver more concerned with a car’s driving fun meter than its fuel gauge, the Mazda3 GT’s greater sophistication over the Corolla XRS and Forte SX move it to the top of this trio.

Overall, the Mazda comes across as a more mature, refined and sophisticated sports sedan than either the antiseptic Toyota or less-refined Kia.

Like the last model, back seat occupants aren’t treated to as much room as in the Toyota or Kia. But the Mazda’s driving position and cabin controls are spot on and easy to use.

New shocks and anti-roll bars give the 2010 GT even more body control than the already sporty outgoing model.

Its steering rack is now bolted to the chassis in three instead of two spots for an even tighter feel over pockmarked roads and its body structure is stiffer.

And its brakes felt the most sure-footed of this trio.

The price you pay for all the Mazda3 GT’s sporty habits is in the comfort department: There’s more road than the quieter Toyota.

WHY BUY: Sports sedan steering and handling.

WHY NOT: Questionable styling; relatively thirsty at the pumps.

Freelance writer John LeBLanc can be reached at

editors@straight-six.com

Three years ago when I drove a Mazdaspeed3, I thought it felt as skittish as a water bug. I was comparing it to the kind of nailed down, straitjacket handling of various German speedsters on the market.

The latest Mazdaspeed3, with 263 hp and 280 lb.-ft. of torque, is still a pavement peeler, but I'm starting to understand it better.

For 2010, the direct injection turbo is the same engine offered in the previous model. But after fiddling in the lab, Mazda says torque steer has been reduced by using stiffer driveshafts. It also says putting a lid on torque peak makes the front-wheel drive rocket easier to handle.

Employing juvenile behaviour, it's still possible to spin the front wheels in first, second, even third gear. And, yes, to my mind, torque steer still tugs at the wheel, but it's refreshing and even instructive to be reminded that there are consequences for the way we drive. Use restraint, accelerate normally, and the Mazdaspeed3 performs with decorum.

Lavish horsepower, quick steering, rigid ride, a slick six-speed manual all say I'm full of beet root juice and ready to go, but for $32,995, the Mazdaspeed3 comes loaded with other amenities that equip it for practical daily duties. The only option is white pearl paint for $200, "still two hundred bucks cheaper than German white paint," a Mazda worker told me when I picked up the keys.

It's functional as well as fast. Four doors don't detract from an athletic profile, but they help when loading your chums in the back. When the freeloaders are gone, the back seats fold flat (without having to remove the head-restraints) and gear is swiftly loaded. The hatch door is light and easy to open.

Navigation, often a $2,000 to $3,000 option, is bundled with all the other trinkets. The nav screen is no bigger than an iPhone's but mounted at the base of the windshield in good line of sight – it works surprisingly well. Loading a destination is a snap, and though it looks like a toy, turn-by-turn instruction delivers us from harm. When the navigation function isn't needed, other info like fuel consumption and distance to empty is easy to read and bright even when the screen is in direct sun.

The driver is treated well in the Mazdaspeed3, supported by a quality seat with proper bolstering and thigh support and placed so that the centre console is within finger punching distance. Good thing, too, because there are more buttons in the cockpit than on a Victorian wedding dress.

I liked the steering wheel: it was good and grippy, and the geometry aided by tilt and telescoping functions was perfect for tension-free driving. There's not much room in the back; passengers will wear the hair off their knees as they brush against the front seats.

A six-speed manual transmission is the only way the Speed3 leaves the stable. Fine with me. The gears are packed in pretty tight, it seems, since sometimes it's reluctant to go into first. But the other throws are short and sure.

The 2.3 L turbo revs like crazy, and it sounds as raucous as a garage band at 4000 rpm. The unmelodic engine, thrumming exhaust note and noise from the 18-inch Dunlops are my major complaints with the Speed3, but I bet the target market kids would not share my pain.

Steering is a dream, direct and quick; it made me wish I could have driven the Mazda on a slalom course. Cornering is flat, and the stiff chassis is composed but not punishing on rough roads. On the rough, ridged pavement on sections of the QEW, the Mazdapeed3 was as serene as a mid-sized sedan.

A tight turning circle makes changing direction a party trick. Stability and traction control are standard, and good bi-xenon headlights chase away the ghosts at night.

I averaged 9.3 L/100 km (30 mpg) of premium fuel during my test week, but I was doing a bit of thrashing to get to know the car.

Style critics might find too much origami in the Speed3's exterior styling. I think it flirts with fussiness with its bi-valve front grille (a new air scoop cools the turbo), but otherwise Mazda has stitched together a pleasing package.

My last day with the Mazdaspeed3 featured one of our many torrential rainstorms. I pulled off to a parking lot and when the storm cleared, I tried to chase down a rainbow – easy to do when 0-to-100 km/h is attainable in 6.1 seconds.

MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY–Sometimes, it's not an all-bad thing to have rain during a test drive – especially when it's on a track.

That way you can evaluate the car at, or close to, its limits, but at a much lower speed than in the dry.

So if something does go wrong, body damage – yours and the car's – is greatly reduced.

The car in question is the Mazdaspeed3; the track in question is the Driver Development Track at Mosport. Given that we're talking the summer of 2009, of course it was raining.

As before, the Mazdaspeed3 is a hotted-up version of the Mazda3 four-door hatchback.

The base car is nice enough to drive under any circumstances. Double the power, up-rate the suspension, tart up the exterior and interior a little, keep the price hit reasonable – how bad could it be?

Speaking of, the Mazdaspeed3 starts at $32,995 and pretty much ends there – the only option is white pearl paint, which adds $200 to the bill. Red, blue or black are your no-cost choices.

The car is in showrooms now.

The go-faster stuff starts with essentially the same engine as the former model, a 2.3-litre DISI (Direct Injection, Spark Ignition) four cylinder with an intercooled turbocharger.

The peak of 263 horsepower is about the same as before, which leaves it two shy of the Subaru Impreza WRX, but substantially ahead of Honda Civic Si (197), Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart (237) or Mini Cooper S (172; 208 hp if you opt for the John Cooper Works edition).

Torque is upped to 280 lb.-ft. at 3000 r.p.m., about a 10 per cent increase from the old model, and anywhere from boatloads to significantly more than WRX (244), Civic Si (139), Lancer Ralliart (253), or Cooper S (177; 192 lb.-ft. for the JCW).

The engine management computer has been massaged to deliver this output in a smoother, more linear fashion. A functional hood scoop, allowing cooler intake air into the turbo, also helps here.

A six-speed manual gearbox is the only transmission offered. The ratios have been widened a little from the former Mazdaspeed3, for somewhat more relaxed and fuel-efficient cruising on the highway.

Mazda gives a 0-to-100 km/h sprint time of 6.1 seconds. The new powertrain even gets slightly better fuel economy than before.

To help get this urge to the pavement, a mechanical torque-sensing limited-slip differential is included, and the stiffness of the right and left drive shafts has been modified to minimize torque steer.

The already-stiff body of the Mazda3 has been reinforced in critical areas, notably suspension mounting points. Spring rates are increased, and unique dampers and stabilizer bars improve handling with minimal impact, you should pardon the expression, on ride comfort.

Bigger four-wheel disc brakes with ABS are standard. Electronic brake assist is new for this model. Electronic Stability Control and Traction Control are again both standard.

To make sure your neighbours know you paid more for your Mazda3 than they did, the Mazdaspeed3 gains unique 18-inch aluminum wheels with big fat Dunlops, a large rear roof-extending spoiler, and new front bumper and fenders.

The gaping whale-maw grille of the new Mazda3 has come in for criticism in some quarters – "polarizing" would be the polite word.

But Mazda Canada says "exterior styling" is always at or near the top of the "reasons for purchase" list for buyers of the base car, so either they like it or are prepared to overlook it for the car's other stylistic virtues.

To my eye, the Mazdaspeed3 strikes a good balance between family resemblance and sporty distinctiveness.

Inside, black cloth and leather upholstery is highlighted with red accents and stitching – very nice.

Getting back to that wet track, the Mazdaspeed3 is an absolute hoot to drive in full hooligan mode under these circumstances.

In deference to the conditions and my hosts' insurance policy, I left the ESC active.

There is some dispute amongst automotive aficionados about what constitutes "torque steer." I tend to side with the faction that says if you just accelerate without losing traction altogether and the car pulls to one side or another, that's torque steer. The Mazdaspeed3 doesn't do much of that.

But, if you accelerate so hard that the tires lose grip and the car starts to slew sideways, well, that's another set of holes in the hedge.

The Mazdaspeed3 does that all the time, especially in the wet. With this much power being fed through just two tires that are also supposed to steer the car, how could it not?

The issue is, can you sense the onset thereof, and can you adjust, adapt and correct the behaviour? In the Mazdaspeed3, you sure can.

It was huge fun to flail into the tight bends on this circuit, lifting just as the tires stopped communing with the asphalt, allowing the car to slide a little, then regain its composure and tuck its nose back in to attack the next bend.

What that means in the real world is that if you do overcook it (and with 263 horses it isn't difficult) you have a reasonable chance of recovering and not becoming part of the scenery.

In that real world, where you aren't perpetually on the boil, the Mazdaspeed3 acquits itself very well.

Mazda does a terrific job of fine-tuning the suspension on all its cars to deliver communicative handling yet with compliant ride quality.

You would expect this car's ride to be firmer than a regular Mazda3, and it is. While the average Great Aunt might not choose it, neither would she likely categorically refuse to set foot in the car.

The car is fast, but doesn't have the "nothing-nothing-ZOWIE-rev limiter!" frantic feel of the peakier Subaru, as an example. Just nice, steady power, right up to the redline.

Judged against its competitive set, the Mazdaspeed3 only really loses out on one main count – lack of four-wheel drive, which is standard on Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart, probably this car's closest competitors.

If the concept of a sporty front-drive compact car – the proverbial "hot hatch" – appeals to you, you won't find much in the execution of the Mazdaspeed3 to complain about.

It's safe to say that Canadians love small cars – one of every four new cars sold here is a compact. Not surprisingly, Honda's Civic has been the best-selling passenger car here since 1998.

But in today's economy, yesterday's norms have been thrown out the powered window.

When February's sales numbers rolled in, the Mazda3 was numero uno with year-to-date sales, leapfrogging over the second-place Toyota Corolla and third-place Civic.

But then in March, the Corolla edged past the Mazda3 into first with 9,812 units sold so far in 2009, versus 9,691. The Civic was again in third at 8,780.

In the months to come? Who knows?

Even if it was only for one month, knocking off both the Honda and Toyota (nameplates that have been in compact buyers' heads for 36 and 41 years, respectively) is quite an accomplishment. Especially when you consider Mazda did it with the oldest car among this perennial top-selling trio. Until its substantial updates for 2010, the Mazda3 has been on sale in its current form since 2004 – whereas the Civic was all-new in 2006 and the Corolla was updated just last year.

Replacing the Protegé in Mazda's lineup in 2004, the original 3 was seen as a big leap forward for the then-Ford-owned Japanese brand.

In a segment where generic styling, tepid handling, lifeless steering and cattle-class interiors was the benchmark, one of the big revelations with the first Mazda3 was its class-climbing driving experience.

The first Mazda3 sedan and five-door Sport hatchback models shared a global Ford platform that also produced the more upscale Volvo S40/V50 and European Ford Focus. They stood out in the competitive and crowded economy car ranks for their athletic chassis, clean-cut styling and an attractive, nicely finished interior that wouldn't look out of place in a car costing $10,000 more, even on the sub-$15,000 base models.

For 2010, though, has Mazda kept the spirit of the original Mazda3 alive? Or has it chased big sales numbers by dumbing down the first models' appeal to driving enthusiasts?

From a pricing standpoint, the five-passenger front-drive Mazda3 is still right in the thick of it. You can get a Mazda3 GX sedan for $15,995. Or for $1,000 more, the Canadian-exclusive Sport GX five-door hatchback. Both come with a 148 hp 2.0-litre four-cylinder and a five-speed manual.

Mazda says 75 per cent of Mazda3 customers choose the sedan over the five-door and 65 per cent automatic versus manual transmissions. So it was appropriate that our 2010 tester was a Mazda3 GT with the optional five-speed slushbox.

Distinguished by its dual-exhaust pipes out back and slightly different grille work up front, the sportier $22,595 Mazda3 GT Sedan receives the 167 hp 2.5 L four-banger from the mid-size Mazda6.

Traction and stability controls and an upgraded stereo also come with the GT badge, as well as a six-speed manual transmission.

With the $1,200 five-speed automatic, my Mazda3 GT sedan tester totalled $23,795. That's competitive with a similarly equipped $23,810 Corolla XRS. But the Civic Sedan Si (with no available autobox) will set you back $26,880.

While the Mazda's Japanese rivals may be more popular on the sales charts, it's Volkswagen's Jetta that Mazda has always had its sights set on.

Yet a Jetta 2.5 Sport package, at $24,875, still makes the Mazda look like a good deal. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the new Mazda3 eats the Jetta's lunch as a budget BMW.

The Mazda3's platform and interior remain much the same, but upgrades for the 2010 generation include a larger displacement engine, stiffer chassis, refined suspension and new exterior styling.

From the first onramp to the final set of S-turns during a sunny Sunday morning back roads jaunt, it's clear that the 2010 Mazda3 GT has spent some quality time in the chassis department.

New shocks and anti-roll bars give the 2010 GT even more body control than the already sporty outgoing model.

Its electro-hydraulic steering is now bolted to the chassis in three instead of two spots for an even tighter feel over pockmarked roads.

Throw in a body structure that's been buffed at the gym, and the 2010 Mazda3 comes across as a more mature, refined and sophisticated sports sedan than the already athletic 2004-2009 version.

In a straight line, however, the new Mazda is less the class valedictorian. Its mid-eight-second run from 0-to-100 km/h is only the equal of the Corolla XRS and Jetta 2.5.

Even if you choose the manual gearbox in the Mazda3 GT, the Civic Si (with 30 more horsepower) enjoys a 0.75 second advantage.

Based on its popularity, Canadians seem ready to ignore the old Mazda3's relatively weak fuel economy ratings. The 2010 model continues that ignominy.

Where the Corolla is the most miserly, rated at 7.4 L/100 km city (38 m.p.g.), 5.6 L/100 km hwy. (50 m.p.g.), the Mazda3 GT posts 9.2 and 6.8 L/100 km (31 and 41 m.p.g.).

Even the Mazda3's less powerful mill can't beat the Corolla here.

Only the VW, at 10.5 L/100 km city and 7.2 L/100 km hwy. (27 and 39 m.p.g.), is thirstier.

Meanwhile, those with sensitive tushes may not like the Mazda's taut ride. And road noise still creeps into its cabin a bit more than its rivals.

If you want a softer, quieter ride, in a more miserly compact sedan, go buy a Corolla.

As mentioned, the new Mazda3's cockpit is almost unchanged. Dimensionally, the Mazda is generous in shoulder room, but tight in rear hip room. Trunk room is competitive at 335 litres, but the Jetta is the elephant here with about 50 per cent more space.

Then there's the new Mazda's exterior styling. Whereas the original was a relatively crisp, clean unfettered look, the 2010 model is a beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder deal. A team of Peugeot designers moonlighting for Mazda is the only rational explanation for its new gaping maw front end.

But you can't see most of the 2010 Mazda3 GT's sheet metal from the driver's seat, right. And from that perch, the updates make it more rewarding to drive.

Things move fast in the industry, so expect the sales rankings of the Mazda3 and its competitors to change frequently. As a sports sedan on a budget, though, the improvements for 2010 only strengthen the Mazda compact's best-in-class status.